ARCOS

A tight budget, teachers who move on

Until now the Gayaza schools have been financed by school fees and local donations. Most pupils come from poor families who can barely afford the fees. To make an education possible, fees are kept to a minimum; in especially difficult cases the schools accept produce (maize, beans) and labour instead.

The schools work with very tight budgets: teachers are paid as volunteers, and only for three months of each term, not during the holidays. Many leave as soon as they find a better post. The quality of teaching suffers.

Coffee that carries the teaching

In March 2024 ARCOS asked us for support in setting up a coffee plantation whose income should steady the finances of both schools.

The founder of ARCOS has made a piece of land available. Coffee and cooking bananas (matoke) are to be grown there. The matoke will be used for school meals; the coffee will be dried and sold to local traders – the proceeds are meant to support the school finances.

The plantation is to be established and run on permaculture principles, together with Broadfield Enterprise Uganda (BEU), a social enterprise experienced in permaculture. The project includes: the first planting of coffee and bananas, a shallow well and water distribution, a simple two-room house as a place for workers, pupils and a night watchman, and fencing. Pupils and teachers of Gayaza Secondary School will be involved in planning, planting and running the plantation, with support from BEU. A further aim is to spread knowledge of permaculture and coffee growing.

Funded, and celebrated in April 2025

Since March 2025 it has been clear: 75% of the project is funded by Stiftung Nord-Süd-Brücken with BMZ funds, and 25% (the own contribution) by the Georg Kraus Stiftung. During a trip to Uganda with Lions Club Jesteburg, the project launch was celebrated in Gayaza in April 2025.