22-Mar-2020

EMPLOYER’S STATEMENT

I Faith Atukwatse hereby give permission to Katusiime Keneth born on 26 Nov 1992 and an Environmental
officer at Pearl Aquatics Limited employed since March 2018 in Uganda to follow the Short course/Master
Programme: [Making Research Work - Solving complex agri-food problems through action research] from 5 –
16 October 2020 in the Netherlands at [ICRA, Wageningen, the Netherlands.]
I declare that;

1. the candidate will continue to be paid a salary during the period for which the scholarship is
awarded;
2. at the end of the scholarship period the candidate will be offered a position at least equivalent to
the one he/she is currently holding;
3. the candidate will not be assigned any tasks during the scholarship period to ensure that he/she
will be full time available for the study programme;
4. I am available to answer questions concerning the scholarship application of this candidate;
5. I am willing to cooperate with the OKP/MSP for evaluation purposes of the programme;
6. the information provided in this letter and attachment is true and correct

A plan to implement the newly acquired knowledge by the candidate is approved by me and attached to this
letter in the prescribed format1.

Signature of the superior of the candidate: Date: 22-Mar-2020

Telephone numbers:
+256 781 370 617/ +256 701 750 534

E-mail address: faith.atukwatse@gmail.com Stamp of the

organization

Website: www.pearl-aquatics.com
The plan to implement the newly acquired knowledge by the candidate

Name of the organization: Pearl Aquatics Limited

Mission statement (max 750 characters): To be the leading fish producer in the region with high quality
complete High Volume Low Density (HDPE) cages utilizing high grade HACCP Certified complete feeds and
high pedigree seed from the best hatcheries.  We have a highly professional and practical team who undertake
the day to day operations and management of the cage production enterprise.
Main activities: (max 3 activities in max 750 characters): Biological and physical suitability studies of our
sites of operation for growing fish through daily monitoring of water quality and fish conditions.

1
Incomplete or incorrect statements inevitably lead to a rejection of the scholarship application. Please be sure that the statement is
submitted on the organization’s official letterhead and is signed and stamped

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  Legally acquire permits of operation by the government of Uganda for the purpose of fish production in
cages
 Provided with and subjected to meticulous, highly professional and experienced management practices
especially in feeding, fish handling, harvesting, and sales.
 Insurance against natural disasters, and other non-management dependent hazards that may result.
 Providing 24hour security for fish, property and personnel.
 Educate and train individual farmers, groups, and offer on-farm consultancy to prospective farmers.
 Pearl Aquatics also handles all logistics from procurement of inputs, negotiations for better prices of
supplies, negotiation with local, regional and international fish buyers.
Do the organisation’s (main) activities fall within any of the following themes? Please tick the box that applies.
Multiple answers are possible.
□ Food & Nutrition Security
□ Water
□ Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights
□ Security, Rule of Law
□ Other. Which theme? ………………….

Data about the candidate who is nominated for a scholarship:

Name of the candidate: Katusiime Keneth
Function: Environmental Officer
Tasks: Water quality monitoring, ensuring sanitation and general cleanliness on the site of operation,
identification of potential threats to water quality on farm operational sites, providing possible mitigation
measures to all environmental concerns, and periodic report compilation on environmental concerns.
Relevance of the study programme:
What knowledge and skills are to be developed by the candidate and why?
a. Relevance for the candidate: [50-1000 characters]
Basing on the structure the ICRA programme on Making Research work is based on, it’s without any
doubt that I believe Keneth will be skilled on conducting research to inform action, to prove a theory,
and contribute to developing knowledge in the field of fish farming. Significantly this study will impact
skills in the following:
 Knowledge on building tools for facilitating data collection, interpretation and analysis.
 Developing means to understand various issues and increase public awareness through research.
 Developing an Aid to business success.
 Knowledge in creating a way to prove lies and to support truths as concerning this farming business
especially on potential threats to environment on areas of fish production.
 Ability to define means to find, gauge, and seize opportunities.
 A seed to love reading, writing, analysing, and sharing valuable information.
 Lastly, the study will provide a nourishment and exercise for the candidate’s mind.
b. Relevance for the employing organization: [50-1000 characters]
Pearl Aquatics Limited is basically involved in ensuring high quality production of fish food to the
community, we believe this study will enable the candidate to be able to contribute to the success of the
company’s production rate. This will be successful once the above and more skills are impacted in the
candidate making him able to do applied research in relation to environment more especially the water
where the company’s production is based. He will be able to enhance his skills in proper monitoring of
basic water quality parameters of dissolved oxygen, temperatures, pH, and salinity to ensure proper fish
growth. Also he will gain more skills in how to handle research on anthropogenic threats to this food
production and value addition chain.

The candidate is expected to implement the newly acquired knowledge and skills no later than 6 months after
successful completion of the study.
Please include a plan of activities below, including their objectives and along a timeline. Please be as specific as
possible. You are advised to use the SMART method.

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Plan of activities:
Objective
Conceptualisation
Training of other employees in
same field
Field implentation of the
acquired knowledge
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Activity Period of implementation
Candidate will be given time to 30 days
review the skills and knowledge
learnt in preparation for
training others and practice
Train others on the basic 30 days.
knowledge acquired from this
study programme.
To enhance our ways of practice 120 days
especially in data collection
strategies, research, and
reporting.