working the field

I am slowly becoming an agriculture expert!

I am slowly becoming an agriculture expert! Expert might be an exaggeration… but I am certainly learning! For someone who grew up in the city and been in the countryside for holidays only, it’s been quite challenging! Living most of the week in the Ugandan village as well as working very closely with communities on agricultural micro-enterprises has shone some …

Smiling kids

Africa is the world of children

What’s your image of Africa? Most of people who never travelled here think of sick children with protruding bellies, dry and cracked land, AIDS, shivering from malaria people, urban slums with no water, no food and no power. World rushes with aid. While some of these images are certainly a part of the Ugandan picture, children are the focal point …

The poor are not too poor to save. Why should we care about the savings groups?

Experiencing first hand the change that saving groups are bringing into the community has left me hungry for more knowledge about this financial institution that’s been existing now for decades. Now, I can honestly say that I believe that the saving groups concept was as revolutionary (and continues to be) as peer-to-peer lending boom happening now. The concept of savings …

Meet the new Communities for Development volunteer!

Mulembe! In Lugisu, the local language spoken around Bulambuli district, it means hello. I’m Marta the new volunteer for Communities for Development and I’ve been in Uganda now for 2 weeks. I’ll be coordinating 3 key projects which are also the pillars of the NGO: saving groups, IGAs (income generating activities) and conducting a feasibility research for a social project. …