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Fair Trade Project in Uganda

Stories of Change in Uganda In Uganda, WIEGO had two fair trade partners that delivered Business & Leadership Skills training and support: the Gumutindo Coffee Cooperative, a farmers' cooperative, and the Ugandan Federation for Alternative Trade (UGAFAT), a network of membership-based fair trade...

Confidence Soars for Nurturing Uganda's Women

An alliance between Nurturing Uganda, an NGO in the rural area of Jinja, the Ugandan Association for Alternative Trade (UGAFAT), and WIEGO has proven a remarkable boon to the 23 women who came out to meet with WIEGO representatives on a warm, sunny December day in 2015. The women represent just...

Success for the Women of Machakos Cooperative Union

For a group of women who weave baskets in Machakos, Kenya, coming together to work—and coming to perceive their basket weaving as a business—has created a shift in perspective that has led to a better standard of living. Unity and harmony are soft, immeasurable outcomes, but for a group of women in...

In Jinja, Women Come Together to Learn and to Earn

Kyebajja Tobona Women’s Group, affiliated to Nurturing Uganda, a member of UGAFAT This is one in a series of WIEGO Network impact stories. View all impact stories . Please continue–we are here, and we are willing to learn - by Brenda Leifso In December 2013, Elaine Jones, Director of the Global...

Ngalo: Kampala Women’s Group Sews—and Reaps Big Rewards

Like all groups involved in the WIEGO-led Leadership & Business Skills for Informal Women Workers in Fair Trade project, Ngalo was encouraged to officially register as a community-based organization. In July 2015, it did. That small act has already paid big dividends. The women’s fair trade...

Bega kwa Bega: Shoulder to Shoulder Achieving their Goals

In a Nairobi slum, the women of Bega kwa Bega are checking linens—table runners, decorative cushion covers and an ingenious pan carrier—and then packaging each piece. It’s a flurry of activity. A buyer from Italy is coming to collect the 400-piece shipment in two days, and the women must ensure each...

Maasai Women Bead Better Products, Better Lives

by Leslie Vryenhoek Nalakiti Sayaiael has a slow but fierce smile, punctuated by the custom-made gap in her lower set of teeth. As she shares her story in Maa, the local language, that gap forms part of the sound. Her hands, meanwhile, stay in motion. She's finishing a bright blue bracelet that ties...

Gumutindo: Growing Toward a New Gender Balance

Halfway up Mount Elgon, a bumpy hour’s drive from the busy centre of Mbale in eastern Uganda, the women meeting at the Konokoy Organic Coffee store are unabashedly cheerful. Cheerful, despite the persistent, late rains that threaten this year’s coffee harvest. They have recently discovered that they...

Public Dialogue on Forging a Path towards Recognition and Inclusion of Informal Workers in South Africa

"We're here to discuss one of the most profound challenges of our time—how to create jobs, how to increase incomes, and how to improve working conditions in today's globalized economy." That’s how WIEGO’s International Coordinator, Sally Roever, introduced a public dialogue on formalizing the...

Accra

COVID-19 Impact on Informal Workers in Accra The COVID-19 crisis has hit Accra hard, and informal workers have been hit the hardest. Many of these workers lost their livelihoods completely during the country’s initial lockdown and since then, earnings have been slow to recover. WIEGO’s team in Accra...