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Streetlights Uganda

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BLOG
April 11, 2023

Ntunga Program

Women empowerment through sewing, fashion and design skills – a female-led women empowerment program by Streetlights Uganda and CoCuDi Center

The Ntunga program mentors underprivileged women through sewing and design vocational skills. Ntunga (“am sewing” in Luganda) allows them to increase their incomes, support their families, and invest in their children’s education. They learn to use a sewing machine, design different garments and products creatively, and sustain their new livelihood beyond the training period.

 

THANK YOU

Business partnerships and community support are integral to the program’s success and lasting impact. We thank all those who have walked with us and supported our training centers and graduates, and also extend our thanks to those who are interested in learning more about and partnering with Ntunga. Welcome to our page.

Picture on Right: Ntunga Hoima graduation ceremony in July 2022   Photo credit: K.J. Cranimer (Reminac Studios Enterprises)

Objectives

 

The Ntunga program aims to meet the following objectives:

  • Provide valuable work experience and income to young graduates from Ugandan design colleges and Ntunga program alumni by offering trainer roles and stipends.
  • Create the basis for participants’ additional incomes through sewing and business skills.
  • Invest in participants’ personal development through creativity and community.
  • Sustain small business entrepreneurship of graduates through bulk orders and reduce dependency on individual customers by meeting business needs.

Background

Failing family incomes often force children out of school and unto the streets. Strengthening mothers in providing social and economic backing reduces the steady increase of street-connected children.

In 2017, talented art and design graduates from the Streetlights Uganda team founded the first Ntunga sewing center in the Kibuli slum to empower marginalized women whose children are vulnerable to search for a better life on the streets.The center succeeded in providing sewing and design skills and creating a mutually supportive community. At the same time, it became clear that business partnerships were crucial for translating vocational skills into sustainable livelihoods.

In 2021, a business partnership with SBI allowed CoCuDi Center and Streetlights Uganda to start the Ntunga women empowerment program in the Hoima district with its first pilot cohort. In consultation with community leadership, Ntunga has selected single mothers and women at risk of social exclusion to join their cohorts.

 
 
 
Participants and graduates recall why they decided to join Ntunga
Video credit: Ntunga program

 

Joan Nabwire training at the Ntunga workspace in Hoima Photo credit: Ntunga program

Training model

At the core of the Ntunga program lies a 6-months intensive course taught by leading local artists and designers from the Streetlights Uganda team. Participants acquire skills in tailoring, design, and business relations, work on independent projects, and receive mentorship.

Ntunga is a female-led program that deploys only women trainers to empower young female graduates from Ugandan design colleges and safeguard program participants.

Ntunga strongly focuses on sustainable livelihoods beyond the training period: graduates receive a graduation package, have access to equipment outside training hours, and receive assistance in procuring high-quality materials. Most importantly, the Ntunga implementing partners work to secure orders from business customers

 

Business partnership model

Our business partners benefit from the following deliverables:

  • Take part in achieving a tangible impact on participants’ and trainers’ livelihoods (see below)
  • Receive picture and story material for corporate social responsibility campaigns
  • Gain the opportunity to integrate corporate textile requirements (i.e., custom-made work uniforms) into the training period
  • Save procurement expenses from direct sourcing of uniforms through assisted bulk orders 
 
The Opening of the Ntunga Hoima classroom in 2021 with SBI Uganda Picture credit: SBI Uganda
 

 

Participants and graduates explain what changed in their lives since joining Ntunga
Video credit: Ntunga program

Impact

We make a lasting impact on women’s livelihoods by building our Ntunga centers in Hoima and Kibuli on business partnerships, a train-the-trainer methodology, and a strong focus on program graduates’ engagement. We achieved the following impact in 2021-2022:

  • Trainers – two young Ugandan fashion design graduates and a Ntunga program alumni gained valuable work experience as Ntunga trainers.
  • Skills – twenty women in the Hoima district community learned to sew well, nine of which were mothers.
  • Productivity – during lockdowns, over 100 handmade masks were sold within the community, and 840 masks were supplied to SBI. Beyond that, graduates mastered workers’ overalls.
  • Sustainability – many graduates continue to use the onsite sowing equipment to fashion various textile products for sale.

Next steps

Because of the visible successes with the first cohort pilot in Hoima, we are continuing the model with a second cohort in the Hoima district and rolling it out to participants at the Kibuli center. A third cohort is planned to begin in the Hoima district within 2023.

Additionally, we seek to replicate the Ntunga model in other areas. Enlarging the geographic scope by opening an additional training site in Karamoja is a priority for 2023. Likewise, another focus is expanding our centers’ skill profile and product palette into textile printing and embroidery.

Within the next two years, we are working to have three fully operational centers with strong business partnerships and ongoing bulk orders that can sustain stable incomes for program graduates on the long run.

Graduates present their sewed work uniforms Photo credit: Ntunga program
 

 

Participants and graduates let us know what they aspire for the future
Video credit: Ntunga program

Aspirations

Since opening the Hoima center in 2021, the program team has successfully overcome challenges such as excess training participants, limited resources, and interruptions due to COVID-19 lockdowns. And its participants and graduates have excelled in their skills and begun benefitting from their new livelihood.

Click video on the left and listen to what they have to say.

Support

We are currently searching for additional business partners for our training centers. Please be in touch with Victoria Merab Akinyi ([email protected]) and Nabwire Joan ([email protected]) if you are interested or want to know more.

Part of the Ntunga program and trainer team with Tamar (CoCuDi) at the Ntunga graduation last year Photo credit: K.J. Cranimer

PARTNERS

COCUDI CENTER
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SBC (UGANDA) LTD
STREETLIGHTS UGANDA
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By streetlights_admin
BLOG
December 22, 2022

Introducing the Bag Yange Campaign

Education is the best gift a child can have, and because of this, children deserve equal access to education across the divide. A number of children in the rural areas of Uganda especially those from low-income families still suffer from limited resources and tools to support their education which hinders their learning, interactions, growth and perfomance at school.
Its with background that Streetlights Uganda under the @ntungaprogram
and Bag Yange Project are launching a campaign themed #BagYangeCampaign. The aim of the campaign is to make 200 bags to be distributed to children at Buseruka Primary School in Hoima District at the start of 2023 to help them carry and protect their school items in one place but also feel proud to own a school bag.
The bags are to be tailored by the Ntunga Women out of recycled Old jeans we are collecting from all well wishers. We call upon all of you to donate an Old pair of denim (jeans) to support the production of these bags. Reach out to the numbers on posters for the collection of Jeans. #BagYange #AnOldJeanForASchoolBag #UnearthingPotential #NtungaWomen

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By admin
BLOG
June 6, 2022

The Ntunga Project: A Step Towards Empowering Women

Among Joyce one of the women in the inaugural cohort of the Ntunga Women in Kibuli during their graduation display.

      Streetlights Uganda alongside People Concern Children’s Project presented an exciting and impactful project showcase called Ntunga which saw a good number of women graduate on a Saturday afternoon last week on the 7th October 2017. The event was filled with colour and fun as it saw 7 out of the 15 women that joined the project graduate after successfully completing the program.

The Ntunga Project was started as a pilot program, 6 months back in Kibuli – Kasasizi Zone with 15 women joining the program. The initiative focused mostly on empowering and reskilling women in poverty stricken areas by teaching them sewing skills to improve on their livelihoods.

Mrs. Progress Chisenga, the Marketing Director for Vodafone Uganda sharing a light moment with the participants of the Ntunga Project.

Why the name Ntunga?

The name of the project, “Ntunga” was derived from a Luganda word that means, “am sewing” which directly relates to what the program focuses on. During the last few months of the Ntunga project, women were taught the skills of using the sewing machine as a means to improving their way of life. They were given the knowledge of creating beautiful garment designs and other products that they would sale to gain a source of income for their households. The event took place in the slum areas of Kisasizi Zone, Kibuli and it received a good turn up of people including the Chief guest Mrs. Progress Chisenga, the Marketing Director for Vodafone Uganda who came to celebrate and wish the grandaunts the best in their future endeavors.

The event was organised by Streetlights Uganda at the People Concern Children’s Project located in Kibuli. The guests were entertained with a fashion showcase and a women’s exhibition before awarding certificates to the women that had completed the program.

Uganda needs to have more of such projects that empower women with valuable skills that help improve their daily lives.

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By streetlights_admin
EVENTS
April 11, 2022

UNSEEN ME

UNSEEN ME EXHIBITION

Background

Started in 2017, the unseen me exhibition has grown into not just a network but a safe space where street connected children and vulnerable children from under privileged communities around Kampala and beyond come together to showcase their talents to the general public and different child rights practitioners through art, music, and fashion as a way of bridging a gap between street connected children and the general public but also voice out the challenges they face.



Impact

Organized by Streetlights Uganda (A Not for profit organization that uses Art to empower street connected children) annually, the Exhibition has in the 3 years (2017, 2018, 2019) its been held fostered growth in talents and confidence of over 150 children and has helped build a stronger network among key stakeholders that promote children’s rights who have participated annually in the exhibition attracting an audience of over 700 guests. Among these include stakeholders like Save Street Children Uganda, Raising Up Hope for Uganda, Faces Up Uganda, Holy Street Outreach, Ghetto Film Project and many more guests from different walks of life.

Each year’s edition was organized under a specific theme with a wide range of activities lined up towards that given theme. Among the activities done previously included beatboxing, fashion showcase, poetry, live painting, panel sessions, workshops, exhibition among others.

Ever since the outbreak of the Pandemic in 2019, Streetlights Uganda has not organised yet another annual Unseen Me Exhibition but in the light of easing of the economy and events, we will announce dates and changes to this annual event fostered towards giving streetchildren a platform to showcase their talents. Stay tuned.

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By Allan

Recent Posts

  • Ntunga Program
  • Introducing the Bag Yange Campaign
  • The Ntunga Project: A Step Towards Empowering Women
  • UNSEEN ME

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