Helping foster families in Uganda.

More than 2 million children in Uganda-one out of every five under the age of 18-have lost their parents to either HIV/AIDS or the civil war that ravaged their country in the 1970s and 1980s. As a result, one in four families looks after at least one orphaned child, and many care for ten or more. In most cases, it is the women, including surviving widows, grandmothers, aunts and other relatives, who head foster families.

In 1986, a group of women formed a volunteer organization called the Uganda Women's Efforts to Save Orphans (UWESO) to assist foster families and orphans. Its first activities were distributing food and medicines in war-torn areas and sponsoring orphans by paying their primary school fees. But as the HIV/AIDS pandemic grew, UWESO expanded its work, providing family members with better access to health care and training to care for people living with the disease. Then in 1995, the group received support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Belgian Survival Fund to finance the UWESO Development Programme, and a number of new initiatives were born.

For instance, the Savings and Credit Scheme (USCS) allows families to save their earnings or take out small loans to start income-generating activities. Access to credit means they can set up small-scale retail businesses, selling vegetables, baked goods, fish or charcoal, or raising poultry or other small stock. Some run restaurants or sell street food at weekly markets. Besides improving incomes for foster parents, USCS funds have kept 10,000 children in school and provided the seed money to help businesses prosper. Loans are also available to older orphans so they can purchase a bicycle to start a taxi service.

Today, USCS reaches 5,000 households and approximately 35,000 orphans. A main pillar of the UWESO Development Programme is a ten-week training course that builds the capacities of communities, groups and individuals, teaching them the skills they need to generate income. Participants learn about bookkeeping, business management, and credit and savings, UWESO also teaches important lessons about health, such as preventing HIV, caring for sick relatives, eating well and maintaining clean water and sanitation. It also offers advice on inheritance and property rights. The Programme has introduced an innovative method of vocational training, pairing out-of-school orphans for a one-year period with local artisans, who teach them practical skills, such as bicycle or radio repair, carpentry and tailoring. UWESO then helps them to buy the materials they need to start a business.

UWESO currently works with families in 35 of Uganda's 45 districts. It has made the transition from a small operation benefiting single orphans to a large organization of 10,000 volunteers, targeting all members of foster families. The USEWO example illustrates how providing communities with the right tools can help them take an active approach to the HIV/AIDS crisis, mitigating the effects of the disease and ensuring a better future for all.

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Benedete Nakayima (pictured at left), in her seventies, has more energy than most people her age. She lost her six daughters and five sons to AIDS, and now cares for 35 grandchildren in a Ugandan village near Lake Victoria. With loans she obtained through UWESO, Nakayima has been able to diversify crops on her banana plantation. "Now I grow sweet potatoes, beans and maize, and raise goats and pigs. The profits help me to support my grandchildren. I only wish I could pay for all the medicines for the ones who are HIV-positive", she says. She also built a house and started a savings account.

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--Miriam Okong'o

IFAD Programme Manager, HIV/AIDS Programme