Beyond Clean Water for People:
Entrepreneurial Training
There’s a ripple effect that takes place the moment a tap turns on flowing clean water for people for the first time in a community: it’s the launching point for health, education, income, and so much more. The launching point for brighter futures.
Clean water is just the beginning.
As a Canadian Water Charity, in order to make sure 100% of that clean water reaches 100% of its full potential, our team looks to the forming of partnerships to extend impact – with you, local staff in Uganda, volunteers, and other NGOs. Most recently, this was seen through a partnership built with Solid Rock Life & Business to deliver entrepreneurial training to the Kicuzi and Masha Project areas.
7 WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) co-ops with a total of 170 people engaged in a nine-day training program that equipped them with skills and knowledge to run small businesses on their own. Imagine the difference this kind of training could have on a community as members learned practical ways to earn disposable income!
Since craft skills are in demand by the local market, participants were given opportunities to receive practical training in quality soap making and other crafting skills such as shoe and bag making, learning the purpose of diversification of income-generating activities to improve income into the household.
Participants also acquired a depth of education surrounding 7 topics of business fundamentals including management, costing, budgeting, marketing, and bookkeeping, as well as an overview of Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) and promotion of the saving culture.
Each of these training modules further ensures the sustainability of the WASH activities that take place in a community.
During feedback times with our clean water charity, several trainees expressed how happy they were to have been a part of the training modules, with facilitators who helped them gain an understanding of the topics and skills, and knowledge that will help them in creating businesses and generating more income for their households.
At the end of the training, products like soap and shoes made by the participants were sold to some participants and facilitators. The money raised was then divided equally between the two created groups as start-up capital for their group to buy materials so as to continue producing these products in groups. The ripple effect continues as these entrepreneurs then become the local supply chain for hygiene products, which makes soap and sanitary products more accessible for people living in remote, rural villages.
Everything flows from water.
“I continue thanking ACTS for training us in how to make soap and jelly. You have opened our eyes to future development because now we are able to provide our homes with needs because we sell soap and jelly and get money, we use it on our bodies, and now we are shining! God bless you good future plan you brought to us!” – Sylvia