The main objectives included:
1. Carry out capcity building workshops for youths and teachers in Bigwala making, playing and dancing.
2. To develop better documentation. Photographs, audio and video documents of Bigwala.
4. To hold the Bigwala festival and raise awareness.
5. To set an example for other Ugandan societies to participate in safeguarding of their heritage.
Main results:
Bigwala communities were created in 7 villages located in three districts. These include Butyabule, Nakisenyi, Bukakaire, Nabirere and Kiwanhi in Iganga district, Nakibungulya in Kamuli district and Mawanga in Bugiri district. It is those villages that a total of 31 workshops in Bigwala making were done where 67 participants were trained to make. Also, 33 workshops in Bigwala playing were done and 102 instrumentalists were trained. 21 workshops for Bigwala dancing have so far been done and 108 dancers have been trained. These figures so far exceed expectation. Some participants that were identified to be very good performed at the coronation anniversary of king Wilberforce Nadiope Gabula IV at Bugiri town on 13th October 2016.
Photographs, Audio files and DVDs of Bigwala safe guarding activities are being made by NACOFU and her partners as well as individual members of the community. NACOFU has materials from selected workshops covering all seven Bigwala communities that were created. These materials have been and will continue to be accessible to the communities, general public, kingdom officials, radio and television houses. Some were done by Singing Wells and are accessible at www.singingwells.org/stories/central-and-eastern-uganda-day-2-kampala-to-jinja/
The Bigwala festival will be held in 2017 and will planned with Busoga kingdom officials and the king is expected to officiate. Prizes will be given to outstanding players. Business coporates will be attracted to participate in it so that it will become an annual event.
During the festival exhibtions of some Bigwala photographs, CDs and DVDs will take place.
Bigwala project is now a model that is being used to safeguard Kimasa (Royal harp) of Busoga kingdom, Entenga (tuned drums), Endere (flute band), Entamivu (xylophone with drums band) and Amakondere (royal trumpets band) music of Buganda kingdom by NACOFU. This has also attracted a SOAS Masters of Ethnomusicology student (Basile Koechlin) to carry out research about the revival of Entenga royal drums of Buganda kingdom.
The project has awakened enthusiasm among community members, NACOFU officials and teachers. Community members grew gourds that are used to make Bigwala and have earned money from selling them. James Lugolole, the master player got his house renovated from the wages he earned. This has changed lives of members in his family. As a result youths in his neighbourhood are enthused about Bigwala since from it their neighbour’s life has changed. Lugolole then observed that, “I am so happy. I feel now, when I finally die, I will have a hand that has reached back, teaching others the trumpets so the music lives beyond me.”

i. Set up a Project Management Committee (PMC)
II. Encourage communities to grow gourds / buy them
III. Teach youths to make Bigwala
IV. Teach youths to play Bigwala and Forming Bigwala groups
V. Teach youths to dance to Bigwala Music
VI. Document in photographs, audio files and videos
VII. Publicizing Bigwala Music and Dance and the
VIII. Monitoring

Activities included:
The Project Management Committee was set up to decide the course of actions NACOFU, stakeholders and communities were to follow in the safeguarding process. The committee includes members from different stakeholders and this allows the project to benefit from diverse experiences and talents of members on the committee.
At the beginning of the project, gourds that are used to make Bigwala were no longer available in Busoga. It took two months search then we found a lady in Kokoi – Pallisa, Teso (about 200 Kilometers East of Iganga) that had kept long gourds in her house. We bought and used them as the parent gourd. We encouraged members in seven villages – turned into Bigwala communities, to grow the gourds. Seeds were given to a few people and when they harvested we got more seeds that we distributed to everyone that was interested among the communities and taught them how to care for the crops. The project offered a high price as an incentive for the first crop from the communities. The gourds are currently abundant among the communities.
The first crops of gourds were used in workshops to teach youths to make Bigwala at various places in Iganga, Bugiri and Kamuli districts.
Workshops to teach youths to make Bigwala happened first. Some participants learnt quickly and were used by the master players and activity leaders to help more youths learn how to make.
Then workshops for Bigwala playing happened. Blowing the Bigwala was quite challenging and some youths had fears that their mouths would crack. Currently there are seven youth groups each with ten and more players of the Bigwala plus another 5 that play drums. Youths were then taught to dance to Bigwala music authentically. This was easier because the Bigwala dance has similar motifs to other dances in Busoga.
As the project went on, elders that have knowledge about Bigwala heritage showed up and kept on playing leaders’ roles during the activities. Also, whenever youths play, some elders gather and during time of rest, they share with the youths, their past experiences about Bigwala.
These conversations have been documented in audio and audio-visual formats and lead participants photographed for reference. The project has attracted interested and experienced partners to document and publicize the state of Bigwala. For example Singing Wells documented Bigwala youths and published on their website at www.singingwells.org/stories/central-and-eastern-uganda-day-2-kampala-to-jinja/ that is accessed mainly by youths.
The project engaged three FM radio stations based in Busoga including NBS, Busoga1 and Baba FM stations. These have culture programs that have aired project activities, locations of Bigwala communities so far, testimonies of project participants and answered questions of listeners. This helped to disseminate information about Bigwala and the project and have encouraged youths to phone in and ask for clarifications. This has increased knowledge about and interest in the element among the communities.
Information about Bigwala was submitted to the editors of the 2nd anniversary coronation magazine and they included it in the publication. This increased dissemination of information about Bigwala and the project. Bigwala is the only cultural symbol that was written about in detail with recent photographs of youths playing Bigwala in that magazine.
Opportunities for youths to play Bigwala have started and this will increase awareness about Bigwala and raise community interest in the element, particularly youths. Aslo, during that coronation anniversary played drums with the Bigwala youths at their tent. This symbolized the importance of Bigwala and created interest among the youths that saw this act.
The safeguarding experience faced some problems. The search for gourds was the biggest challenge. This was overcome by the hard work of three leading community members including: James Mukama, Godfrey Mugabe and Irene Nabirye that carried out house to house search through Busoga communities until all clues were exhausted. They travelled to Buganda, Bunyoro and finally Teso where one lead enabled them solve the problem. Financial resources were limited but the determination of the communities about this element has played a great role the realization of project benefits.

Communities have been involved in planning interventions at the Project management committee level. The project management committee which is responsible for streamlining and monitoring the actions of the project includes members from the communities. These are Walusimbi Haruna, the Director of Nile Beat Artists, one of the cultural groups that are involved in the safeguarding actions. He is the Bigwala Project Manager. He lives near the Bigwala communities and can reach them any time and has capacity to communicate with the Project Leader. Other Bigwala community members on the committee include: the Chairperson of Namalemba Sub-County Local Council, James Lugolole, the surviving Bigwala master player, Nabirye Irene from Mawanga and Godfrey Mugabe, the Bigwala youths group leader from Bukakaire village. Iganga District Community Development Officer in charge of culture is member of the project management committee. These members generate ideas that inform the actions of the Bigwala project. Some of these members have been involved right from the time of preparing the nomination files.
Communities have participated actively in implementation of activities in different ways such as:
Local Council Leaders have been helpful in mobilizing new Bigwala groups, encouraging people in their villages to grow gourds and speaking strongly about the need to revive not only Bigwala but all endangered cultural idioms of Busoga. In some places, for example in Buwunga Sub County, the Speaker of the Local Council Rev. Magoola promised to include financial support to the Bigwala youth group at Mawanga village in their budget for the next financial year and encouraged members in their community to support this cause. The Sub County representative to Bugiri District Council, Mrs. Bajje offered to become the Patron of that Bigwala group.
New Bigwala groups are growing gourds, seeking guidance on how to care for their crop and make Bigwala out of them. They invite resourceful people in their villages for our meetings / workshops to ensure that their immediate Bigwala community comprises skilled people. This has led to an encouragingly big turn up of men, women, schooling and non-schooling children of all ages, at the Bigwala workshops.
James Mukama, Godfrey Mugabe, Irene Nabirye and other youths searched for seeds up to distant places like Bunyoro, Buganda and Teso other areas that are more than 150 Kilometers away. They went through villages asking from house to house until they found some gourds in Pallisa district. It is these gourds that gave seeds for a new generation of Bigwala gourds.
James Lugolole and the 15 Bigwala youths have moved places encouraging new Bigwala groups, and always talked about the media and international attention they have received so far. Bigwala has been covered by Ugandan (The New Vision and Monitor newspapers), regional (The East African newspaper) and international media like BBC plus Singing Wells; a partner music organization with NACOFU. Bigwala communities always assemble whenever called upon to meet any persons interested in this project thus contributing to further dissemination of the Bigwala cause.

Set up a Project Management Committee (PMC) - Month 1 (USD 300 - Uganda Government)
• Send out invitations for Namalemba Sub-County Headquarter meeting
• Arrange venue and refreshments
• PMC meeting chaired by Namlemba Local leader
• PMC visited Lugolole’s home at Nabirere village
• PMC visited 15 youths that started Bigwala playing at Bukakaire village

Encourage communities to grow gourds/ buy them - Month 1 – 7 (USD 5700 - ICH Fund)
• Community members searched gourds touring places in Busoga and beyond
• Distributed seeds at Bukakaire, Nabitende, Mawanga, Butyabule, Nakisenyi, Nakibungulya and Kiwanhi villages and Guide farmers how to grow gourds
• Visited farmers to monitor progress
• Bought gourds from farmers

Teaching youths to make Bigwala – Month 1 – 9 (USD 40 - Uganda Government + USD 2022 - ICH Fund)
• Identified village leaders to coordinate Bigwala communities
• Selection of 30 youth trainees
• Drew time table for Lugolole, Mukama and Waiswa workshops in different villages
• Communicated time table to all parties involved
• Village leaders organized venues, tents, invited village members, village leaders and refreshments
• Total of 31 Workshops held at Bukakaire, Nabirere, Butyabule, Kiwanhi, Mawanga, Nakibungulya and Nakisenyi villages

Teaching youths to play Bigwala and Forming Bigwala groups – Month 1 – 12 (USD 40 - Uganda Government + USD 10,384 - ICH Fund
• Selected 90 Youths for workshops
• Drew time table for Lugolole, Mukama and Waiswa plus music teachers workshops in different villages
• Communicated time table to all parties involved
• Village leaders organized venues, tents, invited village members, village leaders and refreshments
• Total of 33 Workshops held at Bukakaire, Nabirere, Butyabule, Kiwanhi, Mawanga, Nakibungulya, Nabirere and Nakisenyi villages
• Held month long joint rehearsal at Mufumi Primary School preparing for Kyambazinga’s 2nd coronation anniversary

Teaching youths to dance to Bigwala music – Month 1 – 12 (USD 40 - Uganda Government + USD 6,379 - ICH Fund)
• Selected 90 Youths for dance workshops
• Drew time table for Lugolole, Mukama and Waiswa workshops in different villages
• Communicated time table to all parties involved
• Village leaders organized venues, tents, invited village members, village leaders and refreshments
• Total of 21 Workshops held at Bukakaire, Nabirere, Butyabule, Kiwanhi, Mawanga, Nakibungulya and Nakisenyi villages

Document in photographs, audio files and videos – Month 1 – 12 (USD 900 - NACOFU & her Partners)
• Took photographs of activities
• Recorded audio formats of key activities
• Recorded videos of key activities
• Wrote down and drew sketches of some materials and activites

Publicizing Bigwala Music and Dance and the Project – Month 1 – 12 (USD 460 - NACOFU
• Radio programs on Busoga based NBS, Baba FM and Busoga 1 stations; Bigwala music played and information about element given
• New Vision and Monitor News Papers to featured articles about Bigwala
• Article about Bigwala included in the King’s 2nd coronation anniversary magazine

Monitoring – Month 6 (USD 348 - Uganda Government)
• Iganga District Community Development Officer (IDCDO) led team to monitor randomly selected project area
• IDCDO’s team prepared report with recommendations

Effectiveness of activities done to achieve the results
The project management committee set up was effective because they met and gave direction the project in September 2015, members recieve up dates about the project progress to which they gave suggestions for subsequent actions immediately. They also work in smaller teams to monitor and sent out reports with photographs and other illustrations to the the rest of the members.
Teaching youths to make Bigwala was effective because after the first session workshops, two outstanding participants helped the surviving holder; James Lugolole. Currently, the number of youths able to make Bigwala and teach others to do the same far exceeds the planned 30. However, some youths still find difficulty in tuning the Bigwala, but James Mukama and Waiswa always go out to fine tune.
Teaching youths to play Bigwala was succesful. Many youths wanted to play during the King’s 2nd coronation anniversary on 12th September 2016 at Bugiri but only 45 were invited. It was challenging to select the 45 because this is a small number. The project planned 90 but currently there 102 and excitement is high.
Teaching youths to dance to Bigwala music was successful because the project planned for 90 but have realized 108 boys and girls that learnt to dance Bigwala. This was eased by the fact that the dance has motifs that are in other Basoga dances.
Research about Bigwala continued effectively because during workshops, many elders shared their experiences in group discussions. This gave vital information not only for the implementation of the project but also writings that the project is expect to generate.
Document in photographs, audio files and videos was done and materials are being used.
Encouraging communities to grow gourds was succesful because currently they are easily available among the communities.
Radio programs on Busoga based NBS, Baba FM and Busoga1 stations were succesful because 3/4 of the sampled people talk about hearing information on radio. Writing article about Bigwala in King's 2nd coronation anniversary magazine added to the publicity of the project and showed the status of this heriatge in the kingdom. Attracting partners to document and publicize state of project for example Singing Wells provided information that is accessed to some youths in urban areas as well as the press.
Creating opportunities for youths to play Bigwala is an ongoing activity that partly involved the kingdom and communities. The kingdom invited the players and communities always attended training sessions. Mawanga group have given testimony of increase in number of their performances due to Bigwala.
Use of funds for all activities involved routine processing. All Bigwala communities identified leaders that worked hand in hand with the Project Manager to generate realistic budgets for their activities. Budgets were forwarded to the Project Leader who worked with the Accounts assistant to avail the funds that were always given out on Monday or Friday in case they were refunds. Also, budget lines were given to the project manager to guide communities with and this helped in controlling use of funds.
If the gourds had been available in Busoga, the cost of making gourds could have been cheaper and sooner realized.
Different individuals participated in the project due to their knowledge, ability or position that could contribute to its success. The project was a product of the communities and their enthusiastic participation was noted.