Photo Friday // VSLA Groups Turn Words into Action
At their yearly action audits, members of Invisible Children’s Village Savings and Loan Associations reflect on the challenges they faced during the savings cycle, discuss best practices for managing their money and consider what they learned along the way. One of the major takeaways often centers around empowerment. All of the participants of our VSLA […]
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 […]
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 […]
Delivering Educational Empowerment
ICU’s Livelihoods team has been visiting Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) groups in northern Uganda this week to deliver educational materials for our Adult Literacy program. The supplies support the programs’ mission of providing literacy, numeracy and writing training for members of VSLA groups. The materials include large pads of paper, chalk, tape and a chalkboard eraser. Each group […]
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 […]
Adult Literacy: doing business better
Alaro Ida remembers trying to run her own income generating activity even before joining one of Invisible Children Uganda’s (ICU) Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA). She would buy corn from a farmer in the village and then take it to the trading center to sell it at a mark-up price. She also sold peanut […]
Village Savings: building a business
It all started with a small loan. Abwono Milly is a member of one of Invisible Children Uganda’s Village Savings and Loan Associations, and she recently started up her own business with a loan she took from the group. Milly took a loan (about $3), added it to some of her personal savings (about $2), […]
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.
Learning from the best
“You might think your mother is the best cook in the whole world, until you try eating from your neighbors house.” These were the words of Susan, one of the participants during Invisible Children Uganda’s (ICU) Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) exchange visit to in Pader district. Susan was explaining how important it is […]
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, […]