Our successful partnership with
Case Studies
Good Shepherd School
The Good Shepherd School is located in Kirembo Village, Kasese Region, Uganda, with the school founded by a group of parents who recognised the potential of beekeeping to provide funding for the upkeep of the school.
Since 2019, through LIDEFO, Bees Abroad has supported the school’s management team to improve a small poorly managed apiary that was already in existence. The goal is to maximise a high-quality honey yield from all the hives so that sales make a substantial contribution to the school budget.
Achievements:
The project has added 35 more hives, distributed across two apiaries, and members of the management team have been trained in hive management.
The participants have planted living fences (like hedges) which also provide forage and colonies have developed well.
LIDEFO staff have made regular visits to monitor progress and give advice and guidance.
A total of 72kilograms of honey was harvested from the original hives.
Future:
Field visits, that develop skills and confidence, are continuing. The project is working smoothly, and the school is earmarked to be a Bees Abroad site for piloting teaching materials, enabling lessons to be delivered about bees and beekeeping in local schools.
Kitabu Integrated Development Association
This project, in the village of Mughetee, Kitabu, near Kasese, is located in the higher foothills of the Rwenzori mountains. Illegal poaching in the adjacent QE II National Park has reduced the male population of the village. The group’s main purpose is to reduce community dependence on poaching by generating another source of income. The community are subsistence farmers; the women operate a small microfinance system.
Achievements:
Successful establishment of a fifteen-hive communal apiary, and then a second, before a further fifteen hives were distributed to households.
Community education about bees took place to inform about the benefits of bees and the need to avoid going close to the apiary.
During lockdown periods, beekeeping was allowed, with the minor challenge of social distancing resolved, allowing field support visits to check on progress, solve problems, and to improve confidence and skills of the beekeepers.
An initial honey crop of 25 kilograms was taken.
Future:
This project is running smoothly, and we expect colonies to develop and grow. The project plans to provide a further 30 hives for distribution to households. Meanwhile, field visits will continue in order to solve problems and develop skills; all with the aim of increasing honey yields.
