Jane Akot (right), a junior business advisor for TechnoServe, discusses farming techniques with a member of TechnoServe’s Conservation Cotton Initiative. TechnoServe partners with Invisible Children to provide adult literacy training and help communities dig boreholes for drinking water.

Years of peace in northern Uganda have brought hope and opportunities for improved livelihood to the communities there.

Wednesday, World Vision in partnership with Gulu District and the Acholi Peace Initiative held an event for International Peace Day. Invisible Children Uganda (ICU) was invited to have a booth at the event to display our Mend bags and information on our programs. A lot of visitors were surprised and impressed to learn that we are making such high quality products here in northern Uganda. We think that this is only the beginning.

Collines, a Legacy Scholarship Program university student, marches in the parade during the Peace Day celebrations in Gulu

ICU partners with other organizations to create economic opportunities that will lead to sustained peace in the region. One of those partners, TechnoServe, has worked with farmers to improve their incomes through the Conservation Cotton Initiative. ICU has worked with them to facilitate Village Savings and Loan Associations, Functional Adult Literacy classes and drilling of boreholes to provide communities with clean water. You can read about the transformation that has happened in northern Uganda in this Peace Day blog post from TechnoServe.

But don’t take our word for it. See what VSLA chairman Odong Robert says peace means to him.

VSLA Chairman Odong Robert talks about Peace from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.