Budongo Women Bee Enterprise is an enterprise led by women and for women, founded in Budongo Sub county in Nyantonzi Village in Masindi District by Safeplan Uganda.
Budongo sub county is one of the districts with the highest number of sugarcane growers in Masindi, as major earning with very little agricultural activities. Normally, the agricultural activities are left for women, youths and children this has left a large gap of food shortage in the community.
With BUWOBE project, Safeplan Uganda aims to find alternative work opportunities for women outside of the sugarcane industry, which is the primary source of income in the surrounding region.
Thanks to The Young Women Transform Prize 2018Safeplan was able to expand Budongo Women Bee Enterprises (BUWOBE), a beekeeping collective, which was established in 2013, and upgrade the products the group enterprise sells. We conducted three trainings for 30 BUWOBE members, 26 of whom were young women, on bee farming skills, business skills, and leadership skills.
Safeplan helped the women organize themselves into a savings group and connected them to new market opportunities through high value processing of honey into cough syrup, candles, soaps, and lotions. We hosted a mentor-ship day where 18 alumni of the Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI), half of whom were women, who shared their stories and experiences with BUWOBE members. Using the Prize funds, Safeplan was also able to package all of our expertise and knowledge about beekeeping and business skills into our handbook, The Honey Book: pick your copy today.
A bee farming handbook for rural women