AFRICAN WOMEN RISING

AGRICULTURE: PROVIDING TRAININGS TO 2,840 NEW PARTICIPANTS IN PERMA GARDENS AND FIELD CROP PRODUCTION AND CONTINUING SUPPORT TO 3,620. THE PERMA GARDEN PROGRAM HELPS PARTICIPANTS DEVELOP A REGENERATIVE FOOD FOREST USING RESILIENCE DESIGN TO PROVIDE FOOD SECURITY THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. 95% OF PARTICIPANTS CREATED A GARDEN AND ARE FOOD SECURE, HAVE INCREASED DISPOSABLE INCOME AND ARE ABLE TO SHARE FOOD WITH NEIGHBORS. 1,320 OF THE NEW PARTICIPANTS ARE REFUGEES FROM SOUTH SUDAN, LIVING IN REFUGEE CAMPS IN UGANDA. THE FIELD CROP PROGRAM FOCUSES ON SOIL FERTILITY AND WATER CONSERVATION TO INCREASE YIELDS. BOTH PROGRAMS PROVIDE MONTHLY SUPPORT THROUGH COMMUNITY EXTENSION WORKERS. AGRICULTURAL PROGRAMS PROVIDE FOOD AND INCOME TO OVER 25,000 DEPENDENTS. PARTICIPANTS IN BOTH PROGRAMS PLANTED 130,000 FRUIT AND NATIVE TREES.TRAINING-OF-TRAINERS CERTIFICATION COURSE IN REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE:THIS TWO-WEEK REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURAL TRAINING, BASED ON THE PERMACULTURE DESIGN SYSTEM AND AGROECOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES, IS DESIGNED AS A TRAINING-OF-TRAINERS (TOT) CERTIFICATION PROGRAM. THE TARGET AUDIENCE FOR THIS COURSE IS PROGRAM MANAGEMENT AND STAFF WORKING IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PROGRAMS WHO ARE PROMOTING AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION, FOOD SECURITY, DISASTER RISK REDUCTION (DRR), NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (NRM), WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE (WASH), MARKET SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT (MSD), OR DEVELOPING INFRASTRUCTURE IN BOTH HUMANITARIAN OR DEVELOPMENT SETTINGS. PRACTICAL AND FIELD-BASED, IT SUPPORTS THE PARTICIPANTS IN LEARNING THE THEORY, THE SCIENCE AND THEN PRACTICALLY APPLYING REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE APPROACHES INTO COMMUNITY AND REFUGEE CONTEXTS. PARTICIPANTS EXPERIENCE A MIX OF CLASSROOM TIME, PEER-TO-PEER SHARING, CURRICULUM REINFORCING ACTIVITIES, DESIGN EXERCISES, FIELD PRACTICUM, COMMUNITY FACILITATION AND REFLECTION. PARTICIPANTS LEARN TO USE THE RESILIENCE DESIGN TOOLKIT TO STRENGTHEN THEIR EXISTING PROGRAMMING BY INTEGRATING AGROECOLOGICAL METHODOLOGIES, THIS PROCESS CAN ASSIST MANAGEMENT AND TECHNICAL FIELD STAFF TO DESIGN AND IMPLEMENT MORE RESILIENT AND PRODUCTIVE GROWING SYSTEMS AS PART OF THEIR PROGRAMMING. A PARTICULAR EMPHASIS IS ON DESIGNING FOR REFUGEE AND INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE (IDP'S) CONTEXTS. AWR PROVIDED ONE TRAINING FOR 55 PARTICIPANTS FROM 14 DIFFERENT ORGANIZATIONS WORKING IN 10 COUNTRIES. 5 PARTICIPANTS WERE AWARDED FULL SCHOLARSHIP.

MICRO FINANCE: PROVIDED TRAINING IN VILLAGE SAVINGS AND LOANS ASSOCIATIONS AND INCOME GENERATING ACTIVITIES TO 2,333 NEW PARTICIPANTS AND CONTINUED TO PROVIDE SUPPORT TO OVER 10,000 WOMEN. MORE THAN 2,000 NEW BUSINESSES WERE STARTED. MEMBERS RECEIVE BI-WEEKLY SUPPORT FROM COMMUNITY EXTENSION WORKERS AS THEY BUILD THEIR BUSINESSES. THE MICRO FINANCE PROGRAM HELPS SUPPORT CLOSE TO 100,000 CHILDREN.