THE FIRST LADY MAAMA JANET MUSEVENI’S INFLUENCE AND IMPACT IS ONE TO BEHOLD
Her role in founding Uganda Women’s Effort to Save Orphans (UWESO) is well documented. UWESO was formed at a time when HIV was ravaging families.
The program and her stance contributed to Uganda’s success story against the scourge.
Besides leading the Ministry of Education and Sports, she is also passionate about the personal development of young people & communities atlarge. Reason she decided to set up the “First Lady’s Mentorship Program”, one designed to uplift the wellbeing of our communities across the country.
The program set up in August 2018, has established a number of saving groups that have changed the lives of many.Testimonies abound of how the program has impacted lives.
At the centre of this, is a social enterprenuer a one Joshua, who explains that, the program was set up to tackle the issue of negative/poor mindset that has kept our communities backward irrespective of the opportunities available at their disposal.
“We realised that mindset change is crucial to give communities ability to develop on their own without having to bank on what their MPs & local leaders can offer them,” Joshua says.
To make this work, the team implementing the program, set out to establish MENTORSHIP CELLS that consist of 200 members plus that set financial goals to collect/save an annual sum of shs36.5m which they can use as their capital.
“We have seen them save faithfully in these group 500shs daily the point of creating SACCOS,” Joshua states.
He adds, “There’s visible transformation in the lives of people where the First Lady’s Mentorship Program has been.”
From these savings, the groups have established community initiatives, income generating agricultural activities like poultry, piggery,fish farming, cultivating fruits like passion,and others.
This program is an effort by the First Lady to address the challenges of poverty in our communities.It is not the first time the First Lady is using such programs to advance the status of rural communities.
In 1994 Maama Janet Museveni founded the National Strategy for the Advancement of Rural Women in Uganda (NSARWU).
NSARWU works to promote new skills, the implementation of technology, and building resources such as high yielding seeds and organic fertilizers to increase production.
The organization also educates women on topics such as gender balance, family health, HIV/AIDS, and nutrition.
In addition to skills and education, NSARWU provides microfinance and other resources to support non-agriculture enterprise to empower rural women.
In just over two decades, NSARWU has implemented local projects in nearly two dozen rural districts in Uganda.
Well Done Maama
