ONC PDM Monitoring : 86-Year-Old Luweero Beneficiary Shows Funds Can Transform Any Life

At 86 years of age, Lameka Jjingo has become one of the most unlikely but most compelling success stories to emerge from Uganda’s Parish Development Model, proving that the drive to build a better life does not diminish with age.

Jjingo, a resident of Kikoma Village in Wobulenzi Central Parish, Wobulenzi Town Council in Luweero District, received UGX 1,000,000 through the PDM programme in 2023 and channelled the entire amount into establishing a beekeeping enterprise. Three years on, the apiary is producing honey, generating a steady income, and giving the elderly man a sense of economic purpose that many his age might have long surrendered.

The investment was deliberate and well considered. Jjingo purchased beehives and the necessary equipment, recognising that beekeeping demanded relatively little physical labour while offering reliable returns over time. For a man of his age, the choice reflected both practical wisdom and an understanding of what his body could sustain without compromising the productivity of the enterprise.

“The government has given me a chance to improve my life and continue working. I am grateful,” Jjingo said, his words carrying the quiet satisfaction of someone who refused to be written off by age or circumstance.

The apiary has grown steadily since its establishment. Honey production has provided him with income to meet household needs, reducing his dependence on others and restoring a degree of financial autonomy that the programme’s architects say is central to PDM’s broader philosophy of self-reliance.

His story has not gone unnoticed in the community. Neighbours and fellow beneficiaries have looked on with a mixture of admiration and inspiration, with several reportedly reconsidering how they approach their own PDM investments after witnessing what Jjingo built from a single million shillings and a clear plan.

The findings were documented by Mawejje Nsonzi Peter, the ONC Muzzukulu Coordinator for Greater Luweero, during a field monitoring exercise designed to track how PDM beneficiaries are utilising their funds and whether the investments are translating into measurable household improvement.

Jjingo’s case stood out not simply because of his age, but because of the deliberate, sustainable nature of the enterprise he chose. Beekeeping requires patience, consistency, and an eye for long-term returns rather than quick gains, qualities that the coordinator noted Jjingo demonstrated from the outset.

The Parish Development Model, launched by the Government of Uganda under the National Development Plan III framework, targets the bottom 39 percent of Ugandan households, channelling funds directly to parish-level groups to stimulate economic activity at the grassroots. Luweero District, like many others across the country, has seen a mixed range of outcomes depending on how beneficiaries choose to deploy their allocations.

Jjingo’s apiary represents the kind of outcome the programme was designed to produce: a household that is more economically secure than it was before, led by a beneficiary who invested with intention rather than impulse. At 86, he continues to tend to his enterprise, a quiet but powerful rebuke to the assumption that old age and economic productivity cannot coexist.

He has a message for others who have received PDM funds and are yet to invest wisely. “Use the money for something that will keep working for you,” he said. “Do not waste what the government has given you.”

His story, documented from the hills of Luweero, is now part of a growing body of evidence that the Parish Development Model, when embraced with discipline and vision, can reach even the most vulnerable members of Uganda’s communities and return results that extend well beyond the shilling value of the original grant.

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