Community Participation in One Month Practicum as a Strategy of Strenghening Rural Transformation in Mbirizi Village, Kyanyi Parish, Nyamarunda Subcounty, Kibaale District

Abstract

The report shows what transpired during the one –month practicum which was carried out in accordance with ARUs 2022/2023 one –month practicum objectives namely; i. Conduct conscious raising sessions with people to discover themselves as a key to their own development and high leverage to change (following the 18-week session guide book). ii. Enable people to recognize and use the systems approach to development. iii. Facilitate the process of visioning and setting up community action plans for self- reliance. iv. Enable people to recognize and use the interrelationship between development concerns in health, nutrition, sanitation, agriculture, water management, rural technologies, income generation and environment, so that they have a holistic approach to development. v. Identify a research topic for proposal development at a later stage for students in their third year. The practicum started on the 1st April 2023 and ended on 1st May 2023. It was carried out in Mbirizi village, Kyanyi parish, Nyamarunda sub-county, Kibaale district, mid-western Uganda. The intern worked closely with the technical and political staff of the sub-county, epicenter manager, community members and host family during this period. The methodology of visionary approach was used, basing on the methods of community action planning, participatory Action Research and Structural Tension Chart planning frame work. The key results created by the intern included; economic empowerment by teaching the community members how to use locally available resources to earn a living, facilitated the process of making people a key to their own development through mobilizing community members to practice better agricultural ways, improve sanitation and hygiene, establish kitchen gardens and other projects for better health, well- being of the community