Feel Good Friday - Women's Global Empowerment Fund

In today’s Feel Good Friday, we take a trip to Northern Uganda to visit Women’s Global Empowerment Fund.

Founded in 2007 by Karen Sugar, the mission of Women’s Global Empowerment Fund (WGEF) is “to support women through economic, social and political programs, creating opportunities while addressing inequality; strengthening families and communities.”

 

WGEF is a microfinance non-profit working in Northern Uganda, a post-conflict region recovering from a 25-year violent insurgency which left the region unstable and lacking in economic activity. WGEF helps women who were forced to become child soldiers or sex slaves during the conflict by providing economic, social and political opportunities for sustainability and self-determination. You can read stories about some of the WGEF clients here.

 

Programs run by WGEF include Credit Plus, a service that “combines microcredit services with literacy, leadership development, health initiatives and basic business education.” Since WGEF’s founding, over 10,000 women in poor or rural areas have been given microcredit loans. A subsection of these loans focus on agriculture and provide women additional training and support to plant, grow and harvest their crops.

 

The Gulu Women’s Resource Center is a community meeting space where women are provided with computer and life skills training. It also houses the Access to Justice team which addresses violence against women, gender bias and inequality by sharing information and resources and helping women file reports and advocating for them during court proceedings. 

 

Additional programs include leadership development, literacy training and my favorite, a drama festival where women create original plays focused on issues such as inequality, HIV or violence, and use them as a way to educate men and community leaders about these issues

 

Details about all of the programs can be found at this link and you can hear directly from participants about their experiences at this link. If you want to support the work of Women’s Global Empowerment Fund, make a donation and spread the word by liking their Facebook page and following them on Twitter @wgefund.