Community Development
Poverty is one of the most common reasons that leads to children ending up on the streets. In Uganda, despite working hard, many people still live in extreme poverty. Poverty rose from 27.5 % to 32.7% after the first lockdown in 2020 and employment rates fell again after the second lockdown in 2021 (World Bank).
We identify and assess families who are most in need of our support, in order to stop children returning to a cycle of dependency on the street. We work with these families to provide business skills training and start up grants so that they are able to start and maintain businesses that provide for their families.
Since the programme began, in 2013, we have seen an increase from 67% to 81% of children we resettle remaining at home long term (over 12 months). This demonstrates that these families are using their increased income to provide for the family’s basic needs, thus reducing the risk of their children returning to the streets due to poverty.
Participants attend an intensive, three day training course, where they learn about key business skills such as finance, marketing and customer care, as well as some basic maths and literacy. Once completed, our Business Empowerment team supports participants with the finance to set up their businesses. After three months of operating, participants attend a follow up training session focused on business resilience, to discuss any challenges they are facing and to offer peer support and advice to each other.
Participants receive regular mentoring follow ups, advice and guidance from our Community Development team to ensure they have the best possible chance of success. Finally, each trainee is supported to run two peer education training sessions for members of their community, to share their knowledge and skills. Attendees are then supported with a smaller start up grant to test their new skills and knowledge. These peer sessions ensure that we are strengthening communities and working towards long-term sustainability.
Our Permaculture Business programme builds on the success of our main business programmes by offering permaculture farming, climate adaption and key business skills training to families who have land available for farming. Each family is supported by our permaculture farmers and provided with a start up package of seeds and tools that they can use to implement their learning.
They receive regular follow ups, additional training and run peer to peer sessions with members of their community to share their knowledge and help others. Through this programme, they are able to ensure their families do not go hungry and begin generating an income from the sale of surplus produce, reduces the risk of their child returning to the streets.
In 2023, we expanded our programming with our Advanced Business Training, targeting families of children who receive educational support from S.A.L.V.E.. Our team carefully select participants who would benefit from enhanced support and additional training to build on what they have already learned. These individuals then attend more in-depth training sessions on business topics such as planning, accounting and marketing. They are supported with additional capital to make key investments, allowing them to elevate their current businesses to be more profitable. Attendees of our Advanced Business Training course are empowered to be more financially secure, gradually taking over full payment for their children’s school fees.