Angella Nabukeera is an adult learner from the Afaayo ICOLEW Community Empowerment Group, where members gain literacy, savings, and livelihood skills. Through the group’s support, she started a poultry farming project to improve her household income. Her dedication inspired her husband, Mr. John Ssennyange, who became a strong supporter of the project, contributing to its success.

Adult education isn’t just about learning to read and write; it is also about meeting our needs. It equips us with practical skills to solve our daily challenges, make better decisions, and improve lives. Adult education provides women with opportunities to earn an income, acquire skills, and assert greater control over their lives and improve family wellbeing.

In Sserinnya Village, located in Kiyovu Parish, Lwanda Sub-county, Rakai District, the Integrated Community Learning for Wealth Creation (ICOLEW) program is opening doors for this community by providing training in reading, writing, and counting, along with practical skills to improve livelihoods.

Angella Nabukeera is an adult learner from Afaayo ICOLEW Community Empowerment Group. The group consists of 62 learners (16 males and 46 females) who are committed to improving their livelihoods through literacy, collective savings, and other practical skills for generating income. She is a dedicated member who chose to invest in poultry farming as a business venture to improve her household income. This was witnessed by her husband, Mr. John Ssennyange, who later became a strong supporter of her project's success.

In January 2025, Angella actively participated in entrepreneurship and income diversification sessions, where she learned the importance of supplementing subsistence crop farming with other income-generating activities. Like many families in her community, Angella’s household relied heavily on crop farming, but the income was seasonal and unpredictable, often falling short of covering essential needs such as food, school fees, and medical care.

Inspired by success stories shared during the training, and encouraged by the fact that poultry farming can be started on a small scale with limited land and capital, Angella developed a strong interest in poultry rearing. She saw chicken keeping as a practical opportunity to provide her family with nutritious food and generate a steady income through the sale of birds, helping her meet daily household needs and support her children’s education.

Her greatest challenge was lack of capital so she secured a loan from the group saving scheme of UGX 800,000 in August 2025. The loan required no security and had a relatively low interest rate, making it affordable and accessible. With this support, she purchased 100 exotic dual-purpose chicks (Croilers), feeds, vaccines, and met the necessary brooding and management costs.

Angella’s commitment and careful management paid off. Out of the 100 chicks, 96 successfully survived the brooding stage, reflecting her strong dedication to proper poultry practices. After 45 days, she transitioned the birds into a free-range system, which helped reduce feeding costs and increased her profit margins. At five months, her Croilers reached an average weight of 2–4 kilograms, and each bird sells between UGX 25,000 and UGX 35,000. Angella plans to sell the entire flock in April, expecting to earn between UGX 2.5 million and UGX 3 million, with an estimated profit of about UGX 2 million within six months from the free-range poultry enterprise alone.

My wife’s poultry project has brought real change in our family, we are able to cater for food and children’s school fees, I’m proud of her effort.

(John, her husband)

Angella and her husband are now planning to reinvest the profits to expand the poultry project and also improve sanitary structures at home, further raising the living standards of their family.

This success changed her view, solidifying her belief in the power of adult education to support fellow community members in diversifying their incomes. Ms. Angella has inspired five fellow women in her group to start poultry businesses of their own. Together with Angella, Cissy, Ularia, Harriet, Margret, and Noeline have formed a small support network where they work as a team not only in poultry rearing, but also through labour pooling in their gardens to strengthen their productivity and income.

Abakyala nabo basobola okwenyigira mu byenkulaakulana mu maka gaabwe, meaning Women too can actively take part in development of their families.

Angella’s story is a strong demonstration of how literacy, skills training, and community-based savings can empower women economically. Her success reflects the impact of Unbound’s ICOLEW program in promoting financial inclusion, increasing household income, and enabling families to live happier and more stable lives.