Uganda // Celebrating literacy
“Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty and a building block of development, an essential complement to investments in roads, dams, clinics, and factories. Literacy is a platform for democratization and a vehicle for the promotion of cultural […]
Why adult education matters
While there are always plenty of smiles to go around at Invisible Children Uganda’s Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) graduation celebrations, Mauricio’s stood out. As chairperson for his savings group, Mauricio couldn’t be prouder of the successes he and his course mates reached upon the completion of the FAL curriculum. “Functional Adult Literacy has helped us […]
Favorite Lessons for FAL Instructors
Invisible Children’s Livelihoods programs work directly with war-affected community members, many of whom never had the chance to receive a real education. Because of this, we create a curriculum to be shared with members of our Village Savings and Loans Associations in order to help them gain basic skills in reading, writing and mathematics. Heard […]
Functional Adult Literacy: Lucky Number 993
Many young people around northern Uganda are completing their academic programs and celebrating the end of the school term, but our celebration this week were all about a different group of learners. 993 members of Invisible Children’s Functional Adult Literacy Program were joined by their families and community leaders during two ceremonies held on Friday […]
Adult Literacy // Gauging Success Rates
“I am ready to pass the exam I will receive today,” Pyerina Okot confidently stated. Her classmates were gathered nearby, pens in hand, anxiously awaiting the papers that their facilitator was preparing to hand out. Pyerina is a member of one of Invisible Children’s Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA). She is taking part in […]
Livelihoods // VSLA groups celebrate their savings
Sophia Akello proudly announced that the money she saved this year will help her put her children through school. She is a shop owner, a mother of nine children and treasurer of her Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) in Gulu District. Sophia and the 29 other members of her savings group recently came together […]
Livelihood: empowering trainers in literacy
Last week the Livelihood team was busy preparing community facilitators to teach basic reading and numeracy skills to the 161 groups in Invisible Children Uganda’s Village Savings and Loan Associations program. Community facilitators are responsible for training the groups in savings, leading adult literacy classes and advising groups on starting up income generating activities. A […]
Uganda: Photo Friday
A graduate of the Functional Adult Literacy course signs her name to an attendance list after a meeting of their Village Savings and Loan Association. Before taking the literacy classes, many members of the group could only sign with a thumbprint. Now they can all write their names.
Groundnuts generate income
Many members of Invisible Children Uganda’s Village Savings and Loan Associations take on Income Generating Activities (IGA) to earn extra income. The groups meet every week to save money together. They pool their earnings and out of that are able to take out loans to start up IGAs like rearing poultry, keeping goats and cows, […]
Catching up to the kids
Patrick Ocan is a member of the Village Savings and Loan Associations group Pur Kwiri Alok, which has the optimistic meaning “there is no loss in farming.” Everyone in the group is a farmer. For many members of the group, life has been about survival. Completing an education had to be put on the back […]