Sustainable Development

PFAI has initiated a number of income generating activities in Pader and Arua Districts, which attempt to reduce poverty and improve household income levels, particularly for women and marginalized people. As part of these projects, PFAI works with communities to develop economically viable ventures relevant to their community, and trains participants in bookkeeping, business management and leadership skills. PFAI also has one project in Nepal.

* Women’s Vocational and Peacebuilding Project

The residual effects of over 20 years of violent conflict in northern Uganda have often left women with the sole responsibility of economically supporting their families, without the means and skills to do so. The purpose of the project is to address the issue of the economic instability of women, within a larger context of peacebuilding between the women of West Nile and Acholiland, as well as women’s inequitable participation in local governance and civil society. The primary activities of this project involve training women in the skills of managing and operating a poultry farm, and supporting the women in beginning their own, self-sustaining, community based poultry industry. The project also provides training in leadership, capacity building and peacebuilding. Since the project has a strong focus on the inclusion of HIV positive women and people with disabilities, one of the main expected outcomes is an increase in the participation of marginalized women while raising the economic and social capacity of all women in northern Uganda.

* Bibia Socio-Economic Improvement Project

The Village of Bibia is suffering from epidemic levels of unemployment and poverty, which are exacerbating record crime rates in the region. The village has youth eager to work, but a lack of suitable training facilities is apparent. In the fields where training is available, the tools and space required to develop a setting conducive to affective business after graduation is absent, leaving the human capacity untapped. The Bibia Socio-economic Improvement Project proposes to build a welding shop that can serve as both a training facility for out of work residents and a workshop to utilize the developed trade skills for the economic advancement of the community. The project fills the emergency response needs of the community by addressing immediate economic requirements, while providing a foundation for further development projects to build upon. PFAI’s primary focus is on building the structure, acquiring tools and machinery, hiring the requisite staff and developing the business and political relationships necessary to operate a functional welding school and operational shop. The expected results of the project are to have a fully functional economic opportunity in place within six months from initiation followed by a continual cycle of certified tradespeople educated in the community. Immediate beneficiaries of the project will be the men and women of Bibia who participate in the training project, but the ramifications of the program will initiate a revitalization of the community and overall economic climate.

* Traditional Restaurant Project

The effects of post-conflict political instability and poverty in Nepal have had deep impacts on the people living in Nepal. Children have often been caught in the middle of Nepal’s problems and can find themselves without the suitable conditions for a healthy and free childhood.

Through our partnership with the Lotus Home in Kathmandu, PFAI will be undertaking a sustainable development project in support of the Lotus Home orphanage in Kathmandu, Nepal.

PFAI is currently working with the Lotus Home in Nepal to establish a traditional Newari restaurant to be managed by Lotus Home.

The restaurant will create employment to address the problems of urban poverty in a small-scale way and will promote Newari culture through the powerful cultural carrier of food. In addition to creating employment, the profits earned from the restaurant will be used to support the Lotus Home orphanage. The Lotus Home orphanage strives to ensure a healthy and bright future for the ten children who reside there. The direct support of the restaurant will help to send children to primary and secondary schools, improve their sanitation and health, and to provide a full stomach each day and night. There are also mechanisms in place to allow for emergency funds so that when a crisis hits, the orphanage will be prepared.

PFAI’s efforts have been to finance the operation, work on the ground with Lotus Home to ensure that the business is suitably operating, and to install further mechanisms to ensure that the business will be running effectively and operating with the best interests of the children in the Lotus Home orphanage in mind. The expected result of the project is to ensure that the Lotus Home orphanage is on stable, independent financial footing so that the children receive the best care possible.

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Registered Charity Number: 85776 9558 RR0001