Adelante Africa Empowers Young Women in Igayaza
This summer, Adelante Africa conducted a comprehensive manicure and pedicure course for 14 aspiring entrepreneurs in Igayaza. Two skilled professionals from Kampala provided five days of intensive training, equipping the participants with the necessary skills and knowledge.
Many of the girls had previously completed Adelante Africa's hairdressing course, demonstrating their commitment to personal and professional growth. To foster job creation, the program also welcomed a few salon owners, with the understanding that they would hire at least one of the graduates.
Adelante Africa provided each participant with a complete kit, enabling them to launch their own manicure businesses immediately upon course completion. As a result, a significant number of the graduates have already secured employment as manicurists.
Encouraged by the District Community Development Officer, the girls formed an association named "The Adelante Africa Glow and Grow Entrepreneurs."
The officer pledged his support in helping the association purchase essential products, ensuring their continued success.
These small loans are to help community members with few or no resources to start small income generating businesses to improve the living conditions of their families.
Loans are returned by regular instalments with zero interest and the beneficiaries undertake to make a contribution in kind or labour in favour of the association.
This is currently composed of women from neighbouring villages and in some cases of students who have attended the sewing classes.
Adelante Africa buys fabrics and then purchases, for further re-sale in Europe, the items that the women make like cushion covers, aprons, backpacks, pencil cases, etc. This allows the women to cover basic necessities such as medicines and school fees.
All funds received go to finance this and other projects in the area.
As part of a district-wide campaign to encourage higher consumption of fruit and vegetables we are carrying out an Eat Greens campaign. People make co-operative groups.
These groups apply for free vegetable seeds, some traditional and some imported, from Adelante Africa. They make communal nursery beds from which each member of the group can take seedlings to grow at their homesteads. When their projects are successful and they have plenty of green vegetables, they are asked to donate some of these to the children of the Omwaana Tugende Children’s Home.
Adelante Africa has a project, supported by Leaping Frog Publications U.K. to build homemade water tanks to harvest water from the roofs of homesteads.
Each tank costs around 75 euros to build. People organise themselves into groups of neighbours. Each family in the group has to contribute something towards the cost of the tank, either money or their time.
When the group is ready, Adelante Africa hires a lorry to drop off the raw materials at the homesteads. They are taught how to construct the tanks and then they build them cooperatively one by one. 26 tanks have already been constructed with another 104 planned.
Adelante Africa is sponsoring two farmers’ co-operatives. Each group has 30 or so members. They are linked to a project run by World Vision to give long-term loans to farmers in the area to help them to pay for two tractors.
In order to qualify for this project, each farmer had to contribute an initial 103,000 UGX (around 28 euros). Adelante Africa helped each member with a donation of around 5 euros each and gave a short-term loan to members who needed to wait until harvest to be able to pay the World Vision fee.
We are also giving loans to groups of members who want to hire land to use the tractor to prepare it for planting sunflowers. At the same time, we are guaranteeing them a price for the sunflower seeds at harvest time.