They are often called “The sleeping giants” – the women of Africa!
Efficient, hard-working, responsible for their children’s school fees and food – and yet without respect and equal rights in their families and villages. Men still dominate, although women could do a lot to solve some problems.
The association “Friends of Uganda” and its partner organization “Voluntary Action for Development” have been working for 30 years to leverage this hidden potential – through income generation measures.
Training, start-up financing and small savings associations (SACCOs) have enabled around 500 women in the region in northern Uganda to earn their own income. With their harvests from agriculture, with chicken and pig farming, corn and fish products, they want to give their lives a new perspective.
In the neglected north of the former war zone of the “Lord Resistanc Army” with its notorious child soldiers, this market could serve as a model.
Now, with the help of the Schöck-Familien-Stiftung, the last step to improve the living situation is to be taken – a separate market in the nearby provincial town is intended to make the women independent of the low prices offered by wholesalers and generate income for them.
Project sponsor: Friends of Uganda eV
Project partner: Voluntary Action for Development (VAD), Uganda
Funding year: since 2021
Project no.: 136-21sa