Strengthening Families Through Financial Literacy Training in Uganda

Holt photographer Micaela Rahimian shares photos taken during a recent trip to Uganda of Holt-supported village savings groups — an initiative that empowers women to build financial stability for their families.

In the rural villages of Uganda where Holt sponsors and donors support children and families, Holt leads savings groups that teach parents, particularly mothers, how to earn money and save together. Through financial literacy training, these women are learning as a community how to make and sell goods, grow crops, buy and raise livestock, and become businesswomen in the hopes of bettering themselves and supporting their families.

With a small initial investment from Holt donors, these groups of women then pool their money together and are then able to take out loans from the group to grow their business or address an urgent need such as a home repair. They pay the money back on a schedule, thus replenishing the fund so other women can borrow as needed. Some Holt savings groups have existed for longer than three years and experienced the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Without the savings and loan groups, many of their businesses would not have survived financially — and their families would have struggled to afford food and other basic necessities.