Government Poverty Fight Reaches PWD Women with UGX 12 Million Revolving Fund
A group photo with the four beneficiary groups with dammie showing the amount of money each receive
Four groups comprising women with disabilities, youth and refugees in Ayivu Division, Arua City, have received a UGX 12 million revolving fund under the Sustainable Urban Integration of Displacement Affected Communities (SUIDAC) project to strengthen household incomes through small businesses.
The four groups are among seven community village savings groups that have collectively received the revolving funds after undergoing entrepreneurship, financial management and inclusion training. The support is being implemented by the youth-led Community-Based Organization, Community Empowerment for Transformation Action (CEFTRA) West Nile.
Under the revolving fund arrangement, the beneficiaries are expected to repay the money after investing it in their businesses so that it can be extended to other groups by 2028.
Each of the four groups consists of 30 members, bringing the total number of beneficiaries to 120. The members, who include women with disabilities, youth and refugees, are investing in income-generating ventures such as piggery, poultry keeping, soap making and village savings and loan schemes.
While rolling out the program on Wednesday, Godfrey Dricile, the Executive Director CEFTRA West Nile urged the beneficiaries to invest the funds wisely in productive enterprises that will improve household incomes and uplift their communities. He also reminded the groups to adhere to the project guidelines and continue promoting the inclusion of refugees.
“This money we are giving you today, use it very well. Invest it in productive income-generative activities, because it is revolving. Be able to get profit, and these your groups must be able to grow. Your groups will be now be exemplary because you have got some small support. You should be different in communities. Beyond this, there must be unity. All of your groups, have refugees, you should be able to coexist.”
Moses Etukibo, the Arua City Monitoring and Evaluation Officer said the revolving fund is expected to play a significant role in reducing poverty among vulnerable communities. He cautioned the beneficiaries against mismanaging the funds, saying proper accountability would ensure more people benefit from the program.
“The concept of fund is you multiply it, and then if you get more, you take it for you, and then you remove the 3 million, give it back to another group now, so that if all of you do perform very well, another 30 group will come. That is the belief. Doing it that way we will have improved.”
For many beneficiaries, the knowledge and skills acquired has already changed how they manage their finances.
Angaika Rehema, a member of the Aliodroku group, said the financial literacy training equipped them with practical skills in saving and managing money. She explained that before the training, members often kept their savings at home, exposing them to theft and mistrust. With the new knowledge, the group has opened a bank account to safely manage its funds.
Another beneficiary group member, Irene Ayikoru, pledged to repay the fund so that other groups also benefit.
“They’ve given us. We are going to do rotational savings. We give out loans to members, and we in time, raise interest so that in the next two years’ time we shall give it to another group. Then we shall continue to save using our interest, which we are going to raise in the due course.”
Meanwhile, Alesi Barbra, the Community Development Officer for Ayivu Division, encouraged the beneficiaries to recognize that development begins with individuals making good use of the limited resources available to them. She urged the group members to overcome negative mindsets, describing attitude change as essential for achieving lasting economic transformation.
“It’s your mindset that comes first. Then whatever you do will be for its perfections. If you don’t change your mindset, you will never do what others are doing. Cause there’s a saying in our local community that for us we are we are born poor and we shall continue being poor. After all, it is not a disease on us. Thinking they cannot go far, which is a lie. You can go far with even 1000 shillings.”
The chief guest, Arua City Female Youth Councilor Hon. Hope Perry Nyadri, appealed to the beneficiaries to repay the revolving funds once their businesses become profitable so that other vulnerable groups can also access the same opportunity.
The SUIDAC project is funded by the European Union through Cities Alliance with an investment of more than UGX 3.4 billion aimed at promoting sustainable urban integration and improving the livelihoods of displacement-affected communities in Arua City.