Development Department

Service through Christ

Church of Uganda -Teso Dioceses Planning and Development Office (COU-TEDDO), is the joint social development arm of the Church of Uganda Soroti and Kumi Dioceses in the Teso sub-region. The office replaced Soroti Diocese Development Office (SDDO) which had been in operation since 1968. The new name COU-TEDDO was adopted in 2002 after Kumi Diocese was curved out of Soroti Diocese in 2001. COU-TEDDO envisions being a Leading Christian Development Organization in Community Transformation. Our mission is to excel in providing holistic and sustainable community development services based on Christian values in Teso and neighboring communities. Our programme focus for 2020 – 2024 is in five thematic areas namely;

  1. Governance and Social Accountability;
  2. Gender and Social Justice
  3. Resilient Livelihoods
  4. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.
  5. Institutional strengthening and development

Governance and Social Accountability

Through this Programme, COU-TEDDO is empowering communities to monitor and engage duty bearers at all levels to improve the quality of social services provided to them through different government programmes and sectors especially in education, health, agriculture, NUSAF etc. COU-TEDDO further mobilizes communities to participate in local government planning and budgeting so as to ensure just and equitable development.

Resilient Livelihoods

Since 2020, COU-TEDDO is focusing on strengthening the capacity of communities in Teso to be resilient to climate hazards and to become food secure. This programme therefore is building the capacity of farming households sustainable agriculture, cooperative production and marketing, livelihood diversification into apiary and fish farming, environmental conservation, village savings and loans methodology, commercialization of profitable crop enterprises and value addition.

Gender and Social Justice

COU-TEDDO works with religious, cultural leaders, civic leaders and communities to build peaceful communities where rights of all people are respected. This programme focuses on addressing barriers to social justice and drivers of resource related conflicts in our communities especially at the border with Karamoja and within our Teso communities and households, where Gender Based Violence is common thus calling for a change in attitudes, behaviours and practices.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

COU-TEDDO works with communities and institutions to increase access to clean and safe water and sanitation services. Our current focus is on integration of Community Led Total Sanitation and Cluster Approaches for sustainable and equitable access to sanitation services, Hand washing, water well construction and rehabilitation in hard to reach and water stressed communities, promotion of rain water harvesting and capacity building of users in operation and maintenance of water and sanitation facilities for greater community use. Given the fact that many Teso communities are prone to water logging, COU-TEDDO works with communities to design resilient and adaptable sanitation and hygiene systems.

Institutional Strengthening and Development

Through this Programme, COU-TEDDO is focusing on building capacity of church structures and workers to be able to implement their mandates sustainably and to be able to mobilize needed resources for scaling up of holistic ministry interventions to reach those in greatest need in all spheres of life.

Key achievements in the last 3 years

Despite the challenges caused by COVID-19, COU-TEDDO has been able to register the following achievements upon which our scale up plan is building on;

  • The Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) development intervention has helped to uplift the economic status of over 15,000 households in the districts of Soroti, Kumi, Katakwi, Amuria, Serere, Kalaki, and Ngora through establishment of group and household-based enterprises. The VSLAs provided and still offer alternative sources of income at household level mainly among women. This economic empowerment of women provided a viable alternative window through which domestic pressures have been addressed thus reducing incidences of Gender Based Violence (GBV) in the intervention areas.
  • COU-TEDDO programming has enabled women to have access to land and other economic resources to engage in income generating activities at household level. Several households are transiting from subsistence production to agribusiness, apiary and fish farming. This is helping to diversify local economies and reducing reliance on crop agriculture that is prone to climate change hazards. The projects have been effective in reducing poverty and resource conflicts.
  • COU-TEDDO has supported Local Governments structures to provide agricultural information to farmers. This aimed at improving the quality and quantity of produce, enhancing value addition and agro-business profit margins. Seed and plant clinics that connect farmers with the private sector actors dealing in agricultural products have been organized. Farmers now access farm inputs; agriculture professionals who offer agro-ecological advisory services, market information and value addition technologies among others. Through cooperative societies, farmers have improved production, marketing and profitability of the agro-businesses in Amuria and Kalaki.
  • The Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation interventions in Teso communities have awakened positive ecological responses to climate change, and hand washing as a key for disease prevention. Communities are now embracing environmental conservation and sustainable land use practices; hand washing and safe hygiene practices among others. This has resulted in improved health, improved agro-yields, food security and reversed some of the dangers of climate change and COVID-19.
  • The Governance and social justice interventions have helped communities participate in planning for delivery of services; holding duty bearers accountable for public resources, rights and entitlements. Communities have been mobilized and capacitated to monitor public social services like; education, health, WASH and agriculture, and report cases of corruption and mismanagement. Reports from the intervention areas indicate that there has been a reduction in cases of teacher absenteeism and increased pupil attendance of classes which has improved performance.

Head Office:
Plot 6-8 School Road, Eastern Division,
Soroti City,
P.O Box 107, SOROTI (Uganda)

Tel. +256(0)393252803
E-mail: admin@couteddo.org
Website: www.couteddo.org

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