About Access Agriculture
Access Agriculture is a not-for-profit organisation that has rich experience in developing capacities and enabling South-South exchange of quality farmer-to-farmer training videos in international and local languages. Currently, Access Agriculture has over 220 videos, in over 100 different languages. Its specialised video platform is available in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Bangla, Hindi and Arabic.
Over 2,000,000 people from across the globe have visited the Access Agriculture platform to watch and download farmer training videos. During an online survey held in early 2021, the 2976 respondents came from 106 countries, mainly from Africa (83%), Asia-Pacific (7%), and the Americas (6%). Combining data from the 2015, 2018 and 2021 surveys, at least 90 million people were reached through Access Agriculture videos, through small media or mass media.
About GP-SAEP (Global Programme for Small-scale Agroecology Producers and Sustainable Food Systems Transformation)
The Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS) is implementing an Agroecology project in close collaboration with International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The project called ‘Global Programme for Small-scale Agroecology Producers and Sustainable Food Systems Transformation (GP-SAEP)’ is part of the larger funding envelope provided by the European Commission (EC). The project has been signed in the first quarter of 2023 and ends in June 2026. (See the project summary YouTube video for more details).
The goal of the project is transformation of food systems towards agroecology by enabling small-scale producers to strengthen their practices of agroecology, through better access to knowledge, support services, improved technologies, and market outlets. Thereby, improving their resilience to climatic, environmental, and socio-economic shocks and stressors as well as food and nutrition security and incomes. The programme is structured around four components: with GFRAS in partnership with Access Agriculture and the youth network (YPARD) responsible for Component 3, focusing on “Increasing Access to knowledge and Empowering 10,000 Small-Scale Farmers in Agroecological Transition through Participatory Rural Advisory Services (RAS) and Farmer to Farmer joint learning”.
Implementation of this third component by GFRAS and its partners will happen in four countries: Madagascar and Uganda in Africa and Costa Rica and Ecuador Latin America. The GFRAS regional networks, the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS) and Latin American Network for Rural Extension Services (RELASER) and the country fora in the respective countries will be essential in the implementation of this project.
Eligibility criteria for the Uganda ERA call
- Applicants: Teams of up to three (3) young people can submit a proposal. At least one team member must be a woman.
- Age: 18-35 years
- Country: Uganda
- Location in one of these districts: Buikwe, Bugiri, Sembabule, Lira and Soroti
- Language skills: Should have a good command of English and local languages of the areas mentioned above
- Date of submission: by 31 May 2024
Proposal Guidelines
- Teams of up to three young people can submit an application. At least one team member must be a woman.
- Each person can only be part of one proposal
- You need to present the key ideas of your business proposal as laid out in the submission form.
- Only online applications will be accepted.
- A draft proposal can be made and saved as you progress. You can edit your application as many times as you want until it is ready to submit.
- Proposals need to be submitted by Friday 31st May 2024
- Applicants will be notified within two weeks of the deadline date.
Steps to follow for submitting an application:
- Register/create an account or login on the website of Access Agriculture here: https://www.accessagriculture.org/user/register
- Account verification: Check your inbox/junk/spam folder for a message from info@accessagriculture.org for the email address you used to create the account. Click on the link (URL) in the message to activate your account.
- Existence of an account: If you already have an account on the Access Agriculture website, there is no need to create another one.
- Read the application guidelines: Once the account is verified, return to the Access Agriculture website and carefully read the application instructions and FAQ’s. Click here for the Frequently Asked Questions.
- Complete the application form: To open the application form click on “Apply Online”. Fill out the required information on each page. You can “save” the form and edit or fill it out later. All questions must be answered before submitting the application.
- Preview the form: Go to the last page and click on “preview”. All the completed information will be displayed and you can read it before submitting. If you want to make changes you can click on “previous page” and go back to the form.
- Submit the form: Once you have finished filling out the information, go to the last page, click “preview” and then click “submit”. The form will be sent and can no longer be edited.
Please note: Incomplete forms will not be considered - and remember to submit your application before the deadline.
- Email confirmation: After submitting the form, check for the application receipt confirmation message in your inbox/junk/spam folder of the email address used to create your account on Access Agriculture.
The following questions need to be answered in the application
- What motivated you to apply for this challenge fund? (100 words maximum)
- What problem/s in your community do you think you would be able to solve using a smart projector and showing videos? (100 words maximum)
- When using the smart projector, how do you plan to make money in rural communities? (in other words, how you plan to make money with the smart projector) (250 words maximum)
- Who is your target audience/expected customers (projects, farmer groups, organizations, individuals)? (100 words maximum)
- How many farmers in the surrounding rural communities do you expect to reach per month for video viewing? (100 words maximum)
- What strategy will you use to reach the number of farmers mentioned? How will you mobilize these farmers to view videos? (250 words maximum)
- How will you reach young people and women in your target communities? (100 words maximum)
- How can you provide video services to different NGOs and government organisations to reach more farmers? (100 words maximum)
- If you already have a business, how will the projector add value to your current business? If it is a new business, what other associated services can you offer to the targeted audience along with the video views? (250 words maximum)
- How will you share your experiences of using the smart projector with Access Agriculture?
Selection Process
- A committee of ERA coaches, communication and development professionals will review and assess the proposals based on the novelty and strength of the proposal in promoting agroecology and organic agriculture using Access Agriculture videos.
- A shortlist of pre-selected applicants will be developed by the committee.
- The pre-selected applicants will be informed via email and/or phone call.
- An online interview will be held with shortlisted applicants.
- The shortlisted candidates will be informed about the outcome of the interview within 2 days.
- Background checks will be done to ensure that selected candidates are suitable to be ERAs.
- A total of six (6) teams will be selected.
- Those selected will have a face-to-face meeting with the ERA coach before the smart projector is handed over, to clarify roles and reporting.
Implementation required for those who are successful:
If you are selected you will be expected to :
- Sign a code of conduct document that stipulates that you will effectively use the smart projector to show Access Agriculture videos until the end of the project under which you have been recruited to grow your business or services, to promote organic agriculture and agroecology and regularly report back to Access Agriculture. For those who successfully do this, the projector will become your property at the end of the project.
- Attend virtual and physical coaching sessions organised by Access Agriculture Coaches regularly.
- Work closely with other project partners in their districts.
- Give a reference letter from a responsible person in your community.
- All those selected are obliged to start activities within one month after signing the code of conduct.
- Access Agriculture reserves the right to repossess the smart projector for not carrying out activities regularly.
For any clarifications, please first check the FAQ here (this will open in a new page). If you still have questions, please contact the ERA coach in Uganda Ezra Masolaki at ezra@accessagriculture.org (0775-666073)
Apply Online Now: Remember you must be registered and logged in to fill in the application form.
