The Uganda Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (UFAAS) was launched in May 2011 as the country chapter of the African Forum of Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS) and registered officially in Jan-2013. It is hosted by AFAAS.
UFAAS is an umbrella organization of agricultural Extension and Advisory Services (AEAS) providers, actors and stakeholders in Uganda. The vision of UFAAS is “Quality Agricultural Extension and Advisory services effectively contributing to Agricultural development in Uganda”. The mission of UFAAS is to “Promote an effective, efficient and innovative AEAS system through advocacy, capacity building.
UFAAS’ objectives are: to establish and sustain an effective platform for Advisory Agricultural Services; promote professional development, information sharing and networking among AEAS actors; build the capacity of AEAS Advisory Services systems to provide innovative and client-orientated services; promote professionalism and ethical conduct in AEAS systems; and advocate and lobby for an enabling environment for Agricultural Advisory and Extension Services in Uganda.
UFAAS strategic direction is geared towards:
- Setting up a strong and sustainable institutional framework at national and regional levels in Uganda that will uphold and anchor all the other components.
- Promoting information exchange and shared learning by creating mechanisms that facilitate networking, information generation and sharing, and professional interaction among AEAS actors.
- Working with all its partners to ensure access by its members to resources and opportunities for training, innovation and recognition.
- Promoting and enforcing professionalism and ethical conduct among members through standards, platforms for professional exchange and offering resources and opportunities towards this target.
- Contributing to the creation of an enabling environment for efficient and effective provision of AEAS through recognition and visibility of AEAS and influencing policy.
- Integrate the new extension model into the UFAAS strategic plan ;
- Documentation of our experiences and sharing with other country fora ;
- Lobby the ministry to incorporate the “New extension” model into the coming skilling programs ;
- Networking with other stakeholders ;
- Identification of funding opportunities and proposal writing for sustainability ;
- Identification of good practices in Knowledge Management and implementation ;
- Strengthening UFAAS as the recognized national professional body for AEAS ;
- Coordinate the development of the extension policy ;
- Documentation, sharing and scaling out Global Good Practices in Uganda;
- Evidence based study on the impact of the current AEAS reforms to inform policy ;
- Advocate for gender responsive Rural Advisory Services policy;
- Formulation of a systematic communication behavioral change strategy.
The immediate activities/action plan include:
Contact person: Chairperson, Dr. Margaret Mangheni, Tel: +256772483803, mnmangheni@gmail.com
Focal person Mrs. Beatrice Luzobe +256 776801091/ 712 801091/704052148
E-mail:ufaas2013@gmail.com or bnluzobe@gmail.com.