The story of Katine: introduction The Katine project has changed lives in a remote rural community in north-eastern Uganda, addressing key areas of deprivation, equipping villagers with the skills to help themselves, and pioneering an unprecedented level of transparency. Yet the ultimate measure of its success will be sustainability, says Madeleine Bunting Madeleine Bunting The Guardian, Saturday 30 October 2010 Patricia Asio is 13 and is coming to the end of her primary schooling, two years ahead of her peers. In her last exams, she attained the second highest grade. Such achievement in Ogwolo school in the sub-county of Katine is remarkable, and it owes much to the work of the African Medical and Research Foundation (Amref) over the last three years. The school has benefited from new desks, books and classrooms. In virtually every hamlet scattered across the sub-county there are now heartening stories such as that of Patricia. In Ominit, a new borehole saves women such as Edith Apiango a 4km walk through an often flooded swamp to collect water. Apiango knew that the swamp water was dirty and gave her children diarrhoea; once, it nearly killed her small son. The gratitude of the women at the new water sources around Katine is overwhelming; they know all too well that the clean water which gushes from the pump has saved young lives. After malaria, dirty water (and the infections it brings) is the biggest killer of children under five. These are the heartwarming stories of individual lives that have been transformed in a remote rural community in north-eastern Uganda over the past three years. They bring to life the reports and evaluations which have tracked the implementation of a development project focusing on five aspects of deprivation: health, education, water and sanitation, livelihoods and governance. In this supplement, reporters have returned for a final assessment of what has been achieved since the Guardian's editor, Alan Rusbridger, launched the project in October 2007 and appealed to the generosity of Guardian readers. Barclays pledged to match-fund donations up to 1m pounds and, with the help of Care International, added a microfinance strand to the project. Farm-Africa was brought in to provide agriculture expertise. Our team tells the story of how this expertise and your money have wrought change for a community of 29,000 Ugandans. Read how 150 village savings and loans associations have been set up in Katine. With a starting membership fee of just 8p, residents have had access for the first time to small loans. Some have borrowed to set up small businesses, others to pay for medicines. In one year, a total of 22,482 pounds has been banked. Hear how a grain store has been built and a co-operative established to market farmers' agricultural surplus, ensuring they get a better price. Learn how farmers have been trained to use a new, disease-resistant strain of cassava. More than 7,000 malaria nets have been distributed to families with small children, and village health teams (VHTs) have been instrumental in more than doubling the immunisation rate, to above 90%. The testing rate for HIV/Aids has increased nearly fourfold. These are the facts and figures a donor needs to be reassured money has been well spent, but the binding element of this project was subtler, something harder for journalists to report on, and it will be crucial to the long-term sustainability of the project. Every one of the achievements listed above has necessitated slowly building up the community's ability to organise and run itself. Over three years, a network of committees has been nurtured: VHTs, parent-teacher associations, water source committees, farmers' groups, parent-teacher associations, and village savings associations. Each group has been trained, with chairs appointed and basic equipment, such as bicycles, provided. VHTs have been taught basic diagnostic skills, how to gather data and how to spread the word throughout the community about hygiene, handwashing and how to dig pit latrines. It's the essence of development: giving people the skills to help their communities, encouraging leadership so they can interact and lobby their political representatives in local government. This work of building relationships and helping communities to tackle their own needs was particularly pressing in Katine. The area had experienced decades of violence and instability, most recently in 2003, when the rebel Lord's Resistance Army swept through, leaving a legacy of bitterness and suspicion. This community rebuilding is essential to the project's sustainability. The water source committees will determine whether the boreholes are well maintained and repaired on time. Can they collect the small water user fees for the repair fund? Will the VHTs still be supervising the immunisation of babies in five years' time? The Guardian's day to day reporting of the project on its dedicated website - www.guardian.co.uk/katine - comes to an end today, but Amref will stay for another year to consolidate and strengthen the community structures. We will periodically return to see how well they last and whether the Katine project achieves the ultimate measure of success: sustainability. The project has also pioneered a new model of reporting on development and aid. Every aspect of the venture has been exposed to public scrutiny - the budgets, the reports and the evaluations. In addition, two Ugandan journalists have been based in the community, filing frequent progress reports. The result is a remarkably detailed account of how aid and development work; of what goes wrong and what succeeds, warts and all. Readers have learned of the very high costs of the new school building in Amorikot, a strike by the VHTs when their modest remuneration was cut, and villagers' loss of confidence in the water quality of the new boreholes. Visitors to the website have asked tough questions and have made very clear their disappointments and frustrations. Villagers in Katine have added their voices, explaining what they think the project should do. Amref and Farm-Africa staff have explained what they were doing and why. The website offers an extraordinary picture of the ups and downs, strains and stresses of a development project. Most importantly, it has set a new standard for telling the complex story of how communities can change. This task was part of the original ambition outlined by Rusbridger, who pointed out that some stories are crucial but lack the drama or crisis to push their way into the headlines. It is in the detail of these slow-moving stories that the huge issues of development and environment emerge. How does Africa feed its growing population? How will the burden of disease be eased in a continent where millions of children never reach their fifth birthday? The project has won several awards that recognised the unique collaboration between its partners. It has won admiration for pioneering unprecedented transparency, a model which many believe will influence the increasing desire among donors to know exactly where their money has gone and how it has been used. Lastly, a personal note from those involved in the project. Not one of us who has visited Katine over the last three years has returned untouched. Each of us has memories of the warm welcome we received, the friendships made, the dignity we witnessed in lives full of hardship. Our hearts have been inspired by the sheer delight of the children we have encountered. The aim was to change a village, but we found ourselves changed in the process. Thank you, Katine. word bank (Checked by Prof Diego); deprivation: the fact of not having something that you need, like enough food equip: to provide something with the things that are needed for a particular purpose unprecedented: that has never happened, been done or been known before transparency: the quality of something that allows you to see through it ultimate: most extreme peer: a person who is the same age or who has the same social status as you virtually: almost or very nearly hamlet: a very small village scattered: spread far apart over a wide area borehole (bore): a deep hole made in the ground, especially to find water or oil diarrhoea (diarrhea): an illness in which waste matter is emptied from the bowels much more frequently than normal, and in liquid form gratitude: the feeling of the being grateful and wanting to express your thanks overwhelming: very strong or very great gush: to flow suddenly and quickly out of a whole in large amounts pump: a machine that is used to force liquid out of something transform: to change the form of something evaluation: a judgment about how good, useful, or successful something is supplement: a thing that is added to something else to improve or complete it generosity: willing to give someone money, gifts, time or kindness freely pledge: to formally promise to give or do something strand: one of the parts of idea, plan etc expertise: expert knowledge or skill in a particular subject wrought: (old fashioned) past and past pirticiple tense of work grain: the small hard seeds of food plants such as wheat, rice etc surplus: an amount that is extra or more than you need strain: a particular type of plant immunization: the state of being protected from something fourfold: multiplied by four figure: a particular amount of money reassure: to make someone feel calmer and less worried or frightened about a situation bind: to stick together subtler: organized in a clever way nurture: to care for and protect something or somebody while they are growing and developing diagnostic: connected with identifying something, especially an illness hygiene: the practice of keeping yourself and your living and working areas clean in order to prevent illness and disease latrine: a toilet in a camp etc legacy: a situation that exist now because of events etc that took place in the past suspicion: a feeling that somebody has done something wrong, illegal or dishonest, even though you have no proof dedicated: designed to do only one particular type of work consolidate: to make a position of power or success stronger so that It is more likely to continue periodically: usually at regular times expose: to show something that is usually covered or hidden scrutiny: careful and thorough examination warts and all: including all the faults or unpleasant things remuneration: the pay you give someone for something they have done for you burden: something difficult or worrying that you are responsible for continent: a large mass of land surrounded by sea dignity: the ability to behave in a calm controlled way even in a difficult situation hardship: something that makes your life difficult or unpleasant