Village Savings and Loan Associations: Update from Koro

Members of one of our Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) groups in Koro, located 20 minutes outside of Gulu, are in the final months of their saving cycle, and welcomed us to their meeting last week.

VSLA is an initiative where members meet weekly to save and loan money together. Each savings cycle lasts for 6-8 months. The money is stored in a lock box with three locks, the keys distributed to three different members of the group. The Koro community is in the midst of their third savings cycle that will end in December, when all of the savings will be returned to individual group members, along with each member’s percentage of the group interest.

During last week’s meeting, the group saved 102,000 Ugandan Shillings, and since the beginning of their saving cycle in February 2011, they have saved a total of 3.1 million UGX!

Check back in for more updates as the group approaches the end of another successful saving cycle!

-Juliana

Functional Adult Literacy: Students build valuable skills

Last week, we were able to visit a Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) meeting in Koro, a neighboring community just outside of Gulu.

FAL is an optional program now offered to each of Invisible Children’s (IC) Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA) groups. Each group has a community facilitator who teaches adult literacy in the local language to their peers. The program began at the end of 2010, and is designed to provide adult literacy training focused on numeracy, reading, and writing in local languages.

“There are some people who couldn’t write 0 or 1 when we started, but now we can write our letters and numbers. We can even read a little. FAL is really helping us so much,” one of the group members explained.  Participating in FAL helps group members with everyday activities like reading signs, writing and reading letters, and performing basic arithmetic.

Last week’s lesson was focused on reading and writing numbers 1-20. Following a thorough review of the material, the facilitator offered a series of exercises, which encouraged individuals to demonstrate their skills by giving them an opportunity to write their answer on the chalkboard. Together, as a community, they completed each exercise – gaining excitement and learning from one another.

Stay tuned to keep up with their progress!

-Juliana

Functional Adult Literacy: Meet Moses

Everyday, Moses wakes up, gathers his notebook and training materials, and packs them neatly in his backpack.  He hops on his bicycle and travels to one of the five communities that he works with in Bobi sub-county as a community facilitator for Invisible Children.

Originally from Bobi, as a student Moses saw people from his community living in IDP camps as a result of the LRA insurgency in northern Uganda.  It was then that he decided, if given the opportunity, that he would find a way to bring change to his community. (more…)

Functional Adult Literacy: Chalkboards and exercise books

Yesterday I traveled to Bobi, about 30 kilometers outside of Gulu town, with Invisible Children staff devoted to our Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) initiative. With a truck full of chalkboards, exercise books, pens, and other materials, we delivered supplies to the 15 groups of people in Bobi who will soon begin learning how to read and write through participating in FAL.

Taking into account years of interrupted studies for many in northern Uganda due to the LRA insurgency and lack of access to higher education, Invisible Children began its Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) initiative. FAL provides adult literacy training for participating VSLA group members, focusing on numeracy, reading, and writing in their local language. (more…)

Functional Adult Literacy: The advantage of knowing

During last week’s Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) training, we had a chance to speak with Susan, one of our six community facilitators who will be teaching adult literacy in rural communities outside of Gulu.  FAL is an initiative that began at the end of 2010, designed to provide adult literacy training to members of our Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) groups.  The training focuses on numeracy, reading, and writing in local languages.

Susan is from the northern Ugandan sub-county of Atanga.  She is now becoming a FAL facilitator, after spending last year as a facilitator in the Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) program, an initiative where communities save and loan money together.  FAL is an optional initiative now offered to all VSLA participants.  Professional Invisible Children instructors train FAL facilitators in teaching techniques that allow them to teach reading, writing, arithmetic, and other best business practices to those to opt to participate in FAL. (more…)

“Ket Itic” – put it to work

As you travel outside the center of Gulu, you quickly notice the change in your surroundings.  Businesses are replaced with small trading centers and the bustle of everyday life quickly fades into fields ripe with crops like maize and cassava.  Along the road, you will see small communities of people who live together, work together, and support one another.

Last week, we made our way to one of these communities, located in Bobi, about 40 kilometers outside of Gulu town.  While there, we visited a group participating in Invisible Children’s Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) program.  The group, Ket Itic, was in its 35th week of saving and loaning together.  At the meeting we attended, they managed to save 105,000 shillings (about $42), adding it to the 3,218,000 shillings (about $1,287) they had saved together since the start of the 35 weeks.  Once the group is finished saving and everyone has repaid their loans, the members will be able to continue and grow their own small business initiatives. (more…)

Uganda: Photo Friday

At the formation of every Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) group, the members elect their leaders.  Positions include a Chairperson, Treasurer, Secretary, Key Holders, and Money Counters.  Responsible for counting the money during VSLA meetings, the Money Counters make sure that every shilling is accounted for and help to ensure the accuracy of the group’s records.

Invisible Children currently supports 50 VSLA groups, of 25-30 members each.  The groups meet every week to save and loan money together.  For something that takes just one hour a week to manage, VSLA provides members with three immensely valuable benefits:  a way to save money, a way to earn interest, and a way to access previously unavailable capital.

Clean water: changing lives

Most of us are able to walk about ten feet over to the kitchen faucet, turn it on, and immediately fresh, clean water is pouring into our glass.  Simple.  Easy.  Clean.  However, for Wara Kennedy and the members of his village in northern Uganda, this is no simple task.

In the past, Wara walked for three miles and pumped water from an unprotected well into two plastic containers, each holding forty-five pounds of water.  Then, he would proceed to carry these heavy containers another three miles back to his home in Amuru District, northern Uganda.  This was a daily task, up until May 2011.  For many people in northern Uganda, like Wara, access to clean drinking water is still a serious problem. (more…)

VSLA: It’s really working

We recently traveled with the Villages Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) team to Bobi, about 30 km outside of Gulu, to check up on one of their newly formed VSLA groups.

The members of this group have given themselves a name in Luo, the language spoken in northern Uganda, which means “It’s better than being idle,” when translated in English.  This group is anything but idle.  When we approached them they greeted us warmly with smiles and laughter, but when the VSLA meeting began, they were all business. (more…)

Uganda: Photo Friday

A Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) group member at a Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) meeting practices writing the letters “d” and “e.”

The practical, adult literacy training gives an opportunity for community members to increase their level of basic education, expand their skill-sets, and improve their understanding of saving, loaning, and investment.