Women Rising
Youth Rising underscores the need to support women, especially mothers in efforts to alleviate poverty. This program focuses on training women in several vocational skills including art and crafts, jewelry and beading, basket weaving and agribusiness.
Launched in March 2018, at the launch of Youth Rising Mukono, the program started with training of 36 women in basket weaving techniques. In May 2018, the Women graduated with certificates and made their first large sale to our amazing partners Ray United FC who were visiting the center.
YR continues to support theit efforts by looking for orders from potential market and the women make the products to
meet the customer needs. Additionally, Youth Rising facilitators meet the women regularly and train them in business and entrepreneurship skills. The program structured in two program activities that include:
Vocational Skilling
Currently, the group is participating in basket weaving activities. The 36 women we started with trained more 12 women bringing the group to 48.
“The Ability Group”, as they refer to themselves produce an average of 70 – 100 handcrafted baskets per month and participate in a weekly
market in Kisoga.
Financial Literacy, Business and Entrepreneurship
Our facilitators offer 1 session every week to talk about personal finance, business and entrepreneurship. The sessions focus on how to sell more, save, invest and manage finances. Through these sessions, women are learning how to better work as a group, manage their finances and investments.
Basket Crafting Has Become has Renewed our Hope
When we got trained by Youth Rising in crafts and business related skills, we were so excited to make money to sustain our families; however we used to have a challenge of stable
markets for our products.
We used to rely mainly on the orders from Youth Rising and their partners and friends which could come in like once or twice a year. Our local market wasnt as responsive given the location of our group.
Our turning point was 2019, when we were trained in market strategy at Youth Rising. We started building business networks through friends and family. We got into contact with an organisation called All Across for Africa based in Mbalwa- Namugongo. This organisation picked interest in our products and offered to buy them and also train us in
more craft making.
The organisation give us orders and supplied us with the required materials to work on them. We now get several orders almost every month. And, they come in for different products ranging from the baskets of all sizes, animal crafts, and mats among others.
Once the products are ready, the staff from All Across Africa collect them and bring us money afterwards. We have also been able to open up a bank account and sometimes our money is directly deposited to the bank.
These orders coming in on a monthly basis has sustained our livelihoods and greatly contributed to our economic wellbeing. From those sales, we have been able to get funds to sustain our selves, pay school fees for our kids among others.
The credit however is given to Youth Rising that trained and
empowered us with these skills, to a point of getting a regular markets for our products with All Across Africa. We however need more markets/buyers, because we now have so may woemen that have been trained, and together, we have the capacity to satisfy any order.
This job diversified my income because after making these baskets, I sell them and I get money to pay school fees for my children, pay medical bills and also access utilities for my home. If it wasn’t this training, I would have very limited if not no income source since I don’t have enough land for farming. – Justine Najjuma.