Uganda is a country of contrasts. Urban areas show signs of growth but the country remains one of the poorest in the world. It has a good record on tackling HIV/AIDS but the disease still claims thousands of people’s lives and impacts on the lives of many more.
The rural economy relies on subsistence agriculture and there are few employment opportunities. Added to that, in the last 20 years civil conflict has hindered development in the north and east of the country.
Tools for Self Reliance has been working in Uganda since 1985 to help stimulate economic growth in rural areas in line with the government’s aim of creating wealth through sustainable economic growth and development of the infrastructure. And we have witnessed some remarkable successes.
Tools for Self Reliance works with its partners in Uganda to get people out of poverty and into work. Our partners are non-governmental organisations with a successful record of working with local communities. Here are a few of them.
Rural People in Action for Development provides vocational, business and life skills training to people living in Kagadi, western Uganda.
Set up in 1999, the Single Parents Association of Uganda improves the welfare of single parents and their families. It does this through counselling, campaigning for the rights of single parents and skills training.
The Mission of TA Crusade is to improve community welfare capacities by raising the level of individual, group and institutional participation. They do this through empowerment in various social, economic and cultural activities, employing vocational training and life skills as a tool.
The Uganda Rural Development Training Centre has supported the local economy in western Uganda for many years, where it has become a beacon of excellence. It runs training workshops and local schools, a radio station with a strong educational content and an organic farm. It also provides skills training and other help to small businesses.
Green Ribbon Foundation Uganda, are an NGO founded in 1996 to work on behalf of people living in poverty. Their interventions have over the years shifted from a focus on manifestations of poverty to a focus on structural causes of poverty and injustice within a rights based framework. They work with communities over a long period of time in order to affect real change. They developed their formal education and livelihood skills training programme in 2013, working with Tools for Self Reliance to design and deliver programmes. They have undertaken extensive local research to identify where there are opportunities for long term employment growth, and which trades and industries offer the most potential for entrepreneurship and sustainable growth.
We are currently not seeking any new partners within our Uganda programme, so will not be accepting any partnership requests for the time being – we will update the website when this changes
I can now buy things for myself. I no longer have to rely on others.
Anass Alhassan,
Bicycle repair training, Ghana
