In partnership with Ms. Margaret Laloyo and her social enterprise, Blessed Organic Release Ltd (BOR), CPAR Uganda is establishing our Social Innovation Centre at our facility – land and buildings – in Pader Town Council, located on Y. K. Museveni Road.

Shea Value Chain

Operating within our Pader Social Innovation Centre has enabled BOR to have a home for its capacity building activities for large scale production of Shea products.

And as well as for conservation activities centered around protection and regeneration of Shea Trees.

Essentially, CPAR Uganda and BOR are engaged in eco-friendly business, as a vehicle through which to enable communities to improve their quality of life.

The business model of BOR is to work with thousands of Shea nut collectors, mostly women – including skilling and training them, on the Shea value chain,

An investment that has created a strong link in the BOR Shea value chain, Shea Nut Collectors, and which enables BOR to produce high quality Shea products.

Women, earn livelihoods as collectors of Shea nuts; an important step in all Shea value chains.

It is in the hands of women nut collectors that Shea nuts are prepared and value added for the next steps of producing the many Shea products on the market.

The major actors and beneficiaries of BOR Shea value chains, indeed, are its associate Shea nut collectors – smallholder farmers of Northern Ugandan.

Thousands of disadvantaged women, who against all odds are working to improve their standards of living and the quality of life of their households. 

BOR Collectors are organized in small self-help development groups of 25-30 women. This enables for efficient self-reliant participation of group members in own activities and own development; in governance and in transparency.

BOR’s flagship product is Organic Shea Butter which they produce in significant quantities.

Income Generation

Whereas, BOR does great work in skilling on production, they and their nut collectors could benefit from skills that would enhance their productivity through financial literacy, marketing and income generation.

BOR Shea nut collectors and their households are within the ultimate target of CPAR Uganda – contributing to improving their quality of life of their households, through increased volumes of income generation.

Research

Four our Pader Social Innovation Centre, CPAR Uganda is also interested in partnerships for research domiciled at our Centre.

We are interested to collaborate with entities whose business is knowledge generation.

Particularly so, knowledge generation on livelihoods, food security, nutrition security, and the determinants of health, for the benefit of smallholder farming communities that we serve.

Tourism

The potential for our Social Innovation Centre to become an epi-center for Agri-Tourism on the Shea Value Chain is huge.

After all, our Pader Centre is located near Aruu Falls, a major tourist destination. Aruu Falls is about 76 kilometer (about a 2-hour drive) from our Pader Centre.