Solutions
While there is a lot of promise within the hearts and minds of the individual people of Nnindye, a lot of work needs to be done so that their livelihoods can be improved. Currently, incomes are low, capital is scarce and the food supply is extremely volatile. A set of complex solutions needs to be decided upon in mutual partnership with the people of Nnindye in order to ensure that the best course of action is taken and implemented in the most effective way possible.
If Notre Dame, or westerners for that matter, were to simply step in and direct the people to, "Do this, this and this", then things might get done slightly quicker. Still, this benefit of a faster solution would hardly outweigh the benefits of a joint partnership led by the people of Nnindye in solving the problems they face.
So far, this approach has been implemented with mixed success. Growing pains have occurred as they would with the start up of any new enterprise or partnership. Still, this mutual effort must be continued in the discernment and implementation of solutions to the problems that the community faces if the best future scenario is to be achieved in a timely and effective fashion.
If Notre Dame, or westerners for that matter, were to simply step in and direct the people to, "Do this, this and this", then things might get done slightly quicker. Still, this benefit of a faster solution would hardly outweigh the benefits of a joint partnership led by the people of Nnindye in solving the problems they face.
So far, this approach has been implemented with mixed success. Growing pains have occurred as they would with the start up of any new enterprise or partnership. Still, this mutual effort must be continued in the discernment and implementation of solutions to the problems that the community faces if the best future scenario is to be achieved in a timely and effective fashion.
Specifics
With respect to solving the bargaining power problem, the 11 different villages need to come together to organize a collective selling effort. If they could all do this, they would reduce the number of people that transporters are bargaining prices with from hundreds of individuals to a group made up of hundreds of individuals with no real competitors. Of key importance to this situation would be the strength of the need for individuals to work with the overall cooperative. Flygare discusses this “free-riding” problem. She advocates for strict punishments for selling outside of the cooperative and a greater clarity in explaining the negative effects of selling separately rather than collectively. In the end, Flygare mentions that they need to make the benefits of engaging in free-riding worse than the potential costs so that people stick to the cooperative. (Flygare, 192). Additionally, by selling collectively, the 11 villages would be able to mitigate some of the revenue volatility inherent in growing matoke. By selling in larger numbers and splitting the profits, their stream of revenue would be more consistent throughout the year and less subject to market pricing risk (i.e. the natural up and down flow of commodities prices throughout the year). Furthermore, they would be less adversely effected by poor climate conditions such as drought periods if they were able to diversify when the crops yielded throughout the year. Overall, collectivization while difficult to implement due to higher leadership and logistical costs, would greatly benefit the villages.
Micro finance was also a crucial issue in rural Uganda because, in effect, there was no feasible means to obtain credit and expand business. People were either charged usurious rates by their neighbors or the community gardens they participated in or they simply lived too far away. In order to deal with these issues, Keeler says that a mobile banking approach needs to be further implemented. While this would reduce transaction costs, it would also greatly increase the risks to the lending institution given the reduced amount of interaction with the rural farmers. In order to mitigate this problem, Keeler argues that a "cash guarantee fund" is needed to partially backup the loans given out (Keeler, 3.1.2). In this scenario, an outside organization or the Ugandan government itself would guarantee part of the loans to reduce default risk. Furthermore, Keeler argues that property rights need to be increased in Sub-Saharan countries so that people have collateral for loans. This would further reduce default risk and encourage lending.
Micro finance was also a crucial issue in rural Uganda because, in effect, there was no feasible means to obtain credit and expand business. People were either charged usurious rates by their neighbors or the community gardens they participated in or they simply lived too far away. In order to deal with these issues, Keeler says that a mobile banking approach needs to be further implemented. While this would reduce transaction costs, it would also greatly increase the risks to the lending institution given the reduced amount of interaction with the rural farmers. In order to mitigate this problem, Keeler argues that a "cash guarantee fund" is needed to partially backup the loans given out (Keeler, 3.1.2). In this scenario, an outside organization or the Ugandan government itself would guarantee part of the loans to reduce default risk. Furthermore, Keeler argues that property rights need to be increased in Sub-Saharan countries so that people have collateral for loans. This would further reduce default risk and encourage lending.