Micro Enterprise
Volunteer Jim Hunnington shares the vision for ROWAN's income generating projects: agriculture and farming. Now all we need is You.
Uganda Facts:
Since gaining independence in 1962, Uganda has endured upheaval and unrest. Some 300,000 Ugandans died at the hands of dictator Idi Amin, and the country faced more than twenty years of war until the National Resistance Movement gained power in January 1986. Since becoming president that year, Yoweri Museveni is credited with improving the country’s human rights record. However, Uganda has not been able to establish and sustain a growing economy.
During the last three to five years, Uganda began to revitalize its economy. The nation has managed a growth rate of 6.6% (2009 estimate). However, in 2009 approximately 32% of the population was living below the international poverty line of US$1.25 per day. With ongoing armed conflict involving rebels from the Lord’s Resistance Army, the government has been unable to focus primary attention on economic development. One result is the low level of business investment from overseas sources.
Agricultural production employs more than 80% of the work force and accounts for approximately 22% of Uganda’s economy. Coffee beans make up the bulk of the country’s exports. Relying so heavily on a single cash crop makes the Ugandan economy especially vulnerable to shifts in weather patterns. A recent series of floods significantly damaged the coffee crop and reduced the income of agricultural workers.
Uganda faces three major challenges:
- Increasing the rate of economic growth and reducing the national debt.
- Creating more jobs in service industries, which employs only 13% of the labor force but generates 52.8% of the economic output.
- Increasing individual wealth, especially in rural areas and among families stricken by HIV/AIDS.
(Source: Central Intelligence Agency - The World Fact Book)
ROWAN’s Response:
ROWAN works closely with Ugandan widows, most of whom lost their spouse to AIDS. The women almost always are supporting children and have no spouse to help generate income. ROWAN ensures that all stakeholders in economic development projects have an equal voice in determining business ideas, financial goals, and strategies for launching new business enterprises. This enables widows to develop management skills and build confidence in their ability to produce sufficient income.
Donations to ROWAN are used in two ways.
First, donations will assist the cost of offering a Business Course for our members through partner DBSP: Dynamic Business Start-Up Project, which will provide the following:
Provide outcomes based foundational business skills training, information and aftercare support to motivated individuals, particularly those from an economically disadvantaged background, so that they are able to establish (or improve) their own viable, sustainable business.
Second, donations will assist to finance small business start-ups in rural areas of Uganda. Widows operate their own businesses and band together in commercial enterprises to generate sustainable incomes.
Current Micro Enterprise projects include: Click Here for Micro Enterprise Photos
- Growing and selling pineapples
- Making necklaces to sell overseas
- Renting oxen to farmers who use them in agricultural work
- ROWAN has purchased a piece of land that contains mature coffee trees ready for harvest. The beans will provide a cash crop for export. Overseas merchants are especially interested in buying coffee beans grown on fair-trade farms.
- Current Project: Raising funds for a Hair Salon in Mawanaga!
