Turkey gives $650,000 for Ugandan agricultural project

KAMPALA, Uganda

Turkey has donated $650,000 for an agricultural project in northern Uganda, an area battered by years of conflict and refugee influx, a diplomat said Monday.

Turkey donated the funds to Uganda through the UN Development Program, which is working on the project, Ambassador Kerem Alp told Anadolu Agency in an interview Monday.

Northern Uganda faced a decade of civil war when rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) waged a war against the government by killing, abducting, and displacing thousands of people in the region.

Alp said the Turkish Embassy in Uganda is now more interested in building person-to-person relations as Uganda and Turkey currently enjoy good diplomatic ties.

“We want the peoples of our two countries to now benefit from this friendship,” he said.

Alp said his office together with the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency, Turkey’s state-run aid agency, have been advising over two dozen Turkish NGOs operating in Uganda on what type of humanitarian assistance they should offer specific regions in the country, to make their aid more effective.

“Previously these NGOs used to work alone, but we started coordinating with them and advising them on what humanitarian assistance to give a particular region. We also work with the UNHCR [refugee agency] and UNDP and other international institutions who give us information on humanitarian needs in the country and we share this information with our NGOs,” he explained.

“As we understand the country better, we look at the needs of the people. We want to offer tailor-made assistance for communities,” he said.

Turkey, with a history of five decades of diplomatic ties with Uganda, has long provided assistance to Ugandans in various areas.

Last year, Turkey’s state-run aid agency trained hundreds of Ugandans with vocational skills to help them start their own businesses and fight unemployment in the landlocked East African nation.

“So far more than 500 girls have been trained and awarded certificates in fashion and design,” Yahya Acu, coordinator for the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), told Anadolu Agency at the time.

TIKA also trained 15 university staffers at the Islamic University in Uganda on 3D modeling and printing.

Ambassador Alp said he was proud that some of the Ugandans trained and equipped with sewing machines are already producing garments and school uniforms that they sell and earn an income from.

Turkish NGOs are well known in Uganda for feeding Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan.

Turkish NGOs also provide meat for Muslims during Eid al-Adha, also known as the ''Festival of the Sacrifice''.