My experience as a partner of AFIRD

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My name is Lutalo Stella, I am the country coordinator of PELUM Uganda. PELUM is a network of organizations promoting ecological agriculture in East and Southern Africa. I think it is a great practice AFIRD has taken on. Documenting the history of the organization will help the current staff, beneficiaries and partners appreciate the original dreams and aspirations that motivated the founders to start AFIRD, and therefore reflect, build on and push it forward.

 AFIRD first encountered PELUM in the 2000s, so by the time I joined PELUM in 2006, AFIRD was already a member. By then PELUM was doing trainings in sustainable agriculture, Monitoring and Evaluation, organizational capacity strengthening, and exposure visits for member organizations including AFIRD. These took place between 2006 and 2008. AFIRD also served on the PELUM board from 2008 to 2014, for the last three years of that service, Mr. Sajjabi Eustace who is the ED of AFIRD was the board vice-chairperson and when the chairperson resigned towards the end, he served as the acting chairperson for the final six months. During this period, both PELUM and AFIRD experienced a lot of growth, both organizations mutually benefited each other. The growth was in terms of funding, more donors came on board, our membership doubled, our staff team grew and we also relocated to a new and bigger office. AFIRD has also been active on almost all the thematic committees of PELUM at some point.

AFIRD was trained in governance, the board was trained and they were able to develop some policies and establish board sub-committees. This exposure gave AFIRD experience in organizing board meetings, preparing documents for different audiences, and decision making. AFIRD was trained in the different PELUM models including the CREAM model, CMSS model, the PESA model, and the GALS methodology. Being a member of PELUM, AFIRD continues to be part of many trainings and projects, as well as exposure visits.

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