18257

3.In this supplement, reporters have returned for a finał assessment of what has been achieved sińce the Guardian's editor, Alan Rusbridger, launched the project In October 2007 and appealed to the generosity of Guardian readers. Barclays pledged to match-fund donations up to £lm and, withthe help of Care International, added a microfinance strand to the project. Farm-Africa was brought In to provide agriculture expertise. Our team tells the story of how this expertise and your money have wrought change for a communlty of 29,000 Ugandans.

Read how 150 village savings and loans associations have been set up in Katine. With a starting membership fee of just 8p, residents have had access for the first time to smali loans. Some have borrowed to set up smali businesses, others to pay for medicines. In one year, a total of £22,482 has been banked.

Hear how a grain storę has been bullt and a co-operative established to market farmers' agricultural surplus, ensuring they get a better price. Learn how farmers have been trained to use a new, disease-resistant strain of cassava.

_an urgent request for people to give you something that you

need such as help, money, or Information

to promise a certain amount of money for a particular

purpose

one of the different aspects of something

4. Morę than 7,000 malaria nets have been distributed to families with smali chlldren, and village health teams (VHTs) have been instrumental in morę than doubling the immunisation ratę, to above 90%. The testing ratę for HIV/Aids has increased nearly fourfold.

These are the facts and figures a donor needs to be reassured money has been well spent, but the binding element of this project was subtler, something harder for journalists to report on, and it will be crucial to the long-term sustainability of the project. Every one of the achievements listed above has necessitated slowly building up the community’s ability to organlse and run Itself. Over three years, a network of committees has been nurtured: VHTs, parent-teacher associations, water source committees, farmers' groups, parent-teacher associations, and village savings associations.

_four times as much, or four times as many

_extremely important because it has a major effect on the

result of something

5. Each group has been trained, with chairs appointed and basie equipment, such as bicycles, provided. VHTs have been taught basie diagnostic skllls, how to gather data and how to spread the word throughout the communlty about hygiene, handwashing and how to dig pit latrines. It's the essence of