Trickle Up ended activities in East Africa at the end of 2009, closing the Uganda-based field office on December 18, 2009. Trickle Up started working in Uganda in 1983 and established a field office in Kampala in 2007. Between 1983 and 2009, we helped 11,722 individuals in Uganda start or expand a microenterprise to increase their income and take the first steps out of poverty.
Our East Africa Program included work in Ethiopia, where Trickle Up has reached close to 3,600 participants since 1992.
This work was made possible through collaboration with local partner agencies. At the time of closing, we had seven active partners in Uganda. These organizations are continuing to implement their own programs, providing ongoing support and services to former Trickle Up participants and their communities.
Trickle Up partnered with BETT between 2001 and 2009, reaching 1,145 participants in Bukonzo County, Uganda (in the foothills of the Ruwenzori Mountains). In 2009, we started piloting the Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) model with BETT, providing financial services and social support to 150 participants.
The training team is part of Bukonzo Joint Cooperative, which also provides microfinance and marketing services for coffee growers. The team is currently implementing gender mainstreaming programs with funding from Oxfam Novib. For more information, please visit their website: http://www.bukonzocoop.com/
Child Restoration Outreach (CRO) provides rehabilitation services for street children and their families in the urban slums of Mbale and Jinja in eastern Uganda and Masaka in the southwest, as well as support for income-generating activities to address the issues that force children to live on the streets.
Trickle Up partnered with CRO between 1992 and 2009, reaching 825 participants in Mbale, 205 in Jinja, and 130 in Masaka. Thanks to Trickle Up, families of street children developed sources of income to support their families.
Women like Stella Wadjega (pictured right), single mother of eight, were able to start businesses like making bricks, providing an income to care for her family. In addition, Stella joined a savings program piloted in 2009 with three of our partners in Uganda: the Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA). VSLA groups not only provide accessible financial services to sustain livelihood activities, but also represent social networks that vulnerable and isolated women can go to for support.
You can learn more about how CRO supports street children and their families at their website: http://www.croug.org/
Frontline AIDS Support Network (Fasnet) focuses on HIV/AIDS prevention and support services in Malaba, a town on the border of Kenya. Local infection rates are especially high due to local prostitution catering to the hundreds of truck drivers and motorists crossing the border each day.
Trickle Up partnered with Fasnet in 2009, providing alternative livelihood options to 50 participants with HIV/AIDS in Malaba. This partnership was a great addition to Fasnet’s activities, providing women with a sustainable source of income to pay for their treatment and care for their families, and represents a safe livelihood alternative to prevent new infections.
Fasnet is building a center that will include a clinic, a library, computers with internet service, a training space, and counseling services. This space will serve multiple purposes, from education and training to health care and counseling, with the goal of fostering a healthy community.
Green Home Women Development Association helps rural women improve and sustain their livelihoods with a focus on environmental sustainability, agriculture and animal husbandry, as well as providing training on gender issues and HIV/AIDS sensitization.
Trickle Up partnered with Green Home between 2004 and 2009, reaching 508 participants around Kisinga (in Kasese District, Uganda). Green Home was one of the partners piloting Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA) in 2009, providing financial services and social support to 150 participants.
Green Home uses participatory and gender sensitive approaches, empowering participants to identify and analyze their own challenges as well as develop their own solutions. Green Home is now collaborating with Bukonzo East Training Team on a project promoting gender equality.
Karughe Farmers’ Partnership for Sustainability (KFP) targets very poor rural farmers in southwest Uganda who have limited access to land and assets, promoting solar energy, effective animal utilization, and agro-processing of raw goods to increase the value of local products.
Trickle Up partnered with KFP between 2002 and 2009, reaching 295 participants around Bwera (in Kasese district, Uganda). Our partnership allowed KFP to reach individuals who were too poor and vulnerable to engage in community activities. Participants like Masika Sunguluka are amazed at their own progress: “I am not believing I am the one!” With the income from her business selling meat and other foods, she was able to move from a thatched roof house to a permanent home, purchase land and provide school supplies for her children, cover daily domestic needs, and save with KFP’s savings and credit cooperative.
Mifumi seeks to protect women and children from domestic violence and secure basic rights through education, healthcare promotion, and economic self sufficiency.
Trickle Up partnered with Mifumi in 2009, reaching 50 participants around Tororo. Together, we helped women like Margaret Alowo secure her livelihood by diversifying her income-generating activities. “I wanted to do some business but had no capital, so when I was selected for the Trickle Up program, I began to have some hope.” She used half of her grant to buy bags of millet and invested the rest in a business selling fish, tomatoes, and onions. Thanks to her trading business, she can wait until millet prices increase to sell her stock. The combination of seed capital and business training helps participants make strategic choices about their livelihood activities, guaranteeing success and sustainability.
For more information about Mifumi, please visit their website: http://www.mifumi.org/
The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) provides medical, social, and nutritional support services for people with HIV/AIDS across Uganda, including an apprenticeship program that trains youth with HIV/AIDS-affected families in vocational skills so they can support their families when their caretakers die.
Trickle Up partnered with TASO between 2005 and 2009, reaching 250 participants in Mbale and 320 in Tororo. In 2005 and 2006, the program was implemented with apprentices, supporting orphans heads of households like Oche Frank in Mbale. Oche (pictured right) used his Trickle Up grant to invest in his business selling shoes in 2006. Income from that business has allowed him to build a two room home and take care of his four siblings, paying school fees and providing food.
In 2009, Trickle Up supported TASO’s adult participants, helping women like Anna Angoye regain hope and improve their health and wellbeing. Anna, a single mother of three in Tororo, invested her grant in a cassava business. The income from her business allows her to pay her rent, take care of her children, and improve her nutrition, which is especially important for people with HIV on ARV treatment.
TASO is the largest national organization addressing HIV/AIDS in Uganda. You can learn more about their work at their website: http://www.tasouganda.org/
Where we work:
Asia: India and Nepal
Central America: Guatemala and Nicaragua
East Africa: Ethiopia and Uganda
West Africa: Burkina Faso and Mali