Atto Florence is a 48-year-old woman and a native of Nwoya District. She is married to Onen Patrick with whom she has had 10 beautiful children. They are residents of Labworomor sub village located in Lapono village, Pabali parish in Anaka sub county. She is a peasant farmer by occupation and an active member of a Community Empowerment Group (CEG) known as Kwan Yabu Wang where she is learning and saving.

Prior to her engagement in the Integrated Community Learning for Wealth (ICOLEW) programme led a rather alarming lifestyle. As expected, the loss of her six children to acute malaria took a toll on her motivation and she spiralled into a fit of depression characterised by lack of inspiration to go about her formally normal activities. One could even say she had no hope of living peacefully. She was still a farmer by occupation but she mostly used local methods and even with the introduction of new / modern farming methods she didn’t seem eager to gain experience in them since she viewed her business as a means of passing time. This attitude towards farming meant that consequently her income was low and this couldn’t allow her to efficiently save. She participated in Village Savings and Lending Association (VSLA) activities but she admitted to doing so mostly to relate or feel part of her peers who were at the time actively taking part in VSLAs. This attitude towards VSLAs meant that consequently she wasn’t much of a beneficiary from association.

After joining the CEG, she acquired various skills including Numeracy and Literacy, Livelihood /Business skills, savings and financial literacy. She was able to apply what she learned and in 2022, she planted groundnuts using the good agronomic practices such as good site selection, early preparation, and good seed selection, timely planting weeding, and post-harvest handling. She had a bumpy harvest and decided to sell part of the proceeds. That same year in December, Florence convinced her husband and children to plan and make some bricks so that they could construct a permanent house. She reasoned that as she aged, she needed an Iron sheet-roofed house since she may not be able to tolerate the exhaustion of harvesting grass for roofing her house annually. Additionally, alongside her farming activities Florence started a business and from that business she would save some of her gains. She saved Ugandan Shilings (UGX) Shillings 600,000 from her VSLA in 2022. In January 2023 they started a foundation of a three-bed roomed house and now the house is roofed, and they are left without completing it.

By embracing the tenets of ICOLEW-CEGs Florence has indeed improved her living conditions and income generation capabilities. In terms of living conditions, she has improved from living in a grass thatched hut to a three-room iron sheet-roofed house. She developed better farming and literacy/numeracy skills, and improved capacity to make decisions on her own and influence the decisions made at the household level. This is why she is seen as a true beacon of empowerment. In terms of improved income generation, it should be noted that she used to earn less than 30,000 shs in a month and some months she wouldn’t earn a single coin. But from applying what she learned from the programme she is saving an average of 50,000 every month.

As a result of increased income generation, she can jointly make family plans with her husband and children. Florence has benefited in terms of increased farming acreage and her health has improved due to improved livelihood for her and her family. She has gained respect from not only her husband but the neighbours as well. Furthermore, she is now saving purposefully since she has a plan of paying for her two children to complete their studies. It should be noted that Florence isn’t the only farmer in Labworomor who has benefited from the programme. Approximately more than 50 households have learnt a thing or two from her and 28 members of the group where she belongs have gained a lot from her success and they are also trying to pick a leaf from her life experience.

Akello Betty is a 42-year-old farmer and a learner under the programme with 7 children, 4 of whom are enrolled in school. According to her, change is possible. What is important is saving with a purpose. Betty said she is very happy to see Florence prospering, and and she aspires to be as successful as Florence. She sees Florence as a very strong woman, who has shown her how to do Business, alongside farming. During the interview Betty is quoted to have said,

“As a widow, I want to work together with my children and also construct a house at least even two rooms as long as it is iron sheets. I am tired of picking grasses every year.”

Through reflecting on the lives that the ICOLEW programme has impacted, it is evident that barriers to adult learning and education have been removed. Technology transfer has been exhibited by the learners through their respective group /CEGs which are easy to transform since they have multiple learnings at the same time. But just like any programme, project or activity the main challenge faced by Florence and her CEG group is that most of the learners obtain their income through farming and most of them are usually affected by weather failures. However, each member of the group remains undeterred and adaptive and resilient framing techniques are being applied by the learners and incorporated into their learning sessions. To them, challenges are there to be overcome, and the spirit of unity and continuous learning amongst them is infectious.