The training was designed to equip girls with the foundational tools to navigate financial independence and entrepreneurial success. Over the course of the training, participants explored the importance of disciplined saving, sound business planning, and collaborative group management.

What stood out most was the group’s deep commitment and enthusiasm. With guidance from the CFI team, the girls co-developed a clear and well-structured constitution to govern their new savings group. This document will serve as the backbone of their operations ensuring transparency, trust, and shared leadership. Another key takeaway from the session was the emphasis on market research as a tool for sustainable entrepreneurship. The girls recognized that successful businesses are built on informed decisions, understanding what products or services their communities truly need, and how to meet those needs strategically.

At CFI, we believe in the power of grassroots action and the potential of young people especially girls to drive lasting change. The energy and determination displayed in Otwal and Barr are proof that when empowered with knowledge and support, young women become unstoppable forces for development.

As these girls return to their communities, they carry more than new ideas. They carry a vision a future where financial independence and entrepreneurship become pathways out of poverty and into purpose achieving CFI’s vision and mission of empowering people, changing lives.

The post Girls Trained in Savings and Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Change appeared first on Community Focus International.

Customized just for You

A Community Focus International and Plan International Uganda Initiative.

Community Focus International, in partnership with Plan International Uganda, is implementing the Safe and Inclusive Cities project, which aims to promote gender equality and prevent sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in public transport systems. As part of this project, we recently organized an innovative activity that brought together male figures to sensitize them on SGBV, Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH), and SGBV in public transport systems.

The “Male Champions for Safe Cities” activity was designed to engage men as allies in the fight against SGBV and promote their role in creating safer and more inclusive public spaces. The event brought together over 8 male participants, including community leaders, transport operators, and local authorities.

Through interactive discussions, role-plays, and presentations, the male participants were sensitized on the following key issues:

• The impact of SGBV on individuals, families, and communities.
• The importance of SRH services and information for all.
• The role of men in preventing SGBV and supporting survivors.
• The need for safe and inclusive public transport systems.

The activity provided a platform for the male participants to share their experiences, challenges, and suggestions on how to address SGBV and promote gender equality in their communities.

The outcomes of the activity were remarkable, with many participants committing to become champions for change in their respective spheres of influence. Some of the key outcomes included:

• Increased awareness and understanding of SGBV and SRH issues among male participants.
• Improved attitudes and commitment to support survivors of SGBV.
• Identification of potential male champions to support the project’s activities and advocacy efforts.
• Strengthened partnerships with local authorities and transport operators to promote safe and inclusive public transport systems

As Community Focus International and Plan International Uganda, we believe that engaging men and boys is crucial in preventing SGBV and promoting gender equality. This activity demonstrated the potential for male figures to become powerful allies in creating safe and inclusive cities for all.

We look forward to building on this momentum and continuing our work with male champions to promote gender equality and prevent SGBV in public transport systems.

The post Engaging Male Champions for Safe and Inclusive Cities. appeared first on Community Focus International.

This is the CFI team working out of the Lira Uganda office.  They are young, smart, and dedicated to the mission. Every day they see that the need is huge. The organization’s future is in good hands.

Assisted Devices: Wheelchairs continue to be our focus. We fabricate the chairs in our Lira office compound, both adult three-wheel hand-powered units and children’s chairs in two sizes. In October we made and distributed 30 children’s chairs, and in February, while Jane and I were in-country, we fabricated and distributed 25 adult three-wheeled hand-powered chairs, at no charge, in a ceremony at our office compound. It was a great day for the beneficiaries and their families. (photo below) We now have fabricated approximately 125 chairs. As mentioned in my last newsletter, the maintenance of the chairs in the field continues to be a challenge. We have to figure out how to deal with the distances and limited road access. But we will get there… 

We continue to distribute new eyeglasses. It is rewarding to watch a person walk away with a smile that results from improved vision. There is a need for modern crutches and canes. We are working on how we can make those effectively available. 

Beneficiaries and their families have come to the Lira office compound to pick up their new chairs. A few speeches, some refreshments, and a lot of enthusiasm.

Village Savings and Loans: There are now three self-managed rural groups, that all met at our Otwal field office to present their growth, and success stories and discuss the next year. (photo below) And what success stories!! We heard the examples of making 4 or 5 times the return on the amount borrowed by selling produce, raising pigs and chickens, expanding farmland, and even re-selling books. And all loans within the groups were paid back. The creation of these groups is one of the best things CFI has done. Other than the seed loans CFI has made to help provide capital, (seed loans that have all been paid back!!) the participants self-manage the process. I really like this program. I personally promised that for these 3 groups there will continue to be a flow of CFI seed money as long as they continue to pay it back. It is all about elevating the community economy. The issue CFI faces is the spreading desire by other villages to start up a VSLA, asking us to help them get started and seed them with capital. Not sure how much we can handle…. kind of a nice problem.

Dental Service: For the first time CFI hosted a team of dentists and technicians to provide dentistry to the area we serve. Hope Smiles, a Ugandan non-profit that travels to under-served areas of Uganda, providing professional service to people who would otherwise not get treatment, spent five days in Otwal and Agali. Free to some, or the equivalent of $1 to those that could pay, and teeth were cleaned, pulled, or teeth filled. Those with disabilities were given preferential treatment. Approximately 400 were served over the five days. CFI covered transportation, food and lodging, Hope Smiles covered the rest of the costs. This was a big success. We will likely do it again in six months. Hope Smiles impressed Jane and me with their professionalism and were great to work with.

The dental work was performed in a local school. The dental team was housed in local homes, and CFI cooked and provided their daily meals. Every day there were lines of community members waiting their turn, some realizing their first experience with a dentist. 

General Comments: Our initial trial with supporting families with the raising of pigs is still being reviewed. There has been some success, but more failures than expected. Swine flu has taken a significant toll, leaving us with the challenge of deciding how to deal with it. With our rapid growth fueled by societal need and contract work with some major non-profit organizations, while visiting the operation, I spent time working with the team to create a more effective and efficient organization. This will be an ongoing effort as we grow with it. Jane and I had another rewarding and tiring time in Uganda, participating in the activities mentioned above. Once again, we left the country with the recognition that the need is profound, the people are so very easy to like, and they are so very respectful and appreciative of what CFI is doing. 

What you have contributed is providing real material improvement in the lives of people who would not get it any other way, and almost as significantly an elevated awareness among the population of the dimension of the disability that exists within their communities. People of influence and the media are now approaching CFI to better understand the issues. We have become well known for the good work we are doing.

I hope you will continue to support Community Focus International with your contributions. You are doing a good thing!!

Bob Gilbert

Board Chairman, Community Focus International

The post To Our Past and Present Supporters of Community Focus International appeared first on Community Focus International.

On January 1st, 2021, CFI started a project to address the underlying causes of food insecurity and provide immediate assistance to 14 vulnerable persons with disabilities and the elderly in Northern Uganda.
Northern Uganda endured two decades of war, and the aftermath of this conflict is riddled with various kinds of disabilities, trauma, depression, and scars – mostly for individuals directly affected by the Lord Resistance Army conflict. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions, and related social and economic hardships escalated hunger problems for the already struggling persons with disability.

To compound the stark realities, the inflation of food prices has been drastic. Citing data from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, Trading Economics states: “Cost of food in Uganda increased up to 14.90% in July of 2022 over the same month in the previous year.”

For many families, we work with, going to bed hungry because there’s no food is an experience so many of our brothers and sisters with disability and the elderly experience regularly.

Upon this background, CFI started the Food Relief Program, where partner Organizations and individuals share items or funds to procure essential foodstuff and commodities, which are distributed to needy families identified through existing community structures, including mobilizers and local leaders across districts in northern Uganda.
The program focuses on increasing food distribution, fostering collaboration, and supporting sustainable solutions that include livelihood training to ensure the self-sustainability of the recipients ultimately.

This intervention complements ongoing programs that include the provision of assistive devices like wheelchairs and eyeglasses, supporting inclusive education, livelihoods, and health and nutrition programs in a bid to ensure comprehensive assistance for persons with disabilities and their families.

Since the inception of the program, CFI has continued to distribute food to over 50 families in northern Uganda every year with the support of volunteers. Volunteering, donating, or advocating together can ensure fewer people go hungry. Click on the link to donate or contact us to explore ways to be a part of this cause.

The post Inclusive Food Relief Program appeared first on Community Focus International.

Unfortunately, the government did not have any post-COVID economic and social recovery programs or incentives designed to directly benefit this vulnerable class, and almost a year after the full reopening of the economy, PWD and the elderly are drowning in hunger and are not only victims of poor social services but PWD and elderly unfriendly services like accessibility to public buildings.

However, Community Focus International (CFI) last week launched a massive charity act of distribution of old clothes and basic needs to PWD and the elderly starting in Otwal and Aleka sub-counties of Oyam district, items they have been collecting through a charity campaign dubbed “The Mercy Coalition Project” a project in partnership with Radio, Q FM, a lira based local radio station.

This project is intended to provide this class of people with basic needs and clothes to prepare them for more programs that will be directed at fighting poverty and mitigating the effects of the pandemic among the PWD and the elderly.

The well-attended event also involved other CFI activities like the identification of beneficiaries for the wheelchair project, where PWDs are provided with free wheelchairs, beneficiaries for the eyeglasses project, and scholastic materials.

The post A great coalition against the increasingly poorer from the low social class of PWDs and the senior citizens appeared first on Community Focus International.