GlobalGiving Project of the Month Club

This month, we're supporting a project from Kudvumisa Foundation that is helping families turn local skills and resources into sources of income, creating more room for choices about food, schooling, health care, and the future.

In the communities where Kudvumisa Foundation works, earning an income isn't simply a matter of finding a job or bringing something to market. There is little local economy to participate in, many families don't have access to enough land for subsistence farming, and larger markets can be hundreds of kilometers away. Transportation costs alone can make selling goods elsewhere unrealistic.

And yet, there are skills, knowledge, and resources already present. Kudvumisa Foundation starts there.

The organization works with community members to identify skills and natural resources that could reach markets beyond the local area, then helps build the connections and infrastructure needed to get them there. Participants also receive business and skills training to help them manage and grow what they earn.

So far, more than 150 families have participated in programs drawing on sewing skills and locally available resources such as marula nuts and moringa.

Their crawfish initiative connects community members who fish crawfish to local restaurants. Their Marula Oil production (made from the Native Marula plant) is sold in stores across Eswatini and now into the States. For supporters abroad, their U.S. e-shop remains open, giving customers around the world a vital way to buy directly: www.dvumisacreative.com 

The work isn't about bringing an entirely new livelihood into a community. It's about creating pathways for what people already know, grow, make, and do to carry greater economic possibility.

And income can open choices that extend far beyond a single sale.

It can mean being able to pay school costs or buy better-quality food. It can help cover health care, clothing, or livestock. It can be reinvested into a small business or into improvements at home. Over time, families have more ability to decide for themselves what they need and where their resources should go.

That's what makes this month's project about more than income alone. In a place where geography, transportation costs, and limited economic infrastructure can narrow people's options, access to a market can widen them again.

Daran Rehmeyer, Director of the Kudvumisa Foundation, shared this upon learning of their selection as this month's featured project: 

“We are extremely proud of our staff that make our outreaches a success. Our selection validates their hard work and commitment. This grant will enable us to expand participation to include even more families and caregivers. This is what it means to be truly alive and not just existing: having a real impact in the lives of those you serve!”

Project of the Month Club support will help Kudvumisa Foundation continue identifying local opportunities, developing connections to outside markets, and providing the training and infrastructure families need to participate in them.

Sometimes possibility doesn't need to be brought in from somewhere else. Sometimes it's already there, in a skill, a seed, a tree, or a person's own knowledge of what they can do.

It just needs a path to travel.

Thank you for helping create more of those paths.

Until next time,

Yami + Raghuvendra