Moringa Project: Economic Empowerment & Social Corporate Responsibility in Awach & Patiko

Last month, GWED-G concluded a project in partnership with CARITAS Switzerland to promote the use of the superfood moringa and give back to the communities of Awach and Patiko by offering some economic support during this stressful COVID-19 period. 47 people from the communities of Awach and Patiko were economically empowered by receiving financial literacy training in their VSLA groups. The groups then received a cash transfer to assist them in weathering the negative economic impacts of the coronavirus.

Given the current COVID-19 crisis, we worked to integrate much needed actions within this project to best respond to the most pressing needs of the communities.  To do this, we held COVID-19 prevention sensitizations at the household level, as well as distributed sanitation and hygiene equipment and supplies (e.g., hand washing facilities, water containers, and soap) to public places.

In response to the rise in Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) cases, we provided Village Health Teams and Role Model Men with orientations on SGBV prevention and response, and were able to then conduct household dialogues in an effort to prevent further rises in SGBV rates. We also distributed various IEC materials to help support teams in their work.

We are so thankful to CARITAS Switzerland for their generous financial support and partnership. We also want to acknowledge the wonderful collaboration with Gulu District Local Government, Gulu District COVID-19 Taskforce, as well as sub-county leadership in Awach and Patiko.