Stories from the Field Archives - Village Enterprise https://villageenterprise.org/blog/category/stories-from-the-field/ Thu, 13 Jun 2024 23:22:59 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://villageenterprise.org?v=1.0 https://villageenterprise.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/cropped-logo-16-173x173.png Stories from the Field Archives - Village Enterprise https://villageenterprise.org/blog/category/stories-from-the-field/ 32 32 Thriving together: How new enterprises around Kibale National Park are reducing poverty and saving endangered chimpanzees https://villageenterprise.org/blog/thriving-together/ https://villageenterprise.org/blog/thriving-together/#respond Mon, 22 Apr 2024 01:41:09 +0000 https://villageenterprise.org/?p=21493 Ending extreme poverty in Africa means more than simply striving for an economic goal—it also means ensuring everyone has the...

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Ending extreme poverty in Africa means more than simply striving for an economic goal—it also means ensuring everyone has the opportunity to build sustainable livelihoods where both people and the planet can thrive together.

That’s why we’re thrilled to announce on Earth Day new funding from the Arcus Foundation to expand Village Enterprise’s PARKS project in Kibale National Park, Uganda!

The Poverty Alleviation and Removal of Kibale Snares (PARKS) project, implemented in partnership with Ngogo Chimpanzee Project, was launched in 2021 with funding from the Arcus Foundation to reduce extreme poverty among rural communities near Kibale National Park and to protect one of the largest remaining populations of endangered East African chimpanzees and their habitat. Without opportunities to earn sustainable incomes, households living in extreme poverty near the park have often relied on illegal hunting and lumbering in order to provide for their families. Village Enterprise works to equip these communities with the training, startup funding, and ongoing business mentoring to launch businesses that do not harm vital ecosystems in and around Kibale National Park. As a result, households are able to earn greater incomes, break the cycle of extreme poverty, and become stewards of their environment.

 

An East African chimpanzee in Uganda. Photo credit: ©Annette Lanjouw / Arcus Foundation.

PARKS impact to date

Three years into this project, PARKS has already made a tangible impact in the Kibale National Park region. To date, Village Enterprise has trained 3,823 entrepreneurs (63% of whom are women) who have worked together in groups of three to launch 1,077 businesses in the area. As a result of their businesses, more than 20,000 lives have been impacted as these new business owners lift themselves and their families onto a sustainable pathway out of extreme poverty.

 

 

On top of these outcomes, Village Enterprise has helped establish 109 business savings groups (BSGs) as part of the PARKS project. The BSGs are a crucial part of our poverty graduation model—giving entrepreneurs a community where they are encouraged to put away savings on a weekly basis. They also provide an important safety net as entrepreneurs are able to access greater capital in the form of loans that they can take out in case of emergency or to further expand their business.

Last year, Village Enterprise also introduced a new component to strengthen the climate and conservation pillar of this project: conservation champions. Within each BSG, a conservation champion is selected, trained on conservation practices, and then equipped to share their expertise with BSG and community members. Together with their village, the conservation champion creates a tailored conservation plan for their community that supports the protection of wildlife and vital ecosystems. The conservation champions then work with fellow BSG members to ensure all newly-launched businesses are environmentally-friendly and conduct follow-up meetings to ensure actionable steps have been taken—at both the household and community level—towards achieving the village’s conservation plan. To date, Village Enterprise has trained and empowered 52 conservation champions.

 

Patrick, a conservation champion in Kasozi Village, leads a session with his business savings group on the importance of conservation.

On top of launching businesses to reduce the need for illegal hunting, and introducing conservation messaging to reduce habitat destruction, PARKS is taking another proactive measure to ensure the local population of endangered East African chimpanzees is protected. Through Ngogo Chimpanzee Project’s work on the project, 824 hunting snares have been removed from Kibale National Park. With active monitoring of park borders, anti-poaching patrols, and the removal of snares, PARKS aims to continue seeing diminished hunting in and around the park and an increase in the overall chimpanzee population.

 

Meet two extraordinary entrepreneurs

Wilson from Katabe Village

Prior to joining Village Enterprise, Wilson, 55, relied on farming and casual labor to provide for his eight children. His crops—which he planted in the wetlands of Mpanga in Kibale National Park—yielded very little each season and, unbeknownst to him, began to degrade the swamp’s ecosystem.

As Village Enterprise provided training on how to launch a sustainable business, the conservation messaging struck home for Wilson. He realized he needed to play an active role in restoring the wetlands and quickly got to work. By moving his crops inland and utilizing innovative farming techniques to maximize his smaller plot of land, Wilson began growing and selling cabbages, zucchini, and tomatoes, allowing the wetlands to naturally restore themselves. With his profits, Wilson diversified his income sources by launching a beekeeping business in the area. Not only does it provide a secondary source of income throughout the year, but the bees help pollinate gardens in the area and keep out roaming elephants, preventing a loss of damaged crops and reducing the chances of potential human-wildlife conflict.

 

Wilson operates his beekeeping business near Kibale National Park.

With the guidance of the conservation champion from his BSG, Wilson was also able to use some of his business profits to build energy-saving cooking stoves and plant 50 mango trees. Because these cooking stoves are more efficient than traditional stoves, they require less firewood which helps reduce the need for sourcing lumber. Additionally, the mango trees contribute both to the area’s biodiversity, and the fruit can be sold for profit or supplement his household’s food reserves. With his conservation champion’s guidance, Wilson has been able to restore the natural habitat around his community, and utilize the natural resources available in a way that does not harm the environment.

 

Left: Wilson stands in his garden and gathers tomatoes from his latest harvest. Right: Wilson stands among some of the mango trees he planted.

Wilson’s businesses have not only advanced conservation and habitat restoration, but they’ve impacted his own life and the lives of his children as well. Using his business profits, he’s been able to pay school fees for all of his children and has bought two cows and five goats. He plans to start selling their milk and offspring with the hopes of finishing a new home.

 

Wilson standing next to his first permanent house that he’s begun to build.

Grace from Busoro Hamusoko Village

Grace, 49, found farming increasingly difficult due to the unpredictable weather in her village brought on by climate change. As a single mother to nine children, she struggled to make enough money to provide for her children’s basic needs, such as consistent meals or paying for all of their school fees. But this all began to change when she joined Village Enterprise.

Through the training she received on business diversification, Grace knew that she needed to have multiple sources of income in order to build resilience and mitigate the risks caused by climate change. Together with her two business partners, they first launched a retail store selling household goods and food staples, and quickly used their profits to expand into goat rearing and growing maize. Collectively, these three businesses will support Grace and her business partners throughout the year as the weather patterns fluctuate.

 

Grace, left, with her two business partners in their retail store.

With additional training on the importance of conservation near Kibale National Park, Grace’s conservation champion also helped her plant coffee trees in the area. Not only will these trees contribute to reforestation and bolstering the ecosystem, but harvesting coffee beans from the trees will be yet another source of income that Grace can use to support her family.

Already, Grace has been able to pay school fees for her children and provide them with increased and more nutritious meals. Her dream is to be able to continue saving up enough to send all of her children to university, as well as build a new house. Through her hard work, creativity, and determination, she is well on her way.

 

The future of PARKS

With the new funding from the Arcus Foundation, 1,890 more entrepreneurs like Wilson and Grace will be equipped with the training, startup capital, and business mentoring to launch 630 environmentally-friendly businesses and lift themselves out of extreme poverty. The funding also provides resources for removing snares, furthering conservation messaging through 42 additional conservation champions, and implementing anti-poaching patrols to reduce illegal hunting and lumbering. As a result of these conservation efforts and the businesses launched, not only will 12,600 lives be transformed, but Kibale National Park’s ecosystem will be better safeguarded, and the population of endangered East African chimpanzees will be better protected.

By empowering local communities to launch sustainable business ventures, PARKS is providing a critical link between conservation efforts and the fight against extreme poverty in rural Africa. When individuals like Wilson and Grace are given the opportunity to thrive economically while preserving their natural environment, it not only enhances their livelihoods but contributes to building a sustainable future for all.

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Extraordinary women, extraordinary entrepreneurs https://villageenterprise.org/blog/extraordinary-women-extraordinary-entrepreneurs/ https://villageenterprise.org/blog/extraordinary-women-extraordinary-entrepreneurs/#respond Thu, 07 Mar 2024 20:05:56 +0000 https://villageenterprise.org/?p=21184 At Village Enterprise, we know that when women have opportunities to launch sustainable businesses, save for the future, and take...

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At Village Enterprise, we know that when women have opportunities to launch sustainable businesses, save for the future, and take on leadership positions, everyone benefits—children, families, and entire communities. That’s why 83% of the entrepreneurs we serve are women.

This International Women’s Day, we hope you’ll join us as we take a look at four of our extraordinary entrepreneurs across East Africa and celebrate their hard work and determination to build brighter futures for themselves and their families.

 

Joanne from Mt. Elgon, Kenya

In the mountainous region of western Kenya, Joanne, 52, and her husband take care of five children and four grandchildren. After completing training through Village Enterprise and Days for Girls in 2021, Joanne launched a business making and selling washable menstrual pads—a cost-effective and environmentally-friendly solution for a region without widespread access to feminine hygiene products.

Joanne was part of a unique project designed to help women from coffee-growing communities in Mt. Elgon break cycles of extreme poverty while also dismantling menstrual health stigmas. Funded by The Starbucks Foundation, Village Enterprise and Days for Girls sought to improve the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors toward menstrual heath as well as worked to ensure women like Joanne could overcome barriers and launch vital businesses needed by the community.

Joanne (right) inside her store with Village Enterprise Field Coordinator Carolyne Wafula.

Along with her two business partners, who are also women, Joanne began selling their menstrual pads to nearby schools in Mt. Elgon. As a result of their efforts—and those of similar businesses started by the project—more girls in their community have been able to stay in school now that they have necessary feminine hygiene products. Women have reported an increase in self-confidence, self-respect, and self-reliance, and this project’s training on menstrual health has also led to a reduction in teen pregnancies. In fact, prior to the program, roughly 300 girls in the area dropped out of school each year because they became pregnant. But after the program, the number dropped significantly in 2022 to 60 girls. In 2023, after the program had formally ended, it continued to drop again—this time to just 28 students. As of 2024, data from the Mt. Elgon Sub-county Ministry of Education shows that enrollment for girls in high school has surpassed that for boys in the area.

Not only did Joanne’s business meet a critical need for female students, it also began slowly sparking conversations among men on menstrual health and the societal stigmas facing women. As fathers in the community witnessed the positive impact of Joanne’s initiative on their daughters’ lives, attitudes toward menstrual health began to change.

While the project between Village Enterprise and Days for Girls concluded after two years, the impact continues. The transformative influence of Joanne’s business has extended to her own life as well. Not only is she no longer living in extreme poverty, but she’s used her profits to renovate her home, purchase livestock, and pay school fees for her children. Her confidence has grown with her business success and she now sees herself as an important voice in the community, earning respect from local leaders.

Joanne standing outside of her home which she’s been able to build using the profits from her business.

As part of The Starbucks Foundation’s goal to positively impact 1 million women and girls in coffee-, tea-, and cocoa-growing communities, The Starbucks Foundation and Village Enterprise are continuing to increase income and savings and build resilience for an additional 500 women in Mt. Elgon’s coffee-growing communities by equipping first-time entrepreneurs with the tools and resources to reach their full potential and pursue their dreams.

To date, The Starbucks Foundation has empowered more than 2,400 female entrepreneurs to launch sustainable businesses through Village Enterprise, transforming the lives of more than 16,000 women, men, and children in Mt. Elgon. On top of this impact, over 8,000 women and girls have been reached in the region with cost-effective and sustainable menstrual health products. The generational impact of this will only continue to grow as more young girls continue to have unburdened access to school.

 

Sharon from Agago, Uganda

Before joining Village Enterprise, Sharon never imagined that she could be a leader in her community. But now, she’s proud to be one, and she’s helping other women to become leaders, too.

One of the core components of Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation model is business savings groups. Composed of 30 entrepreneurs, these groups meet weekly throughout our entire program to build savings and foster community as members support one another on their journeys to becoming first-time business owners. When the time came to select a chairperson for their business savings group, Sharon was nominated by her friend. As the votes poured in from her fellow members, they all voted in agreement: Sharon would be their first chairperson and leader.

Sharon stands with livestock she’s purchased with the profits from her business.

Although she was nervous of her newfound position and responsibilities, Sharon was able to overcome her nerves through Village Enterprise’s leadership training. Her Village Enterprise business mentor also worked with her, teaching skills on how to lead people, manage group meetings, and navigate public speaking. “Because of how much I have grown through Village Enterprise, I am encouraging other women to start taking leadership positions at any level, not to shy away, but to take courage and practice the leadership skills that Village Enterprise has taught us,” said Sharon. “The training that we received has enabled us to move from nowhere, to somewhere.”

On top of growing into her own as an effective and influential leader in her community, Sharon’s business has been tremendously successful. She’s been able to use her profits to purchase household assets—such as solar panels, a bicycle, utensils, a radio, goats and pigs—and she’s currently saving up with her husband to purchase an ox which they plan to use for starting their own household farming business.

 

Halima from Dollo Ado, Ethiopia

Due to the prolonged droughts in southeastern Ethiopia, all of Halima’s livestock perished. With no other option but to rebuild her life elsewhere, Halima arrived at the Heleweyn Refugee Settlement as an internally displaced person along with her nine children. Without a way to earn an income, Halima relied on food from humanitarian aid organizations and asking distant relatives for help, but this was often not enough, and she and her family were left to live on less than $1 USD per day. This took a toll on Halima both physically and emotionally, as she was constantly worried about meeting her family’s basic needs.

Halima and her two business partners at their retail store where they sell honey, vegetables, and other groceries.

But near the end of 2023, everything changed as Halima was selected for DREAMS. This award-winning model combines Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation program with Mercy Corps’ expertise in Market Systems Development to better serve refugees and their host communities and help them build sustainable livelihoods. Halima was part of the first cohort of DREAMS entrepreneurs as the model launched in Ethiopia thanks to funding from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and the IKEA Foundation.

Through DREAMS, Halima learned not only how to operate a business, but the leadership, communication, and financial literacy skills to make her business successful. Together with two women, Halima opened a retail store selling honey and was connected with local suppliers to enhance the overall market system. But since the honey supply naturally fluctuated with the season’s availability, they also started a second business of buying and selling goats. Together, their two businesses have been so successful that they were able to expand their original honey business into a store that also sells vegetables and other groceries.

“Today is a different day to celebrate. I remember sitting at home without work, now I am actively running a business,” said Halima, reflecting on how much her life has changed since joining Village Enterprise. “I can send my children to better healthcare services if need be, my family’s living standard and decision making has improved, and my social status has been raised.”

Halima and her business partners have enjoyed setting goals together and sharing responsibilities as their business grows. Having only been in the program for six months, they’ve come so far from where they started and their journey of transformation has only just begun. “I am quite confident of our future,” said Halima. “I want to be among the best entrepreneurs selling honey and goats in the village, and I also want to inspire other women.”

 

Emerance from Rulindo, Rwanda

Before joining Village Enterprise, Emerance and her two business partners, Lucie and Domithile, were farmers for survival. They grew Irish potatoes, but their harvests often did not yield enough to adequately feed themselves and their families. But now, their business called “Bright Future ” is one of the most successful in their village.

Emerance (right) with her business partners, Lucie (left) and Domithile (center), standing in their retail and tailoring store.

Through Village Enterprise, Emerance learned basic business skills and how to diversify income streams, but the most important thing she learned was the culture of savings and how to invest into her business to help it grow. She started selling shoes because there was demand for a shoe store in her community, but after taking a loan through her business savings group—and later successfully paying it off in full—she expanded her business to sell fabrics, which she can also tailor for customers. Recently, she and her business partners also invested in chickens, which will serve as a third way to bring in income. Emerance and her business partners continue to keep a keen eye on other gaps in the market that their business could fill and are determined to become the most successful entrepreneurs in the area.

Emerance is proud of their business success so far, but even more proud of her ability to better provide for her children. Not only has she been able to send her three children back to school, but she’s even able to afford to send them all to private school. Confident that the quality of private education will better serve her children in the long run and provide more opportunities, Emerance knows the fees are worth it for their futures. Her business partner, Lucie, has also been able to use their business profits to care for her sister’s two children, both of whom have disabilities.

Emerance, Lucie, and Domithile each share a sense of pride when reflecting on where they started from. Where they used to depend entirely on their husbands, now they’re the ones providing for household needs and feeding their children. As they look to the future, Emerance and her team want to pay it forward, too. “We want to teach other young women how to become entrepreneurs,” said Emerance. That’s the power of entrepreneurship—not only does it transform the lives of business owners and their families, but the positive impact continues to ripple outward to neighbors, communities, and generations to come.

 

Joanne, Sharon, Halima, and Emerance are just four of the 275,000 entrepreneurs who have launched businesses through Village Enterprise, transforming over 1.65 million lives across East Africa. Together with your support, Village Enterprise can invest in empowering millions of more women to break the cycle of extreme poverty and build brighter futures for themselves and their families.

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Mercy’s Story: How KSEIP Helped Her Dream Again https://villageenterprise.org/blog/mercys-story-how-kseip-helped-her-dream-again/ https://villageenterprise.org/blog/mercys-story-how-kseip-helped-her-dream-again/#respond Mon, 16 Oct 2023 20:48:43 +0000 https://villageenterprise.org/?p=20816 As a child, what did you dream of becoming when you grew up? For Mercy, she dreamed of a career...

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As a child, what did you dream of becoming when you grew up?

For Mercy, she dreamed of a career doing something she loved, but extreme poverty prevented her from pursuing these ambitions—her work options were limited to whatever job she could find in Kenya to earn an income and provide for her family. But through Village Enterprise, she’s reclaiming her career dreams and, for the first time in a long time, getting excited about what her future holds.

Several years ago, Mercy—who is now 39 years old and a mother of five—landed a job in a textile factory in downtown Nairobi. Even though it was two hours away from home and the pay was minimal, it was still an income. But a serious health issue forced her to quit her job and move back home to Mbooni, Kenya—a rural region where work opportunities are scarce and income inconsistent. Now depending entirely on her husband as the sole provider for their household, money grew tight and her family struggled financially. They began skipping meals to make their food reserves last longer, and they couldn’t afford school fees for all of their children.

At one point, Mercy—still struggling with her health issues, but determined to provide for her family—found work by making gravel. Day in and day out, she would crush large stones with a hammer in exchange for an average of 100KES ($0.67 USD) per day. To her, this was a low point in her life. She had dreamed of living comfortably with her family and working a career that brought her joy and fulfillment, but that felt impossibly far out of reach.

Mercy in front of uniforms that she printed through her business

But everything changed for Mercy when she was enrolled in the Kenya Social and Economic Inclusion Project (KSEIP) and began Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation program. KSEIP, launched in 2019 and funded by The World Bank, is a five-year collaboration between Village Enterprise, the Government of Kenya, the Global Development Incubator (GDI), and BOMA. The goal is to support the Government of Kenya as they begin to formally integrate a poverty graduation approach into their existing social protection programs. In doing so, KSEIP has the potential to provide millions of Kenyans with a reliable and sustainable pathway out of extreme poverty.

Mercy standing with Village Enterprise’s KSEIP Program Implementation Manager Isaiah Lekesike (far left), her Village Enterprise Business Mentor Martin Muendo (second to the right), and Jackson Muraguri, County Program Manager with the Global Development Incubator (far right)

Over the past four years, Village Enterprise has been training the government on all aspects of our poverty graduation model—from targeting households and establishing business savings groups to best practices in mentorship, technology, and curriculum development. During this time, the Government of Kenya’s role has primarily focused on observing Village Enterprise and learning-by-doing by participating in implementation activities such as mentoring and training. However, starting in November 2023, the roles will begin to shift—Village Enterprise will transition from directly implementing the program to supporting the Government of Kenya as they put everything they’ve learned into practice and begin implementing the program across the country. By providing ongoing technical assistance, Village Enterprise will continue to ensure that programming remains consistent with industry standards and best practices, and entrepreneurs like Mercy have the best resources they need to thrive.

True to Mercy’s creative personality and innovative thinking, she launched an incredibly unique business through KSEIP. Instead of starting a retail, farming, or livestock business like many first-time business owners in Village Enterprise, Mercy opened her very own printing business. Having originally thought of the idea while working in Nairobi, Mercy never dreamed it would be possible given her situation, but Martin, her Village Enterprise Business Mentor, believed in her and encouraged her to pursue her passion. Using custom screens and ink, Mercy prints designs and official logos on clothes and uniforms for local schools, businesses, and NGOs. And as the only printing business anywhere nearby, she’s thriving.

Mercy’s employee holding one of the shirts they printed for a local primary school (above). A table displaying some of the equipment Mercy uses to print (below).

Using the skills she learned through Village Enterprise and under the guidance of her business mentor, Mercy has been able to set up a value chain transporting supplies all the way from Nairobi to Mbooni. Not only has this made her business as efficient and cost-effective as possible, but it has allowed her to actively make connections with partners and tailors in the region and set the groundwork for her to expand her business as demand grows. With the flurry of exceptional feedback and increased orders from customers, Mercy is excited about what’s next—she dreams of expanding her skillset and one day becoming a designer herself, creating and printing her own designs. With the profits from her business, she’s already been able to purchase a smartphone and plans to set up an online store or social media account for her business. She’s also currently saving up for a sewing machine to take her business to the next level.

But for Mercy, having a thriving business isn’t the only thing that matters to her—she wants to use her success to help others. “When I started my business, the first thing to come into my mind was about others,” said Mercy. “I had a rough journey…so why can’t I involve others to make money like me?”

Having already hired two people from her community, she’s now mentoring them on her printing trade and helping them on their own journeys out of extreme poverty. In her vision for the future, she hopes to eventually employ and mentor dozens of other people through her business.

Mercy with two people from her community that she’s hired and started to mentor through her business
Several of the screens that Mercy and her team use to print designs

“KSEIP stands out as a distinctive program within Kenya,” said Isaiah Lekesike, KSEIP Program Implementation Manager at Village Enterprise. “It presents the country with a valuable opportunity to implement an initiative that has already demonstrated promising outcomes in addressing extreme poverty.” Through KSEIP, Village Enterprise has already trained 3,698 first-time business owners like Mercy who have launched sustainable, climate-smart businesses in their communities, making a real and lasting impact for generations to come.

KSEIP is part of a larger collective action strategy for Village Enterprise. While Village Enterprise provides the industry’s most cost-effective poverty graduation model compared to those independently and rigorously evaluated by a randomized controlled trial (RCT), it is African governments who are best equipped with the infrastructure and systems to significantly and effectively scale poverty graduation programs, helping to reach millions of people and empowering them to end extreme poverty in Africa once and for all. “By partnering with governments, we hold the key to a monumental shift—envisioning an Africa free from poverty, all in the span of a single generation,” said Taddeo Muriuki, Chief Government Relations Officer at Village Enterprise.

The Village Enterprise KSEIP team in Taita Taveta recently celebrating their two-year anniversary working in this community

Mercy has come a long way since having to crush stones into gravel for money. All of her school-aged children are now back in school, her family is eating consistent and nutritious meals, and she feels incredibly proud of the life she’s been able to build in such a short time. As she reflects on her journey, she credits her success in part to her own innate determination to create a better life for her and her children, but especially to her business mentor, Martin, who’s believed in her from the start. “He’s helped me think bigger, to see what’s possible,” said Mercy. With his mentorship and encouragement, and Village Enterprise’s training and support, Mercy’s confident she now has everything she needs to achieve her dreams.

Mercy outside of her printing business

 

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Susan’s Story: DREAMS and Hope for the Future https://villageenterprise.org/blog/susans-story-dreams-and-hope-for-the-future/ https://villageenterprise.org/blog/susans-story-dreams-and-hope-for-the-future/#respond Tue, 20 Jun 2023 16:06:35 +0000 https://villageenterprise.org/?p=20608 On World Refugee Day, we’re taking a closer look at how DREAMS is reimagining refugee relief and impacting the lives...

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On World Refugee Day, we’re taking a closer look at how DREAMS is reimagining refugee relief and impacting the lives of hundreds of thousands of refugees like Susan.

In northwestern Uganda, the Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement is home to over 120,000 refugees who have fled conflict, environmental disasters, or other significant shocks in their home countries. One of the refugees living in Rhino Camp is Susan, a 40-year-old widow with four children, who also looks after her nephew and grandchild.

During the war in South Sudan, Susan was forced to flee her home in 2018. After making the difficult journey to Rhino Camp in Uganda, she was provided only a single tarp for shelter. Together with her children, she constructed a small grass-thatched house using grass they found and bricks they made themselves. Unfortunately, termites found their way into her home and began eating away at its structure, causing water to leak in whenever it rained. Susan was also provided monthly food rations from the refugee settlement, but quickly discovered it wasn’t enough to sustain her family throughout the entire month. To make their food rations last longer, they began skipping meals—eating only once per day. On top of all of this, Susan’s children were forced to drop out of school when she wasn’t able to afford their school fees.

Susan is one of more than 10 million refugees worldwide who rely on humanitarian aid to meet their basic needs—such as food, water, shelter, and basic healthcare. But as aid organizations struggle with budget cuts and a global rise in refugee populations, tangible support has been subject to change or even disappear without a moment’s notice—leaving refugees like Susan without the basic necessities to help them survive, let alone plan for the future.

The refugee crisis has never been more severe during our lifetimes—currently, there are more refugees worldwide than at any point since World War II. With this in mind, DREAMS is on a mission to transform refugee relief as we know it today.

Pictured: Susan at her retail business where she sells clothes and other textiles in her community.

DREAMS (Delivering Resilient Enterprises and Market Systems) is an innovative, first-of-its-kind program which combines Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation program with Mercy Corps’ expertise in market systems development. Where most refugee relief programs only provide short-term humanitarian aid for a long-term problem, DREAMS offers a long-term, sustainable solution by empowering refugees to become economically self-reliant. By equipping refugees with the training, resources, and enhanced markets to launch small businesses in their communities, refugees are able to become entrepreneurs, generating reliable incomes and putting themselves and their families onto a sustainable pathway out of extreme poverty. Ultimately, DREAMS provides refugees a safe place to land where they can get back on their feet, provide for their families in the midst of so much unknown, and start to dream again about their families’ future.

Through DREAMS, Susan learned how to launch a small business as well as the financial literacy skills needed to operate and expand her business into different markets. After working with her DREAMS mentor to select a viable business and get connected with market suppliers, Susan—along with her two business partners from Rhino Camp—used their business grant from Village Enterprise to launch a retail store buying and selling clothes.

Almost one year later, Susan is just a few weeks away from graduating from Village Enterprise and her family’s situation has greatly improved. Using the profits from her retail business, Susan has been able to supplement the settlement’s monthly food rations and provide three consistent, healthy meals a day for her family. She’s also been able to afford school fees for two of her children who are back in school full time, and has plans for her other children to return back to school soon. On top of all of this, she’s been able to construct a new home, with iron sheets for the roof and reinforced doors, providing her family with a safe and stable place to call home.

Pictured: Susan outside of her newly constructed home which she paid for using the profits from her retail business.

“Susan’s story is one of the 200,000 people whose lives will be transformed by DREAMS over the next few years,” says Winnie Auma, Chief Program Officer at Village Enterprise. “To better support refugees, it’s so important to keep the long-term vision in mind and have assistance that goes beyond meeting the immediate needs of refugees and instead helps them get back on their feet and plan for their futures in a dignified and sustainable way.”

As a Fast Company 2023 World Changing Ideas Award winner, DREAMS aims to transform not only refugee relief—it strives to provide a new model for ending extreme poverty in the world’s most challenging environments, supporting millions of people globally in achieving financial autonomy.

DREAMS originally began as a pilot program in Uganda’s Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement in 2018, and formally launched operations in northern Uganda in 2022. It will also launch operations in Ethiopia’s Dollo Ado Refugee Settlement in the weeks ahead. Across the two countries, DREAMS will reach more than 33,000 households and will impact more than 200,000 lives—but this is just the beginning. Building off the program’s success, Village Enterprise and Mercy Corps are looking for the funding to expand DREAMS to more regions and countries across Africa.

As Susan looks to the future, she has a renewed sense of hope for her family. She’s excited to expand her retail business with the possibility of opening another branch in a nearby village to diversify her income. She’s even become the chairperson of her business savings group comprised of 30 business owners from her community. Susan not only helps organize their weekly meetings, but she offers guidance and encouragement as they collectively save for household and business assets together.

“I feel very confident and respected by my children and community,” says Susan. “Thank you for helping a hopeless widow have hope again.”

 

About DREAMS

Funded by Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, ICONIQ Impact, IKEA Foundation, Sea Grape Foundation, and The Patchwork Collective, DREAMS won the 2021 Larsen Lam ICONIQ Impact Award for Refugees managed by Lever for Change, and was most recently awarded Fast Company’s 2023 World Changing Ideas Award for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. DREAMS will also be studied in an independent, randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted by IDinsight, which will provide valuable research to be used across the international development and humanitarian aid sectors to better support refugees in the future.

Learn more about DREAMS

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Bellancile’s Story: Women Leading Change https://villageenterprise.org/blog/women-leading-change-bellanciles-story/ https://villageenterprise.org/blog/women-leading-change-bellanciles-story/#respond Tue, 07 Mar 2023 19:02:26 +0000 https://villageenterprise.org/?p=20202 Bellancile’s Story Two hours north of Kigali, past fields of tea farms and towns cascading down hillsides, is the rural...

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Bellancile’s Story

Two hours north of Kigali, past fields of tea farms and towns cascading down hillsides, is the rural village of Butare nestled in one of the many valleys of Rwanda. Rich with deep red soil and layered with every shade of green, Butare is the home of 87 entrepreneurs in Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation program, including Bellancile.

Bellancile, 42, is the mother of six children ranging in age from 18 years to one month. Before joining Village Enterprise, everything in her household—from feeding her family to affording school fees—depended entirely on her husband. But with only one income, they struggled to sustain their growing family’s needs. Bellancile recalls, “When I used to ask my husband for money, it would create conflict.” Their lack of a sufficient income also began forcing the family to skip meals, forgo necessary household items, and begin pulling their children from school as they couldn’t afford school fees.

Bellancile, Pascasie, and Alphonsine holding hands next to their retail business, Twizerane.

But in March of 2022, things started to change for Bellancile and her family when she joined Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation program. Throughout several months of business and financial literacy education, Bellancile learned how to start and operate a small business, as well as the power of working alongside others. Together with two women in her community—Alphonsine, 34, and Pascasie, 60—they completed a cost-benefit and market analysis and determined a retail shop had the potential to do well in Butare. Under guidance from their Village Enterprise business mentor, they used their $180 USD business grant to launch their store, Twizerane—a Rwandan word meaning let us trust each other. “For the first time in my life, I started believing that I could do this,” says Bellancile, remembering what it meant to receive their business grant and open their store.

They started off small, only selling a local sorghum soda, but their prime location and in-demand product quickly launched them into popularity within the community. With their steady stream of profits, they began expanding their retail business to sell additional items such as rice, cassava flour, cooking oil, sugar, and other sodas—all things their village uses on a regular basis, but are sometimes difficult to access being so remote. Originally valued at $180 USD, their business is now worth $600, a 233% increase only six months after starting their business.

While some business groups expand into new business ventures together, Bellancile, Alphonsine, and Pascasie are happy keeping their joint venture a retail store. Instead, they’re using the profits from Twizerane to each start their own businesses at the household level, helping to diversify their individual incomes even further. Bellancile recently bought a pig and is excited to begin rearing and selling livestock, alongside Alphonsine and Pascasie who have also done the same.

Bellancile shows off the pig she purchased using the profits from her retail business.

Bellancile graduated from our program last month, and life looks much different for her now. “I used to think that a woman eats because her husband worked, but now I’m the one feeding my family,” states Bellancile proudly. She adds, “Since we’ve started our retail business, we haven’t missed a meal in our house.” Not only are her children eating consistent and healthy meals, but they’re back in school in brand new shoes and uniforms. Through her business savings group, she’s been able to save up enough money to purchase household items such as cups, utensils, and saucepans, but her greatest achievement so far has been renovating her home. Where there once was a dirt floor and walls littered with holes, now exists a smooth, cement floor and sturdy, hole-free walls. Since the renovations, her home has become a great sense of pride to her and her family.

“I used to think that a woman eats because her husband worked, but now I’m the one feeding my family,” states Bellancile proudly.

Bellancile stands outside of her home which she’s renovating using the profits from her businesses.

Apart from the assets she’s been able to purchase, her relationships have also flourished this past year. Now that her husband no longer feels the pressure of providing for his family alone, their relationship has improved substantially. In fact, she says it feels like they’re newlyweds again and she lights up each time he calls her “Honey”—which, according to Bellancile, happens a lot these days. Even Bellancile’s eldest son—having noticed his mother’s growth and success over the past year—has decided that when he graduates from school, he wants to study commerce and be a successful businessperson like her.

Bellancile—a woman who just one year ago had no financial mobility or standing in her community—now sees herself as a mentor and leader with newfound confidence and abilities. And she isn’t alone—in 2018, Innovation for Poverty Action published an independent randomized controlled trial which found that our program leads to increases in mental health, well-being, and sense of economic standing for women.

For Bellancile, it’s important that the knowledge she’s gained through Village Enterprise doesn’t stop with her. “Everything that I’ve learned, I want to share it with someone else,” she says. In fact, Bellancile has big plans for her new household business—she’s already hired three women from her community to help tend to her livestock and crops, and is looking forward to passing on what she’s learned through Village Enterprise so these women can change their lives and break the cycle of extreme poverty for their families, too.

Pascasie, Pascasie’s grandson, Bellancile, and Alphonsine inside of their retail store, proudly holding their business record book.

 

Our Commitment to Empowering Women

This is what happens when you empower women—you empower entire communities through them. When women are provided opportunities to launch sustainable businesses, save for the future, and take on leadership positions, they’re more likely to invest back into their children and families, helping to break the generational traps of poverty. “This is why addressing gender equality and investing in women is at the core of Village Enterprise’s mission to end extreme poverty,” says Nelly Munge, Village Enterprise Technical Advisor for Gender, Youth, and Social Inclusion. “When women like Bellancile are empowered, everyone benefits—children, families, and entire communities.”

Because women in rural communities across Africa are more vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change, conflict, global pandemics, and inflation, they are disproportionately affected by extreme poverty. That’s why Village Enterprise is intentional about equipping women with the best resources and skills to thrive in the face of a changing environment and unexpected challenges. In fact, 82% of Village Enterprise entrepreneurs are women. “Even though our program has proven so impactful for women, we’re always looking at how we can improve. That’s why we are continuing to research the barriers that women face,” explains Nelly. “At the end of our program, we don’t want to see women experience any financial limits.”

For Bellancile, this program has changed the trajectory of her life and the lives of her children. The same is true for her business partners, Pascasie and Alphonsine. “Our lives are changed, all three of us,” says Bellancille. Six months into operating their business and already moving to diversify into new revenue streams—in many ways Bellancile is just getting started. “I can see that my future is bright.”

Rulindo district in northern Rwanda—the home of Bellancile, Pascasie, and Alphonsine.

 

Partnering for Greater Impact

The role women play in ending extreme poverty is critical, but the complex needs of women and girls requires a tailored, collaborative approach. This is why Village Enterprise is partnering with leading organizations, government entities, and funders to empower as many women as possible. While the core of this approach is our cost-effective, data-driven poverty graduation program, we work with partners to address the unique needs of each community by layering additional components into our curriculum; this can include education on regionally-specific agricultural practices for communities dealing with shifting weather patterns, cash transfers to help with food consumption and medical care for communities affected by chronic rates of acute child malnutrition, menstrual health education designed to eliminate menstrual taboos and stigmas, and more.

To learn more about how we’re partnering to empower women, check out our Five-Year Report.

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The Missing Yellow https://villageenterprise.org/blog/the-missing-yellow/ https://villageenterprise.org/blog/the-missing-yellow/#respond Mon, 27 Feb 2023 02:21:03 +0000 https://villageenterprise.org/?p=20158 Liz Corbishley is the Chief Strategy & Partnerships Officer at Village Enterprise. She recently spent 24 hours in rural Uganda,...

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Liz Corbishley is the Chief Strategy & Partnerships Officer at Village Enterprise. She recently spent 24 hours in rural Uganda, staying with one of our entrepreneurs in their home and gaining a sense of the whole picture of Village Enterprise’s work and impact.

‘Do you want to slaughter the chicken?’

Harriet and Philomena are both looking at me expectedly as the bird wriggles under Harriet’s armpit. Behind them one-year-old Israel crawls back and forth across the immaculately swept floor of the compound, leaving little wet patches where he sits. Six-year-old Ken shimmies up the mango tree to attach a rope swing, completely ignored by his mother and grandmother as he balances precariously in the branches.

‘No thank you,’ I say, avoiding making eye contact with the soon-to-be dinner. ‘I’ve not done it before, and I think it’s best to leave to you. I can help with cooking though?’

Philomena nods, takes the chicken from her daughter, and disappears in the thatched hut that I believe is the kitchen and storeroom. Harriet frowns critically at my dress. ‘You need to cover up because of the fire,’ she tells me, and fetches a green scarf to wrap around my waist, protecting me from waist to ankles. I do as I’m told although this additional layer is vaguely torturous in the heat. In what seems like less time than it takes me to buy a chicken in Carrefour, Philomena is back with a dead, plucked animal.

‘I’m not actually a very good cook,’ I tell them both as I follow to the thatched hut that houses the charcoal fire. They both turn to stare at me, incredulous. I get the feeling they would be less surprised if I told them I had two heads than if I said I was a woman who didn’t know how to cook.

‘We can teach you!’ Harriet proclaims enthusiastically. Philomena agrees, but very quickly they decide that I am more hindrance than help. ‘Siobhan, take Auntie round the village with Chairman,’ Harriet instructs, shooing me away.

*

Harriet, Philomena, Ken, Israel, and Liz pose for a picture in Opadoi Village.

I have worked at Village Enterprise for the past six years, but this is the first time that I have spent a full 24 hours in one of the villages we serve. While I am passionate about our impact and team, can cite statistics, and have met many entrepreneurs we’ve trained, I learn very quickly in this visit to Opadoi Village that this is not enough. What I have been seeing is the Big Picture; but I have been missing the Whole Picture.

Let me explain another way. When I was a child I was given a ‘painting by numbers’ kit. This was a picture made up of lots of different small shapes, each one with a number in the middle. On the back there was a key that told me what color corresponded with what number. For example, all 1s were to be painted a spring green, all 2s a dark green, all 3s a deep blue, etc. The idea was that when the painter completed the picture, what had originally looked like a random collection of small shapes revealed a beautiful landscape.

At the start of the week I thought I had a pretty good understanding of what made up Village Enterprise’s beautiful landscape. However, impact, case studies, and drive-by field trips don’t capture the way that expressions flit across Philomena’s face like clouds across the sky on a windy day. They don’t capture the fierceness of Harriet’s hug, or the sweaty small of your back from dancing until the whole village collapses in exhaustion. They don’t capture the fact that although Village Enterprise is an important part of these people’s lives, they are not defined by their business success. It is almost as though a color is missing in the paint-by-numbers picture I had. I could see the Big Picture, but not the Whole Picture. I was missing the color that gives warmth, depth, and vibrancy.

I was missing the yellow.

*

Siobhan is seven years old and delighted to be appointed as one of my tour guides. She narrates life as only young children can; telling me so-and-so is fat, that those boys are definitely going to fall off the motorbike if they continue to drive like that, and all men like playing cards. A potentially unreliable guide on her own, she is joined by John, the Village Chairman. John was elected Chairman four years ago and takes his role extremely seriously. He is obviously well-respected by the village he serves, and seems related by blood or marriage to a good number of the households. As we walk I hear him remind a group of men sitting under a tarpaulin that bar-holes are not going to be open tonight, in honor of the visitor.

‘See! I told you!’ crows Siobhan as she notes the men are playing cards.

‘Yoga,’ I say, greeting the men who smile at me and gesture me to join their game, in spite of the fact I have potentially ruined any fun plans they may have had for later.

‘We need to keep going,’ John tells them, marching me forward. ‘We have a lot to see.’

John, the Chairman in Opadoi Village, and his wife Joyce.

There are a total of 114 households in the village, with an unpaved road running through the center. In the time I am there I don’t see any cars; most people are either walking or riding bicycles. There is no power (although plenty of houses have small solar lights and some also have solar radios), and jerry cans snake in queues as women gather at the water points. Most of the village is navigated by small, dusty paths that weave between homes and dry grass. ‘Climate change,’ John tells me. ‘It makes our businesses hard.’

The first house we visit belongs to Deborah. She sees us in the distance and starts running towards her compound, carrying a chair for me to sit on. Her home is typical of the rest in the village; a dusty plot of earth surrounded by small, thatched huts–each one a separate room with a separate function. Deborah shakes my hand and smiles shyly as I compliment her on her Village Enterprise t-shirt. She tells me that the Business Savings Group all saved to buy matching t-shirts. I am told to sit on the chair, and Siobhan perches on the tree trunk that serves as a second seat.

‘No Siobhan!’ I tell her, ‘Deborah is the grown up, so she gets to sit down!’ Siobhan rolls her eyes at me and disappears to play with some of the children that have been following us since we left.

‘I used to be the one who begged for food at my neighbors,’ Deborah begins. ‘But now that I have a business, I can feed all my children.’ As she says the last part she visibly grows in stature. I ask her what her business is, and she describes that after Village Enterprise’s training she interviewed her neighbors and found there was a demand for fish.

‘That’s right,’ John confirms. ‘Everyone comes to Deborah’s house now when they want to buy small fish.’

Deborah has seven children, and is so proud she can now feed them and afford medicine. As we walk to the next house I ask John what this means for gender relations and whether it caused any problems. ‘Oh no. Actually, we men were having a lot of pressure to get money for the family and we are happy it is now a team effort!’

The crowd of children following us is growing in number and Siobhan takes my hand proprietarily. Emboldened, another little girl pushes forward from the group to take my other hand, and the rest trip along happily at our heels.

‘This is Janet,’ John says, introducing me to an older woman when we arrive at the next household. ‘She is also a Village Enterprise participant.’

Janet is enthusiastically whooping and waving her arms. She pulls me into one of her huts and my eyes take a moment to adjust to the sudden darkness. One side of the hut is portioned off with a blanket hanging down. She reaches underneath and finds what she is looking for–a plastic basket. Opening this she shows me a mat, some plates, and some mugs. John is poking his head in the doorway. ‘She is showing you what she bought with her SWAP savings!’

‘Wow! They are very beautiful!’

Janet nods in delighted agreement and wants to be photographed with her new belongings.

 

Janet and the items she has purchased through Saving With a Purpose (SWAP). As part of Village Enterprise’s business savings groups, our entrepreneurs set targets for purchases they would like to make in the future and start putting away money weekly.

Siobhan meanwhile has badgered one of Janet’s adult children to shake some mangoes from the tree. ‘Shiv! They’re not ripe!’ the man says in futile protest, even as he starts shaking the tree. Siobhan just shrugs, concentrating on trimming her fingernails with a razor blade she found on the floor. A couple of mangos fall down.

‘I’ve just realized!’ the man says, handing them to her, ‘At dinner last night you said that expecting mothers like unripe mangos… your Mum is having another baby?!’

John smiles at this sideshow and turns his attention back to me and Janet. ‘Village Enterprise has really changed this community,’ he says. Janet adds something as I show her the photos I have taken on my phone. ‘She says she was the one playing the drum when you were dancing,’ he translates. ‘And she will do it again later.’ My big smile is swept aside by an enthusiastic hug before we proceed to the next household.

‘This must be the last one,’ John tells me. ‘Philomena will be waiting for us.’

Siobhan’s hand is now sticky from mango juice, adding to the layer of sunscreen, sweat, and dust I am coated in. ‘We are lucky because you have come to see us, Auntie,’ she confides as we trek along the path, side-by-side.

‘No,’ I correct, ‘I am lucky because I have come to see you.’

Siobhan pauses a moment, squints up at me, and then nods at the veracity of this statement. ‘Yes. You are lucky to come and see us.’

I recognize the owner of the next household from our dancing earlier in the day. Her energy and smile had been unmatched as she danced for joy, not for Instagram.

John says his greeting and then turns to me. ‘This is Alice. Her business is cassava.’

We walk thirty meters behind Alice’s compound and there is cassava drying in the sun, a machine for grinding, and several bags ready to take to market. I ask Alice about her business, and she tells me that this is something that she did before Village Enterprise. I am initially surprised, as we consistently refer to our participants as ‘first-time entrepreneurs,’ but of course. Of course people like Alice aren’t just sitting around waiting for help. Of course they are trying to do something.

‘What’s different now?’

Alice looks puzzled.

‘I mean, compared to before Village Enterprise?’

‘My children are in school and we eat different foods.’

I nod enthusiastically. ‘That’s wonderful! But what made the difference?’

Both Alice and John seem non-plussed by this question. It takes several attempts at asking it in different ways before Alice understands what I am asking. ‘We now make a profit,’ she tells me. ‘And if we are not making a profit, we know we need to change the business.’

‘So the business was not making money before?’

‘No–we didn’t know how to make money.’

‘Or how to know if they were making money,’ John adds. ‘Because they weren’t thinking of profit or record-keeping.’

Alice eyes up the bags of cassava. ‘But even now lots of people are doing cassava. We are thinking that we might change to millet to make more profit. And I have planted greens in my garden for my own household business.’

Liz, Alice, and Siobhan smile for a picture together.

As we contemplate this decision an elderly gentleman approaches on his bicycle.

‘Ah, this is also John!’ John says. ‘John is one of our savings group treasurers and a village elder, and is joining us for dinner.’

John dismounts and greets us. We say goodbye to Alice, and John pushes his bike behind me. Siobhan has disappeared–hopefully to give some mangoes to her mother before she eats them all herself, although I have my doubts.

‘John has a very good business,’ John the Chairman tells me.

John the Treasurer nods. ‘I sell hides. Skins of animals.’

It’s hard work, he tells me, and no one else wants to clean the skins so everyone knows that he is the one to do it. He has been doing the business for years, but it is only since Village Enterprise that he has managed to make a profit. Before he didn’t know how to run a business–only how to clean hides. He is now doing very well.

‘So well,’ John the Chairman adds as we arrive back at Philomena’s, ‘That he managed to pay for his neighbor to take her son to hospital when he had a motorbike accident yesterday.’ John the Treasurer acknowledges this with only the slightest flicker of his mouth as he props up his bicycle.

Village Enterprise often talks about Ubuntu being our north-star value, and not for the first time I see how brightly this star shines in Opadoi Village. Obviously brighter than I am currently shining, as Harriet takes one look at me and instructs me to bathe before dinner. By the time I return from my bucket shower it is getting dark.

‘Switch off the light,’ Chairman John tells me. ‘We do it natural.’

I obey and the night sky above stretches out with an impossible number of stars. We eat in the moonlight; tearing the chicken with our hands.

‘The whole village says they are sleeping with Auntie Mzungu tonight,’ Harriet says with a laugh. She and Philomena are eating on a mat on the ground with the children, while the men and I sit on chairs in front of a low table. ‘But it is really only me, Ken, and Israel.’

I suspect the fact we shared a room for a night will be a story that Harriet tells for many years to come. And I know that it will be a story that I tell for many years to come.

For today is the day that Opadoi Village helped me to find the missing yellow.

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Year one of DREAMS: A new model for building opportunity https://villageenterprise.org/blog/year-one-of-dreams-a-new-model-for-building-opportunity/ https://villageenterprise.org/blog/year-one-of-dreams-a-new-model-for-building-opportunity/#respond Fri, 10 Feb 2023 07:18:07 +0000 https://villageenterprise.org/?p=20097 The following story was originally written and published by Mercy Corps, our partners on DREAMS. You can read the original story...

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The following story was originally written and published by Mercy Corps, our partners on DREAMS. You can read the original story on the Mercy Corps website here.

In Bidi Bidi, Uganda, Moses Aloro, a business mentor, connects with Festo James, a South Sudanese refugee who has set up a silver fish business in the local market.

When violence and hunger force people to leave their homes in search of stability and safety, their skills travel with them. Refugees are more than the circumstances they find themselves in—they are people like anyone else with the determination to provide for their families and the power to strengthen local economies.

That’s why Mercy Corps and Village Enterprise are teaming up. Together, we combine two evidence-based approaches in a program called DREAMS (Delivering Resilient Enterprises and Market Systems). This innovative partnership provides comprehensive support for refugees and people with lower incomes on their journeys out of poverty and into business ownership.

Through this multi-phased program, DREAMS participants engage in workshops and training sessions with Village Enterprise, learning how to establish, promote, and expand a business. Then, Mercy Corps provides the support needed to help business owners find success—and help local economies flourish.

Mercy Corps helps by identifying profitable opportunities and connecting entrepreneurs to local markets, so their new businesses are better able to run more efficiently and expand.

 

Mercy Corps’ CEO, Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, talks to colleagues during her visit to the Bidi Bidi refugee settlement. During her visit, Tjada engaged with 10 different Business Group clusters, including 60 members of the Safe Business Savings Group—a network for different Business Group clusters that have received support through the DREAMS program.

In October, Mercy Corps CEO Tjada D’Oyen McKenna and a small group of Mercy Corps leaders and board members had the opportunity to visit the DREAMS program in Uganda, meet participants, and hear firsthand about the impact we are helping to spark.

Thanks to the tremendous support of the ICONIQ Impact community and other funders, we are building a foundation to prove the power of the DREAMS model in refugee camps—one of the world’s most challenging contexts—and to scale it to reach others living in extreme poverty. With its success, DREAMS brings the humanitarian and private sectors into lockstep to support millions of people globally in moving from survival mode to self-reliance.

The photos below celebrate the close of the first year of this transformational five-year program. Meet a few of the people taking part in our first cohort in Uganda and learn how DREAMS is a new model to create lasting change for communities around the world.

One of the savings group members hands money to the group secretary. During gatherings, savings group members save money, collect loan payments, grant loans, balance their books, and review their goals together.

Laying the groundwork: A fund for entrepreneurs

In our first year of DREAMS, 1,200 households enrolled in the first cohort in Bidi Bidi, Uganda. In these Business Savings Groups, participants join roughly 30 other aspiring entrepreneurs from their community. Together, they grow their business skills and learn how to save and provide loans to each other—a network that is foundational to the success of the budding business owners.

 

Festo James, vice chairperson of his group, reviews his group’s records. He and other members of his savings group have trained with business mentors through the DREAMS program to learn financial literacy, budgeting, and record keeping.

In total, 40 groups have been established in the first year of the program. Festo (pictured above) serves as his group’s vice chairperson, helping to organize the group and track their assets. He’s also a business owner himself, having partnered with two of his fellow group members to start selling silver fish at the local market.

Festo James left South Sudan on foot in 2016, making the long and arduous journey to seek safety in Uganda. He now lives in Bidi Bidi refugee settlement with his family, is the Vice Chairperson of Ala-Zabu savings group, and plans to one day expand the business he shares with two others.

Ready, set, launch: New businesses take off

After 10 weeks of training from our DREAMS Business Mentors, the members of the savings groups have what they need to get their businesses off the ground. They know how to save and loan together, how to identify high-potential business opportunities, and how to operationalize a successful business.

 

Festo James (navy shirt) runs a silver fish business in the local market with two other savings group members. Under the DREAMS program, Village Enterprise supports business groups like his with grants to start businesses, then the organization’s business mentors provide training to help businesses flourish.

To help entrepreneurs like Festo succeed, Mercy Corps conducted two market assessments to identify high-opportunity value chains and onboarded four private sector investors and distributors. In the coming months, we will connect DREAMS business owners directly with buyers and sellers to ensure their businesses have every chance to thrive into the future.

Festo and his silver fish business are just one story from the DREAMS program. Out of our first cohort, 400 businesses were launched with the support of ongoing mentorship and seed capital grants.

 

Okukuru Zubeda (in blue), along with another member of the Embasi Business Group, feeds her group’s chickens. Their group is from the local host community. Through the DREAMS program, they have received poultry feed, chicks, and training on poultry keeping.

Okukuru: Raising chickens

At Bidi Bidi, Okukuru’s biggest concerns used to be feeding her children and paying their school fees. After joining her Business Savings Group in the local host community and receiving mentorship, her worries started to fade. Through DREAMS she and her group have been supported with poultry feed and Kuroiler chicks—an improved breed of scavenging chicken.

“This business has changed my life. I know how to manage the finances,” Okukuru says. With enough money to save and buy basic goods like saucepans and school uniforms for her children and sister, Okukuru recommends the DREAMS program to her friends and neighbors. “I encourage people to join savings groups and acquire knowledge from those groups.”

Members of the Saidu Business Group, Charity Opani, Juan Betty, and Celia Atiku meet with Fauzu Ajidra, a Business Mentor from Village Enterprise. Together, the three women refugees sell basic home-use products to the community.

Juan Betty: Selling home goods

Another business owner, Juan Betty, is a refugee from South Sudan who works alongside her partners to sell basic home products in her community. She says the mentorship and support she’s received have changed her life for the better.

 

 

“The program has brought unity in our community, since we all work together as one.”

– Juan Betty, Bidi Bidi, Uganda

Juan Betty is not only the sole provider for her family, she also has a chronic illness. With her earnings, she can buy medicine for herself and everyone in her home can eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And if her business continues to grow, her group will receive additional financial support.

 

John Sanya, Project Officer for Mercy Corps in the Yumbe District, talks with the members of Unit Business Group in their sesame fields. Under the DREAMS program, the business group received financial support to lease five acres of land along with training to an agribusiness enterprise.

Rose: Growing sesame

Reflecting on her life in South Sudan, Rose says she was well off—a business owner who was forced to leave her home to keep her family safe from harm. Now, Rose is rebuilding her life with the help of her Business Savings Group.

When a DREAMS mentor suggested growing sesame as a good opportunity to build a business, she and her neighbor set to work on securing funding from their group and planting their crops. Rose looks forward to harvesting the three and a half acres of sesame, saying “The rains have been good, and we foresee a good reap. After this harvest, I don’t think I will be the same!”

Rose Yabanga, a refugee from South Sudan and member of the Unit Business Group, harvests sesame from her fields. The Unit Business Group is carrying out large scale sesame growing to earn money to support their families.

A bold, new model for lasting change

The DREAMS program supports refugees and crisis-affected communities as they unlock their futures—improving their income and well-being significantly and sustainably. Connected to opportunity, funding, and skills, communities of people are better able to start businesses and power their local economies.

The design of the DREAMS program is a culmination of the partnership between Village Enterprise and Mercy Corps. Learn more about our pilot program through a story about Rashid, a Sudanese refugee living in Rhino Camp, Uganda, who attended one of our training sessions.

Our teams are committed to creating lasting, positive change for the world we share. Not only is DREAMS on course to assist thousands of people in Uganda and Ethiopia, but it forges a new path out of poverty that can be used again and again by local and international development agencies around the world.

 

DREAMS is a finalist for the Larsen Lam ICONIQ Impact Award. Learn more.

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Alleviating Child Malnutrition, One Business at a Time https://villageenterprise.org/blog/alleviating-child-malnutrition-one-business-at-a-time/ https://villageenterprise.org/blog/alleviating-child-malnutrition-one-business-at-a-time/#respond Tue, 22 Nov 2022 18:29:14 +0000 https://villageenterprise.org/?p=19808 Miriamu sits in the shade of her home watching a sky that’s supposed to be filled with rain, and holds...

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Miriamu sits in the shade of her home watching a sky that’s supposed to be filled with rain, and holds her infant grandson. Earlier that day she was denied porridge and milk from a local shop because they weren’t certain she’d be able to pay them back. So while her daughter is away at school, Miriamu’s only option is to give the baby water throughout the day until her daughter returns and can breastfeed him.

As the wind sweeps its way across the drylands of northern Kenya, there’s a momentary reprieve from the oppressive heat, but quickly it returns and brings with it the reality of the ongoing drought. While dry seasons come and go for communities in East Africa, this time it’s different. Climate change has escalated the situation into the worst drought in four decades, bringing devastating effects to the entire region. A lack of seasonal rainfall—year after year—means significant crop failure, the death of livestock, and the depletion of all household reserves.

Without crops and livestock, many families in the region are no longer able to earn a sufficient income, which has exacerbated conflict as communities fight over the dwindling resources. To complicate matters, northern Kenya has long been vulnerable to food insecurity and rising inflation continues to make the situation dire. As a result of all of these external challenges, more and more children—like Miriamu’s grandson—are becoming acutely malnourished. 

Entrepreneurs from Loruko Oibor Village in Marsabit County meet to form business groups

To combat acute child malnutrition in northern Kenya, Village Enterprise has partnered with Catholic Relief Services, the Isiolo and Marsabit county governments, and other local partners and agencies to implement USAID Nawiri (Nawiri is a Swahili word meaning to thrive). Funded by USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, USAID Nawiri launched in 2019 and is a resilience food security activity in Isiolo, Marsabit, Samburu, and Turkana counties. The primary goal of the project is to sustainably reduce the persistent rates of acute child malnutrition in these counties by increasing the consumption of—and access to—safe foods which meet daily nutrient requirements. It also aims to address some of the underlying, systemic issues which have led to the high rates of acute child malnutrition in the first place, such as food and market systems, health and nutrition systems, limited livelihood diversification, and challenging gender and social norms.

To achieve these objectives, Village Enterprise has taken our poverty graduation model and layered it with education on health, nutrition, sanitation, and hygiene. Additionally, on top of receiving business training, mentorship, access to savings groups, and grants to launch sustainable businesses, USAID Nawiri participants also receive cash transfers to purchase nutrient-dense food, medical care, and household items. These transfers enable participants to meet their immediate needs without having to interfere with the cash flow of their newly established businesses.

Entrepreneurs in our poverty graduation program meet weekly for business and financial literacy education

After seeing positive results in the early stages of implementation, USAID committed to significantly scaling up the program earlier this year. With 129 current Village Enterprise staff, 53 part-time enumerators, and an increased goal to reach 14,310 households, this intervention will impact the lives of 85,860 women, children, and men by September 30, 2023—making it one of Village Enterprise’s largest projects to date.

“USAID Kenya sees the adapted poverty graduation approach as an anchor activity for USAID Nawiri,” comments Emily Mkungo, Project Management Specialist for USAID Kenya. “Through the graduation model we are targeting the ultra poor and households with malnourished individuals, and moving them up the ladder to self-reliance. And within the same model layering interventions in health, behavior change, water, sanitation, and hygiene among others aimed at reducing persistent acute malnutrition around the same community. I look forward to the impact this model will have on the planned target of 85,860 people in the coming two years.”

Most notably, 1,949 out of the 2,051 entrepreneurs (95%) who began our program this fiscal year are women, such as Miriamu. Prior to joining USAID Nawiri, Miriamu’s husband was killed by bandits, leaving her the sole caregiver for her seven children. One by one, she began selling her livestock to provide for her family as she had no other means for generating income. Soon there were no animals left to sell and the family struggled to meet their daily needs—often skipping meals and foregoing necessary medical care because they simply could not afford it.

Entrepreneurs from Nana Village in Marsabit County

This all changed when she joined USAID Nawiri. Through training and mentorship from Village Enterprise, Miriamu not only learned how to start and operate a business, but how to ensure it remains sustainable and resilient despite the environmental or economic challenges she may face. While she was getting her retail business off the ground, the cash transfers provided her family with the necessary means to purchase nutrient-dense food and medical care, especially for her grandson whose health required immediate attention at the start of the program.

And as her business grew, so did her confidence. “Nawiri has given me and other women dignity,” Miriamu says. “Even women can support and provide for their families if economically empowered.” And that’s exactly what she did. Because of her determination and dedication to change the future for her family, she has been able to use the profits from her business to pay for school fees, cover additional medical expenses when her children get sick, purchase clothes, and build food reserves for her family—all of which were impossible beforehand.

 

A business savings group in Maikona celebrates several members reaching their targeted saving goals to purchase household items

For Miriamu and thousands of other families like hers, USAID Nawiri exists as an alternative to traditional humanitarian relief—instead of only responding to acute child malnutrition through emergency aid, Village Enterprise and Catholic Relief Services are equipping communities with the means to build sustainable livelihoods full of dignity and hope. As Miriamu reflects on her journey with USAID Nawiri, she remarks how meaningful this experience has been. “My family’s future is secure,” she says. Not only is Miriamu’s business generating consistent income, but her grandson has been medically cleared as healthy, no longer considered malnourished or requiring special treatment.

Miriamu has also joined a local business savings group, meeting weekly with other entrepreneurs and putting away money for emergencies or specific business purposes. By working hard over three months to meet her targets, Miriamu saved enough money to buy a goat—the first animal she’s owned since having to sell all of her late husband’s livestock. This goat will serve as a way to expand into a new business market and diversify her income, but most importantly it’s a significant milestone and source of pride for her. She has lovingly named her goat Nawiri.

Miriamu with the latest addition to her family, Nawiri

All featured photos were taken by Village Enterprise business mentors.

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Santa the Chairwoman from Paicho https://villageenterprise.org/blog/santa-the-chairwoman-from-paicho/ https://villageenterprise.org/blog/santa-the-chairwoman-from-paicho/#respond Mon, 02 Dec 2019 09:31:07 +0000 http://villageenterprise.org/?p=13015 I follow Santa through tall grasses, past banana plants that are slightly bent as if in a mid-bow after a...

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I follow Santa through tall grasses, past banana plants that are slightly bent as if in a mid-bow after a tremendous ballet, and by sorghum and maize fields. She pushes her hands ahead and breaks any branches or plants that are blocking the path. We reach a sea of white cotton buds and enter the thick bush to find her fellow business owner busy harvesting. They share a greeting, and then Santa also begins plucking the fluffy crop from its beige cocoon. Santa began this cotton business a few months ago through the Village Enterprise market linkage pilot program in partnership with The Gulu Agricultural Development Company (GADCO). The business has given Santa hope. It has given her the ability to see that there are more possibilities in this world, which is something she hasn’t always been able to realize.

Santa picks her cotton field

Life has been difficult for Santa. She spent more than five years in a refugee camp during the Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency in northern Uganda when she and thousands of families were exiled from their homes. The camp was only a few kilometers from her family home and it was there that she gave birth to a child that only lived a few months. Then her husband was killed by the LRA. Santa was destroyed. She did not know how to carry on with life.

Eventually, she married her current husband and together they planted beans and sorghum during their first year of marriage. But the LRA burned everything to the ground. Then, they bought an ox and plow, but the ox died. Things felt pretty dire for Santa. It was one thing after the other. She carried on for a few years without a source of income and struggled to put food on the table.

Mirriam Aguti, a Village Enterprise business mentor, is the person who put an end to Santa’s difficult situation. She invited her to join the Village Enterprise program and learn how to start a business of her own. She rigorously applied herself to the lessons presented by Mirriam and became energized by the independence she gained from knowing how to earn and spend her own money. She was so inspired that she has since recruited many people to join the Village Enterprise program to start businesses of their own. She is an inspiration in her community due to her hard work and commitment to her cotton growing business.

Santa’s energetic joy cascades around her being and it is contagious: she was elected the Chairwoman of her business savings group, which is composed of ten three-person businesses or 30 individuals, because of her determined spirit. People are drawn to her because of her charisma and wisdom. She has an exceptional ability to bring people together and make them feel confident and strong.

Santa learned from Village Enterprise business trainings the importance of caring for her community: she goes and advises people in order to help people in her community feel cared for and to resolve conflicts.

“You are stronger and do better in a group than alone. Someone may be in a poor situation, Village Enterprise can uplift that person by helping him/her start a three-person business. When three people are given $150, together they come with different ideas and different skill sets, and they think through the smartest ways they can use that money to build a successful and profitable business.”

Santa dreams to build her own concrete house for herself and to build a strong, caring and united community. She is a leader determined to continue to uplift her village and to be an inspiration to those who haven’t been empowered yet.

This #GivingTuesday we want to fund two entire villages in northern Uganda so more people like Santa can realize their potential. Join our campaign: donate.villageenterprise.org/givingtuesday2019

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Village Enterprise Women Write: Why We Empower Women in Our Communities https://villageenterprise.org/blog/village-enterprise-women-write-why-we-empower-women-in-our-communities/ https://villageenterprise.org/blog/village-enterprise-women-write-why-we-empower-women-in-our-communities/#respond Tue, 05 Mar 2019 05:15:15 +0000 http://villageenterprise.org/?p=10469 Our staff is based in the communities where Village Enterprise is rooted. They know their villages, culture, and people. They...

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Our staff is based in the communities where Village Enterprise is rooted. They know their villages, culture, and people. They also know what motivates them to work every day to empower women in their own communities. Here is a selection of writings from six of our female staff:

Zita Akwero mentoring Village Enterprise business owners in Nwoya, Uganda
Zita Akwero mentoring business owners in Nwoya, Uganda

 

Zita Akwero, Field Associate

Nwoya, Uganda:

A photo of Zita Akwero

“I am proud to be working with women in our program because they are the backbone of every nation. When you empower one, you have empowered the whole nation. And when you want to cause change, you begin with a woman. You will be amazed by the impact it will create. Women are selfless.”

 

 

 

 

Terry Shiundu, Director of Talent Management

Nairobi, Kenya:

Terry Shiundu, Village Enterprise International Women's Day

“God has given women the natural ability to nurture, tend, care for, and grow things. At Village Enterprise, we have been entrusted by our donors and partners to impact the lives of the people we serve. With over 75% of our business owners being women, when we empower them with entrepreneurial skills, we’re working towards ending extreme poverty. No one wants to be poor and no one ever thought… ‘how nice it is to live in poverty’… not at all! We all strive and have the vision to be better, to have richer lives, to have the ability and means to provide for our families, and there’s dignity for women in having the opportunity to make a difference for our families and to see our children go to school and have a meal every day. As women, we pride ourselves in the ability to nurture our families and that’s why I’m proud to be part of the Village Enterprise family. I know that my input as an individual in the work that I do, and the resources we invest as an organization, is making a difference in the world, albeit in a small way through the millions of households that can now have hope for a better tomorrow!

We’re challenging the status quo belief that poverty is the way of life for these communities. Women are now rising to leadership positions, are bold for change and driving the agenda because they have seen first hand that it is possible!   Happy International Women’s day to all ‘Villagers’ and the women who have been directly or indirectly impacted by our work… and to the many more who will!’

 

Nancy Shikuri, Field Associate

Kitale, Kenya:

A photo of Nancy Shikuri

“You will never regret investing in a woman. Every woman is unique, smart, and believes in herself and does not forget her willingness to change. Once a woman is empowered, the whole society will benefit.”

 

 

 

 

Donah Chilo, Monitoring and Evaluation Manager

Kitale, Kenya:

A photo of Donah Chilo

“Diane Mariechild once said that a woman is a full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform. However, there is still more that needs to be done so as to tap into that reservoir of power and talent. If you take a closer look at our communities, you’ll realize that for a long time, women have been trusted with keeping and maintaining a home. This includes, and not limited to, budget making, food production, among other things. This they have done diligently. However, they have limited access to finances and decision making. Personally, I have had an opportunity to taste the sweet experience of women’s empowerment. My guardians (women) taught me to be resilient, hardworking, to be a go-getter, and to never give up on my dreams. That is what women’s empowerment creates. Empowerment is not just about giving someone a fishing rod instead of a fish, but rather it goes deeper into showing this person how well to use the fishing rod. Having said this, I believe women’s empowerment is the sweetest thing that can ever happen to a woman.”

Village Enterprise women

Aneno Juliet, Innovations Coordinator

Gulu, Uganda:

A photo of Aneno Juliet“Why I believe it is good to empower women within my community:

My mom is a woman who was empowered by a project in Gulu, Uganda that assisted widows. Through this program, she was able to feed us, clothe us, pay our medical bills, pay her rent and also send us to school. She was able to afford all the basic needs of her children, and this is a lady who did not go to school because most families did not believe in educating the girl child.

With this I believe like my mother, there are other women out there struggling to raise their children. If they are empowered, they will be able to bring up their children responsibly. One thing I learned from my mother is that she always passed on these values to us. She encouraged us to participate in the different projects she was connected to and because she was empowered, she raised a social worker, a Children’s Pastor, a Doctor, a multi-instrumentalist, and a nurse.”

“I, therefore, say this: empower more women in my community.”

 

Village Enterprise women during a business savings group meeting.

 

Rachel Munyifwa, Innovations Coordinator

Kitale, Kenya:

Rachel Munyifwa, Village Enterprise International Women's Day

“Dear VE Women,

Sometimes I look back and wonder, what have I achieved after a quarter of a century? Society has positioned “unreachable” standards for women to achieve and to be able to compete with men! I wonder why we have to brag and iterate our achievements to validate our existence. The famous glass ceiling exists in every aspect of a woman’s life. I recently began my career, call me a newbie, and one unforgettable memory is being told that women wait to have 100% of a job’s qualifications to apply for that particular job. Why is this normal for most women if not for men? What are we afraid of? I would like to remind you that we could all learn from failure. However, I’m also aware that the playing field is unequal, which makes it difficult for women to possess the same confidence as men when it comes to applying for jobs.Having the opportunity to work with an organization like Village Enterprise makes me feel empowered. Most of the business owners that Village Enterprise supports are women! I witness the new possibilities that women conquer every day by running their own businesses here in Western Kenya. Continuously encouraging women to know their worth is our mission. All women!I want to be different and not live up to social norms, but I do not want to do it alone. Being African, I am grateful for the teachings from my parents such as honesty, hard work, vulnerability, trust, and the list goes on. Sometimes we may wonder who to look up to, well it’s simple: start with yourself. Being aware of your strength can be difficult, but investing in time to learn more about you provides guidance. I believe women must support each other by encouraging those around us even if it means on a daily basis. So give a woman a compliment today. Therefore, join me and together let us appreciate one another by acknowledging our strengths and working on our weaknesses. The world has phenomenal women.

Your fellow woman,

Rachel Munyifwa”

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