Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) are a valuable social safety-net for vulnerable groups of people. They provide a sort of adaptation financing and increase financial choices for poverty-stricken populations in the face of climate change
and Pandemics.

For us JESE, we learn that VSLAs are a valuable social safety-net for vulnerable groups of people. They provide a sort of adaptation financing and financial choice in the face of climate change. Poor people can draw their reserves to invest in climate Smart Agriculture, healthcare and education.

For the 30 years of its existence, JESE facilitated the mobilisation of over UGX10 Billions in Western Uganda that have been re-invested by rural households and providing alternative livelihoods. In this magazine, we share some of the stories of beneficiaries of this village financing model. Below are the stories of change:

Atuhaire Grace

I belong to a VSLA group called Kyembogo Bakyara Tukorre Hamu. I am a Community Based Trainer (CBT) but also a group member since I could not sensitise the community about an initiative that I am not part
of. So, I am the 30th member of my group. I started saving well like I was taught by JESE.

During the first cycle, I saved only UGX 520,000 and received UGX 620,000 at share out, which means I had a profit of UGX 100, 000. I learned that saving is one way to minimise the misuse of money because we save weekly. I also learned that saving money helps me make priorities. I learnt to prioritise and where
I need to spend; practices that I had never done before. It helped to avoid unnecessary expenditure.

The money I shared out in the first cycle was used to expand our coffee plantation by half a hectare. This was in collaboration with the entire family, here we all work on the farm including my husband. In the second cycle, I also saved UGX 520, 000 because we maintained the share value of UGX 10,000. We saved for 52 weeks, I received UGX 680,000 with a profit of about UGX 160,000.

We did not have a vehicle then when we started expanding our farm. We had challenges in transporting our coffee and bananas, so we waited for the share out and topped-up to purchase a pickup. It’s old but it serves the purpose that when we harvest coffee, we are able to take it for processing and no longer sell it to middle men. I got a loan of UGX 400,000 in the second cycle to start a piggery project. I am starting small and have bought one piglet at UGX 200,000. I also got another loan to support my children at school. My children are encouraged to study well.

VSLAs supports diversification into off farm enterprises

On-farm livelihoods are increasingly facing climate change risks, including uncertainty of seasons, pests
and diseases and the resultant farm losses. Such risks and vulnerability forced Allen Twinomujuni to diversify into the business of groceries, while drawing empowerment from the VSLA approach to obtain the much needed startup capital. VSLAs enhance sustainable access to credit and provide
opportunities for financial inclusion, income diversification and expanding the asset base.

Allen Twinomujuni is one of the many beneficiaries of VSLAs supported by JESE over
the past 10 + years and she narrates how VSLAs provided the launch pad to start her grocery
business.

My name is Twinomujuni Allen. I am the chairperson of Kyerenga Village Savings and Loans Association and an active member of Kyerenga Wetland Conservation Association. I am also a retail trader, operating a grocery in Rwaibale. I have been involved with JESE since 2019 when I was trained in VSLAs and taken for learning visits in Fort Portal to see how other farmers do things differently and profitably.

Since that time, I was personally challenged to be creative and pursue agribusinesses that have stable income streams. So, when I started out in my VSLA, I was inwardly persuaded to take out a loan of 300,000 Shillings to invest in crop growing. However, I lost it all when the crops failed. I paid off the debt with other produce I had kept that season. I dared the second time and took out another 500,000 in loan and this time I invested it in a grocery, selling a variety of food stuffs like tomatoes, potatoes, beans,
cassava and fresh vegetables, a thought that I had invested wisely this time.

From the grocery, I am able to save 20,000 every month and the rest of the money is invested in food production and a piggery project. I am also working towards establishing a zero grazing dairy project”
I am grateful to JESE for introducing to us the VSLA initiative because the women do not have to stake their land and other assets any more to guarantee loan acquisition. The process is easier and friendly
to our status as women who in most cases do not own land or assets to raise collateral required by
the banks.”

My name is Kaija Paul from Matiri in Kihuura Sub County, Kyenjojo district. I started working with JESE as a farmer from the year 2000, when Kyenjojo was actually still part of Kabarole district. JESE came with its agenda that included transforming agriculture, environmental protection that included planting trees, Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), marketing of our farm produce, and how to improve sanitation and hygiene among others.

Those days, we used to get water for drinking from rivers and would be so dirty. As a result, typhoid cases got so high but when JESE came, they built for us boreholes and taught us how to boil the water to prevent typhoid cases. I remember very well how the cases of these diseases were reduced. Even when the schools were very few, they encouraged us to educate our children.

In the year 2002, they brought us cows and introduced zero grazing to us. They also brought us goats, which were imported from South Africa. Here in Kihuura, we were very lucky because we were the very first to have those goats in the region. These goats multiplied and they could be in the whole country now. On farming particularly, they taught us many good practices. In Kihuura here, we used to collect grass and burn it when clearing the fields for the planting season. But JESE staff stopped us from doing that. They told us that when we burn the grass, we reduce the fertility

levels of the soil. They told us to start burying the grass, and we did that. We were taught how to dig vertical and horizontal trenches to tackle soil erosion and other challenges. From that time, our harvests increased, and our incomes also increased.

They also brought us improved varieties of Irish potatoes and bananas and we started growing them on a large scale. On my side, I am so grateful and proud of JESE because of the transformation they made in my life. First of all, they gave me a cow which I looked after for a long time and I really earned so much from it. They gave us varieties of coffee, bananas and coffee which I still have up to date. By the time I met JESE, I had very young children who were just starting to go to school, but they encouraged me and showed me ways how I could educate them.

Right now, I have eight (8) degrees in my home. These include doctors, nurses, teachers, accountants among others. My last two children have just completed S.6 and they passed very well. All these were educated with money I earned from JESE interventions and advice. I have built a permanent and beautiful house and I have some means of transport now. I have never gone to the market to buy food for my family because we grow enough food here.

The five hectare of coffee that I have can enable me to harvest over 100 bags per season. That is really some good money in my advanced age now. During those earlier training, we were also taught how to integrate trees in our coffee gardens. I now have mango trees where I can earn over Shs 150,000 per harvesting season per tree. That is also some income for my family.