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Northern
Uganda.

Local knowledge and local expertise inspired us to design a model contextualized to where we work. With decades of experience working in the region and sector, our team of 65 in Uganda is the best in the business.

Northern Uganda is the poorest region in the country and is impacted by many challenges: unpredictable growing seasons due to climate change, unpredictable markets due to global instability, and a refugee crisis along the northern border.

We work in some of the most remote parts of this region not because it’s easy, but because it’s where we can have the most impact. The people of Northern Uganda and South Sudan consistently inspire us with their creativity and grit.

Asset based development delivers results because it’s built on the resources available in a given context. In our context, clients have access to an abundance of land and labor, which is why we partner with them to grow their farming capacity as step one on their journey out of extreme poverty.

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Our Model

Is multidimensional

Our model has been systematically designed to address the barriers that keep our communities in poverty.

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Northern Uganda
2.8780° N, 32.7181° E

the capable Program Model.

Our Theory of Change is grounded in the belief that ending extreme poverty is not solely an economic process, so we don't treat it as such. Each component of our program is designed to create human flourishing across four areas: wellness, agency, connection, and prosperity.

Our goal is to see our clients transition to commercial farming, diversify their income, and consistently earn above the extreme poverty line (more than $2.15 PPP per day / household member).

We combine proven asset based economic development interventions with regenerative agriculture and mental healthcare. The result is impact that is as transformational as it is durable.

We invest enough time and resources over two years to ensure that clients have every opportunity to exit extreme poverty for good. It takes a nimble and multidimensional program to accomplish this audacious goal - we are proving that it can be done and that it can be done at scale.

Our Model.

Wellness.

objective: CLIENTS ARE PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY HEALTHY TO COPE WITH THE CHALLENGES OF LIFE.

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We start by walking alongside our clients to address their most immediate needs. Improving health and sanitation is a vital first step in the journey out of extreme poverty. As living conditions improve, illnesses decrease, and diets diversify - clients begin to have enough margin to tackle the larger barriers that keep our communities in poverty.

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Next on their pathway of change: clients are given the opportunity to address their mental and spiritual well-being through one-on-one counseling, group therapy, and community symposiums. Ending extreme poverty is not solely an economic process, so we don't treat it as such.

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Activities: health and sanitation training, diet and nutrition training, counseling, mentorship

Measurement: SF-8 Self Reported health score

Outcome goal: 25% improvement

Our Model.

Agency.

Objective: CLIENTS BELIEVE THEY ARE CAPABLE OF CREATING THEIR BEST POSSIBLE FUTURE.

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Our clients are defined by their potential - not their current economic or social status. The crux of our work is mindset change: a shift from I can't to I'm CAPABLE. This is the through line of our entire model: every literacy class, one-on-one mentorship session, field demonstration, or radio program is delivered through this lens.

‍This shift starts at the individual level, but when people begin to imagine and live out their best possible future, it's remarkably contagious. Individual choices lead to collective action as families, savings groups, farming cooperatives, and communities begin to take ownership over their future.

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Activities: household visioning and goal setting, client exchange programs, counseling, mentorship

Measurement: Locus of control survey

Outcome Goal: 50% improvement

Our Model.

Connection.

Objective: Clients experience relational well-being across four domains: communal, personal, environmental, and transcendental.

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Implementing our program within a group context is in lockstep with our culture in Northern Uganda. At the beginning of the program we focus on group formation training, drafting group bylaws, and electing leadership - and by the end - clients graduate into formal farming cooperatives and extend membership to others in their community, too.


Leveraging these economies of scale helps to unlock exponential economic growth - but it's the social connection, safety net, and accountability that help create outcomes that are as transformational as they are durable.

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Activities: group formation, community symposiums, cooperative development

Measurement: SHALOM (spiritual health and life orientation measure)

Outcome Goal: 25% improvement

Our Model.

Prosperity.

objective: Clients engage in commercial farming to earn above the extreme poverty line. They diversify their income and build their net worth to weather shocks.

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Everything we do drives towards our ultimate goal: seeing our clients, their families, and their communities make a complete and durable exit from extreme poverty. That is, actually seeing every household member live above the extreme poverty line of $2.15 PPP / day.

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To ensure that they have the best opportunity to experience this change, we offer a comprehensive package of intensive agriculture and business training, nearly no-cost financing, and targeted market linkage services. These components work together to help our clients gain a competitive advantage within the market place and rapidly increase their income and networth.

The final step in the program is graduation and the transition from farming groups to formal farming cooperatives. Cooperatives do two things really well: they allow clients to take advantage of economies of scale across their businesses and they expand year-over-year to extend economic opportunities to the wider community.

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Activities: ag and business training, low-cost financing, market linkage, cooperative development

Measurement: capable wealth assessment

Outcome Goal: Daily income per household member is above the extreme poverty line ($2.15 PPP), networth and savings increase by 250%

Month 1

Phase 1

Group Dynamics, Mental and Spiritual Health, Literacy
The first month of training focuses on farmer group formation, with sessions on group organization, leadership, management, and constitution development. Additional sessions focus on mental health, self-esteem, and alcohol abuse. Lastly, our functional adult literacy and numeracy courses begin.
Connection
Agency
Wellness

Month 2

Phase 1

Health and Sanitation, Farming as a Business, Mental and Spiritual Health, VSLA, Literacy
In month two clients take a deep dive into commercial agriculture, covering topics on enterprise selection, budgeting and record keeping, risk management, land preparation, and seed selection. Training on setting up and running a VSLA round out the economic training for this month. Next, clients participate in health and sanitation training to improve family health and we continue our mental health sessions covering relationships within families and communities. Functional adult literacy training continues throughout the month.
Prosperity
Wellness
Agency

Month 3

Phase 1

Farming Skills, Financial Literacy, Environment and Climate, Literacy
This month kicks off with training and field demonstrations on planting methodology. Next, clients participate in training sessions covering budgeting, savings, and numeracy. Sessions on your relationship with the environment round out the month, covering regenerative agriculture and climate change.
Prosperity
Wellness
Connection
Agency

Month 4

Phase 1

Farming Skills, Mental and Spiritual Health, Literacy
Household visioning and goal setting sessions take the lead this month. Additional training in farming skills, covering topics like weed management and pests and disease management, are next. Rounding out the month are sessions on spiritual health and community wellbeing. Functional adult literacy classes focus on arithmetic this month.
Prosperity
Agency
Wellness
Connection

Month 5

Phase 1

Farming Skills, Financial Management, Mental and Spiritual Health, Literacy
Farming skills training on post harvest handling are the main focus this month. Sessions on financial literacy, focused on accurate record keeping, are next. Arithmetic classes continue this month. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, sessions on counseling skills and conflict mediation are next.
Prosperity
Connection
Wellness
Agency

Month 6

Phase 1

Mental and Spiritual Health, Business Skills, Farming Skills
Sessions on conflict management in groups and communities continue this month. Post harvest handling training rounds out our initial farming skills curriculum. Next, clients begin business skill training with sessions on business opportunities, income diversification, and start up costs. Functional adult literacy continues classes on arithmetic throughout the month.
Connection
Prosperity
Wellness
Agency

Month 7

Phase 2

Farming Skills, Business Skills, Literacy, Food and Nutrition
Marketing training starts in earnest this month - with a focus on post harvest handling and marketing as well as non-farm business marketing skills. We began training on food and nutrition this month too, with a focus on dietary diversification. Arithmetic classes continue throughout the month.
Prosperity
Wellness
Agency

Month 8

Phase 2

Business Skills, Farming Skills, Relationships
Family and group counseling sessions take place throughout the month. Marketing training continues with a focus on collective marketing as a group to attract large contracts. Business skills training covers profit and loss and start up capital. Numeracy and arithmetic classes continue this month. Lastly, clients participate in sessions covering family and group counseling and conflict mediation.
Prosperity
Connection
Agency

Month 9

Phase 2

Regenerative Agriculture, Business Skills, Family Health, Literacy
As clients enter into their second growing season, we place a large focus on regenerative agriculture with initial sessions on soil health and water conservation. A number of training sessions on child healthcare take place too and literacy shifts focus to measurements this month.
Prosperity
Connection
Wellness
Agency

Month 10

Phase 2

Business Skills, Literacy, Family Health
Business skills this month focus on record keeping and profit and loss tracking. Additional training on livestock production round out the month with a focus on poultry and piggery business opportunities. Health and sanitation training continue with a focus on personal hygiene and reproductive health. Measurement training continues in our functional adult literacy department.
Prosperity
Wellness
Agency

Month 11

Phase 2

Life Skills, Physical Health, Business Skills
Life and critical thinking skills take the lead this month with sessions covering critical and creative thinking, problem solving, effective communication, and interpersonal relationships. Wellness training continues too with a focus on reproductive health. Literacy training shifts back to reading and writing skills this month. Lastly, livestock production training continues this month, covering goat and cattle rearing.
Prosperity
Wellness
Agency
Connection

Month 12

Phase 2

Life Skills, Business Skills, Literacy
To end the year our functional adult literacy department gives exams for all participants. Training sessions on child care and counseling take place this month too. On the business side of things, we take a deep dive on bee-keeping.
Prosperity
Connection
Agency

Month 13

Phase 3

Cooperatives, Farming Skills, Group Dynamics, Literacy, Mindset
We kick off year two with refresher training sessions on group formation, management, and commercial agriculture. Literacy training continues with a focus on numeracy. Clients participate in a number of sessions on mindset, agency, self esteem, and goal setting. We introduce our first training on cooperatives this month as well.
Connection
Agency
Prosperity
Wellness

Month 14

Phase 3

Farming Skills, Physical Health, Literacy, VSLA, Cooperatives
With sessions on land preparation, seed selection, and VSLA operations, we continue our farming and financial skills refresher training. Clients also participate in health and sanitation training this month. Cooperative training continues with a focus on principles, pillars, and values. Functional adult literacy classes continue with a focus on numeracy this month.
Prosperity
Wellness
Connection
Agency

Month 15

Phase 3

Environment and Climate, Business Skills, Farming Skills, Cooperatives, Literacy
We continue our regenerative agriculture training this month with a focus on agroforestry. Refresher sessions on crop planting also take place this month. Financial literacy training focuses on savings and long term financial stability. Literacy classes shift to a focus on arithmetic this month.
Prosperity
Connection
Wellness
Agency

Month 16

Phase 3

Farming Skills, Household Visioning, Mental and Spiritual Health, Literacy, Cooperatives
We review household visioning and goal setting this month and combine it with sessions on spiritual well being. Farming skills training continues with a focus on weed, pest, and disease prevention and management. Arithmetic training continues in our literacy department too. To round out this month, clients continue participating in cooperative training - covering formation and share capital contributions.
Prosperity
Connection
Wellness
Agency

Month 17

Phase 3

Farming Skills, Financial Management, Cooperatives, Literacy, Mental and Spiritual Health
Sessions on post harvest handling and financial record keeping start of the month. Next, clients receive training on counseling skills and mental health. Cooperative training continues with sessions focused on governance, leadership, and structure. Functional Adult Literacy remains focused on arithmetic this month.
Prosperity
Connection
Wellness
Agency

Month 18

Phase 3

Farming Skills, Business Skills, Mental and Spiritual Health, Literacy, Cooperatives
Mental and spiritual health training with a focus on conflict management are heavily featured this month. Next, clients participate in further training sessions that cover business management, with a focus on income diversification. Additional training on post harvest handling take place too. Cooperative training focuses on collective decision making this month while literacy classes continue covering arithmetic.
Prosperity
Connection
Wellness
Agency

Month 19

Phase 4

Business Skills, Physical Health, Literacy, Cooperatives
Cooperative training continues this month with sessions focusing on conflict management. Literacy classes continue focusing on arithmetic. Food and nutrition training topics take place this month too, focusing on dietary diversity. To round it out business skills focus on family business management and farming skills training focuses on collective marketing and produce bulking.
Prosperity
Connection
Wellness
Agency

Month 20

Phase 4

Farming Skills, Business Skills, Mental and Spiritual Health, Literacy, Cooperatives
Cooperative training sessions focus on resource mobilization with sessions covering formal banking, market linkage, and group income generating activities. Community and group counseling training look to improve group dynamics. Farming and business skills focus on marketing and financing this month. And, you guessed it, functional adult literacy continues to focus on arithmetic this month.
Prosperity
Connection
Wellness
Agency

Month 21

Phase 4

Environment and Climate, Farming Skills, Business Skills, Physical Health, Literacy, Cooperatives
Our focus on regenerative agriculture picks up again this month with sessions covering irrigation techniques and clean energy solutions. Clients also participate in training sessions that offer a refresher on record keeping and inventory this month - this works well alongside sessions on measurements offered by the literacy department. Our cooperative department provides training on the cooperative registration process. To conclude the month, clients are trained on child health and wellness.
Prosperity
Connection
Wellness
Agency

Month 22

Phase 4

Hygiene and Sanitation, Farming Skills, Business Skills, Physical Health, Literacy, Cooperatives
This month the cooperative training focuses on the procurement of inputs and the marketing of crops. Measurement training continues under our functional adult literacy team. Meanwhile, clients also participate in training sessions covering personal hygiene and reproductive health. On the business side of things: clients receive refresher sessions on livestock production (poultry and piggery), record keeping, and profit and loss.
Prosperity
Connection
Wellness
Agency

Month 23

Phase 4

Business Skills, Physical Health, Life Skills, Literacy, Cooperatives
In our penultimate month of training clients participate in a refresher course covering goat and cattle rearing. Next, training sessions cover critical thinking and problem solving. Reproductive health training takes place this month too. We also host training and discussions on traditional practices. To conclude our functional adult literacy program, clients take their final exams. To wrap it all up cooperative training continues with sessions focused on marketing.
Prosperity
Connection
Wellness
Agency

Month 24

Phase 4

Cooperatives
The final month of the program is entirely focused on cooperatives with sessions covering future investment and growth.
Prosperity
Connection
Agency