Our partner Rose Ekitwi grew up illiterate, and now has a passion for teaching adults to read and to be empowered with literacy and other life skills and knowledge, by teaching household management, numeracy and business skills. We have worked with Rose since 2005 to help mainly women but men also. The Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) project, which is focused on reducing poverty in rural communities across northern and eastern Uganda by empowering women through literacy and life skills. Afrinspire has assisted Rose Ekitwi in starting 90 FAL groups in 7 regions since 2007. The courses are run by trained members of the local community who have previously completed the course.

Between 3 and 6 new FAL groups are started each year and continue for a basic 3 year, often 5 year course. Many have metamorphosed into something else such as a registered community organisation.  Most groups will begin savings schemes and define and start their own projects.  Afrinspire stays with them all the way.  To start 3 groups costs between £1,000 to £1,500 depending on remoteness and distance. The impact is to empower them out of poverty, for an investment of £3 per person per year.  There are currently 57 groups in operation.

We've been able to start six new groups in 2017, the majority in a new area, Mayenzi in Eastern Uganda. Members come from a wide variety of backgrounds, and whilst groups are often mainly female, one of the Mayenzi groups is predominantly composed of young people who missed out on school due to not having money to pay. They welcome the opportunity to learn valuable skills that they can't get anywhere else.