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Transforming Challenges into Opportunities

“Being members of a farmers’ group and saving money with them has transformed my family’s challenges into opportunities,” says Ouga, an elderly farmer who participates in the Uganda Teso program.

Ouga and his wife, Janet, have ten children. They joined a farmers’ group in 2016 to receive training on a variety of sustainable agricultural practices. As their tomatoes, maize and cassava started yielding more, they began saving money with other members through the group’s Village Savings and Lending Association.

“In the first year, we just saved a little money. What opened our eyes was that the members who had saved more received a substantial amount of money as a dividend at the end of the cycle! In fact, they were even able to buy cattle!”

Seeing their fellow farmers’ success triggered Ouga and Janet’s desire to put away more money. At the end of the second-year payout cycle, Ouga’s family received enough to buy a bull for plowing.

“That same year, we got a loan from the group and purchased doors and windows for the house we were constructing as a family,” Ouga said. “We are also now able to pay school fees and cover other expenses. For so many years – even into my old age – I have struggled to provide for my family, with little and sometimes no success. Now I realize it was mainly because of my ignorance and sticking to traditional thinking and practices,” he says.

Uganda Teso Program
Led by World Renew and local partner PAG KIDO

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