This project empowers vulnerable rural women by providing training in entrepreneurship and leadership. The women are already organized into village saving groups. They receive training, expert mentorship and long-term monitoring. Earnings from businesses help pay for food, medicines, rent and school expenses. The women will become financially literate, build assets, and acquire leadership skills. With a better income and a local support network, the women will thrive and become self-reliant.
Rural Uganda - home to 86% of the country's 35 million people, remains severely underserved by the financial sector. Only 5% of these rural poor people have access to finance services such as savings and credit. Financial institutions are reluctant to lend to rural farmers because they are regarded as high-risk. This is further enhanced by the high cost of reaching them. Women rural farmers, particularly the lack collateral or financial history that would qualify them to access capital.
Farmers are organized into small groups called Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs). These groups not only increase the resilience of women in rural communities, they also decrease challenges of income, food and healthcare. VSLAs are also a platform for empowering women microentrepreneurs as a pathway to economic freedom and gaining useful leadership skillsets. The farmers also have emergency insurance through these saving groups.
The project will empower 300 poor women, allowing them to create and run profitable small businesses, which will increase incomes among women rural farmers in Uganda. This will increase the chances of paying school fees, reducing school dropouts. It will also help the families meet medical expenses, thus resulting in improved health in the target communities. In the long term, the women will be economically/ socially empowered and self-reliant, resulting in improved gender equity.
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