The organisation runs a large Facebook group where all kinds of topics are discussed, information is shared and people get to know each other better. In the past, some of the topics have included: names and meaning of clans, Basoga names and their meaning, names of villages and what these names mean, key historical events and what can be learnt from them, the reasons for the decline in the performance of Busoga-based schools and the implications of the new sugar cane economy. Members also share traditional music, pictures of events around Busoga and developments in the various urban places. The group also has a ‘files’ area where various historic documents are stored and can be easily stored
The organisation works with some schools to offer career guidance and support. This is usually on Career Days when members of the organisation visit some schools to give talks and to advise the students. But some of the guidance has been offered at Olwekobaano events and at workshops. On other occasions, discussion threads have been opened on the social networking forum to answer questions and support school leavers.
This cluster deals with various issues around the state of health services in Busoga. Under the cluster, multiple analyses and reports have been compiled and presented to inform proposal development. The cluster has organised training workshops and has brought together professionals to address various questions. In the past, the cluster has also organised research studies on the viability of village health strategies. The cluster is also the home of the health camp described under events.
The organisation is a source of information about educational opportunities in Busoga and Uganda at large. This has been enabled by having alumni from many schools as members and who are ready to share their experiences. As is the trend in Uganda, these alumni are usually organised in associations that are doing lots to support the schools and sustain good memories. These alumni have also informed various discussions and analyses about the current standards of teaching in Busoga schools. They have also been an important voice in understanding the reasons for the deterioration of the performance of Busoga-based schools, especially the traditional ones. In many cases, the associations are making a major push to revive these historical schools. Other educational information concerns scholarships for post-secondary study and for advanced study, not only in Uganda, but also abroad. The presence of members who are spread in different countries has greatly supported this function, with these members being on hand to answer questions and to share their experiences.
This is one of the most important clusters in the organisation given the centrality of agriculture as a source of livelihoods in the region. The cluster has organised workshops, especially during the Olwekobaano, to train on various skills that can help with improving agricultural productivity. It has also organised leading farmers’ groups to come together and get training in specific areas. The cluster has also organised engagement in the national agricultural shows, seeking to strengthen networking activities. A key issue has been to carry out more recent analyses about the implications of the collapse of the Busoga Growers Cooperative Union, which is considered to have been one of the most successful cooperatives in the country. The decline of the regional economy is directly associated with the collapse of the cooperative and its multiple engagements. This included the collapse of coffee and cotton growing, which were the main sources of income. The result has been an increase in poverty levels as people have struggled to find viable replacements, including sugar cane growing.
This cluster depends lots on the performance of the agricultural cluster as most business and trade is still associated with agriculture in one form or another. But the cluster also looks into new forms of trade and business, including IT, tourism and financial services. The cluster is also involved with performing training to support skills development on many entrepreneurial fronts. An example are skills of starting and sustaining enterprises, with the effort to significantly decrease the high rate of collapse after about 2 years.
