Women in Northern Uganda are trying to break out of a cycle of poverty, made worse by conflict. Without a stable income or access to sufficient capital, families are caught in a daily struggle to keep up, let alone build new wealth. We work to break this paradigm.
Our poverty alleviation model was developed within local communities to tackle their many challenges at the same time. Known globally as a “graduation model,” this approach has been rigorously tested and is widely recognized as the gold standard in lifting the ultra-poor to self-sufficiency.
Graduation models are among the only interventions proven to consistently reduce extreme poverty in different contexts and cultures around the world.
The approach helps participants “graduate” out of extreme poverty via numerous types of support delivered concurrently, including assets to spur income generation, access to a savings account, health education, and regular life skills coaching.
At AWR, we run multiple programs that work together to create greater impact. Our most recent 2021 program audit found that women involved in more than one AWR program had on average 51% more savings than those enrolled only in microfinance. These women also had more ambitious goals for the future, such as the building of permanent homes, and were more likely to explicitly discuss diversifying income sources, nutrition, self-actualization and community engagement.
War destroys physical assets, the ability to earn an income and the capacity to save money. Starting from scratch is a long road to financial security. For as little as $100 per person, AWR changes women's lives by supplementing existing programs and systems already in place with additional knowledge, skills, and opportunities. Participants who complete the full graduation model have deeper change and higher ambitions.
All our programs amplify each other, contributing in different but complementary ways to our goal of reducing poverty in Northern Uganda.
Our program activities in regenerative agriculture, microfinance and education work together to help women develop financial stability. Read below to see the impact of our efforts.
