Slum Women Economic Empowerment Program -SWEEP

Project Summary

The project will contribute to the social and economic empowerment of young women living in slum areas in Uganda by equipping them with key skills to become active players in transforming their lives, earn descent income and positively impact their families and communities.

Project Description

The project entails a 12-month mentoring and training program targeting 200 marginalized and low-income single mothers aged 15-30 years from Kawempe division, one of the biggest urban slums of Kampala. The objectives of the project are to increase economic opportunities for single mothers by equipping them with key entrepreneurship and employment skills, as well as with social/life skills to enable them to confidently negotiate life options with clear perspectives and establish a support system for peer mentoring within the community. Mentors will guide the women through an innovative curriculum in socio-economic empowerment, including practical skills to design and manage sustainable income-generating activities in their communities. At completion, participants will form mentoring clubs and become peer mentors, each required to mentor two other youth in their community and the two will mentor four to grow the factor tree. They will also form savings and investment clubs as a source of future financing. The project will build upon existing networks among business development organizations, civil society and local authorities to help foster a more respectful environment for single mothers in urban slums. The local councilâ