Start-up a small business – Uganda
Support single mothers and adolescent girls living in slums in Uganda to start their own businesses, and thus improve their lives.
SUPPORTING SINGLE MOTHERS AND ADOLESCENT GIRLS IN UGANDA
We support single mothers and adolescent girls living in slums in Uganda. The program takes place in Kamwokya and Kyebando, densely populated slum areas in Kampala, Uganda’s capital, with an estimated 40,000 inhabitants.
Action10 runs the program with our partners Ubuntu Art House and Creative Arts 256.
THE CHALLENGES OF LIFE IN KAMWOKYA AND KYEBANDO SLUMS
The majority of the people living in slum areas are children and youth.
The families are poor and illiterate, and children do not have the possibility to attend a school or are eager to drop off from school early.
Because of the challenging economic situation, unemployment, and rural-urban migration, many men have dropped their responsibilities to look after their families.
Domestic violence, early age marriages, and polygamy create a high number of single mothers.
Also, some adolescent girls resort to prostitution, which leads to unwanted pregnancies, getting HIV/AIDS, and eventually death.
EDUCATION FOR SINGLE MOTHERS AND ADOLESCENT GIRLS IN SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
The program’s mission is to empower, inform, and rehabilitate single mothers and adolescent girl school-dropouts living in slums. All the activities and operations aim to help and guide the youth on issues in transitioning from childhood to adulthood.
Our local partners, Ubuntu Art House and Creative Arts 256, are educating single mothers and adolescent girls in financial knowledge, saving culture, and small business management. They advocate for child-to-parent communication in families to avoid early pregnancies and school dropouts. They offer links to HIV prevention, treatment, and service care providers.
THE PROGRAM ACHIEVEMENT – A CHAIN OF BEAUTY SHOPS
In 2020 Chusa School of Beauty was started. It aimed at girls between the ages of ten and twenty-five.
Twenty students have now graduated from the School. With the newly acquired knowledge about salon management, and skills like plaiting, braiding, weaving, styling and makeup, these girls and women are ready to join hands and set up the Chusa Saloon of Beauty.
Chusa Saloon is a chain of beauty shops located in and around the Kamwokya. It is established to provide graduates from Chusa School of Beauty with employment opportunities.
The saloons will offer hairdressing, styling, cosmetology, and bridal services and will be financially sustainable. Each saloon will be managed by five ex-students, with one of them as a leader. At the same time, HR&S RISE Center Uganda will be providing further coaching and auditing.
The saloon team members received the start-up loan for buying the equipment needed for the work. Each group has a joint responsibility to pay back the loan. After paying back with 5% interest, they will be entitled to a new loan.
Core values for creating a positive and productive atmosphere are agreed: accountability, trust and respect for others, self-respect and self-discipline, drug use awareness, cleaning of the saloon, and good language and polite behaviour.
Read more about Chusa Saloons establishment on the “Small-scale businesses in urban vulnerable settlements in Uganda” program page (HR&S website).
USER-DRIVEN PROGRAM, ACCOUNTABILITY MANAGEMENT, AND SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY
All Action10 programs are user-driven. It means that the partners and local social entrepreneurs ideate, initiate, and manage the program.
Accountability management is one of our ActionAreas. We offer this service to our loan takers and partners. Read more about how we work regarding accountability management and sustainable economy on Human Rights & Science website.
