WHO WE ARE
Community Empowerment For Rural Integrated Ecological Farming (CEFRIEF) brings hope to families through farming in Love with nature is a non-profit community based organization within Kanungu District of South Western Uganda. The organization aims to improve the quality of life for the youth, children, older farmers and other vulnerable people through holistic, integral and sustainable livelihoods and poverty alleviation programmes that meet the basic human needs of their families while also being mindful of the environment they depend on.
CEFRIEF trains and empowers farming communities to be in tune with nature and take responsibilities to make the right choices in love with nature as farmers give life to biodiversity. Participating farming communities are enabled, helped and encouraged to learn from and copy natural (God designed) ecosystems and farm in a way that supports a sustainable life. This enables the future generation and older farmers to give life to biodiversity by integrating ecological land use farming systems that maintain and promote ecosystem stability. The farming communities are helped to prevent various diseases through community training in General Home Hygiene and Sanitation training sessions followed by regular follow-ups, monitoring and evaluation. Also participating families are enabled and helped to prevent diseases through Nutrition training where they learn to reduce disease by eating a better quality diet.
“Eat food as your medicine to avoid future cases where you will eat medicine as your food.”
CEFRIEF recognizes the youths and children as untapped great resources for social-economic development, and to make integrated ecological farming sustainable it must attract future generation of young farmers. So CEFRIEF helps the farming communities to farm in an integrated ecological sustainable and rewarding manner and encourage young and ageing farmers to plan for the future. This ensures a wise use of resources on a sustainable basis for the greater benefit of the present and the future generations.
CEFRIEF as a community centred organisation promotes approaches that build home based projects and integrated ecological farming systems that reduce their impact on climate change. Everyone from the household is involved to form a solid foundation for the project to help with a sustainable increase in the production on the farm.
TALULAR (Teaching And Learning Using Locally Available Resources) methodology is used by CEFRIEF to put the right integrated ecological farming technology/ecological designing techniques into the hands of the farming community members. The participating farming communities are enabled to work within the framework of what is locally available and make use of local resources. Farmers are given skills that help them improve food, nutrition and income security and livelihoods while also putting focus on environmental protection.
CEFRIEF uses a farmer-led research and empowerment process which encompasses the knowledge and experience of farming communities in coping with climate change. By harnessing the innovation and creativity of farmers we aim to build and create a community resilience to climate change and a food secure future.
Community Empowerment For Rural Integrated Ecological Farming/CEFRIEF is headed by Ampeire Alexander who holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and Community Development . Alexander is the founder and the Chief Executive Director,
The Management Team consists of 11 people the Chief Executive Director, Chairperson of CEFRIEF, Vice Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer, Publicity Secretary, 3 Community Facilitators/Trainers, Value Addition Specialists (holds bachelor’s degree in Food Science and Technology with long life working experience) and the coordinator for all farming community groups.
A stepwise intensification pathway/approach is used to ease management, coordination and implementation of organisation activities. The community farming groups are intensified or made strong through zoning. The groups are grouped into zones and members of each zone elect from among themselves an administration team comprising of the Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer and (1) committee members plus one Community Based Trainer/Trainer of Trainees. It is through such leaders of community groups that the Management Team of CEFRIEF is linked to the community farming groups.
The management team is obliged to run the day-to-day organization’s activities and implementation of project activities, do Community Based Trainings follow-ups, extension support, monitoring and evaluation exercise and write reports on the activities carried out. The management reports to the Board and gives constant feedback to the entire community through zone leaders and different meetings.
A WORD FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
I Ampeire Alexander, am very delighted in having this opportune moment to express my heartfelt gratitude to the participating farming communities for practicing integrated Ecological farming not by advertisement and press coverage but by work and examples on the ground. Thanks so much for aspiring to inspire before you expire. God bless the work of your minds and hands.
I am very grateful to Caroline and her mother Sylvia for the modification of their farm into a speaking Integrated ecological farming demonstration known as Together We Can Permaculture Projects. The couple (Christine and Denis) for their Climate Smart Resilient Home Compound Gardens with multi-functional flowers (vegetables-cut and come again vegetables). These demonstrations of integrated ecological farming plus that of the Chief Executive Director Known as Bwindi Gorilla Food Forest Gardening Projects are very inspiring. Many thanks to Twinamasiko Denis the Director BT Karama Primary School, staff and pupils for embracing integrated ecological school gardening programmes in BT Karama Primary School. All these demonstrations have led to high demand driven by many community members to realise that farming in love with nature gives farmers a right to give life to biodiversity.
I am very grateful for the farming communities for clearly realising the social problems that hinder individual's economic and social development and recognising the fact that the trends towards personal development and investment needs to be through collective support and efforts to improve the standards of living.
On the behalf of the farming communities, Special thanks to the Team of CORNWALL DAIRY VET UK for their wonderful motherly contribution for publication of our work globally by helping to design a website. we the farming communities of Community Empowerment For Rural Integrated Ecological Farming (CEFRIEF), We are so much appreciative to your kind contribution and we pray the Almighty continues to use you all perfectly and make you all the instruments of His Peace, Love, Joy, Hope and Light to the entire world and bless the work of your hand forever. Special thanks also to Mr. Twinamasiko Denis the Value Addition Specialist for his great motherly love and support with social-economical development of our community projects.
We therefore, promise and affirm our will to work with the spirit of team work with other progressive organisations and the government to improve the livelihoods, nutrition and income security of our people through joint integrated ecological farming for environmental conservation.
As the Chief Executive Director, I pledge my sincere and heartfelt devotion and undivided attention to the implementation, follow-ups, monitoring and evaluation of the organization activities.
AMPEIRE ALEXANDER
CHIEF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT FOR RURAL INTEGRATED ECOLOGICAL FARMING (CEFRIEF)