Be a Founder: St Martin's Mom's Empowerment Center

Greetings from St. Martin's School and the Kibagare Community. We hope you are doing well in your respective countries.

Since the completion and opening of the community center, we have been able to do much for the community through their cooperative groups, training programs, therapy, and stakeholder engagement programs that are very important in our work within this community.

We now boast of a dedicated, safe, and accessible community space that is safe, reliable, and will help scale our programming going forward. It is an enabling infrastructure that makes every programme we run more effective, more inclusive, and more sustainable.

The center provides:

• A safe, dignified, and consistent venue for community groups to meet, organise, and plan.
• A neutral space for stakeholder engagement between community leaders, service providers, and programme staff.
• A protected environment for sensitive activities such as psychosocial therapy and group counselling.
• A training venue that supports skills development and financial literacy sessions.
• A platform through which external partners and volunteers can engage meaningfully with the community.

Community Groups & Membership
As of February 2026, 31 groups with a combined membership of 737 individuals are actively meeting at the Community Center. Of these members, 608 (82%) are female, and 129 (18%) are male, reflecting the programme's strong emphasis on women's empowerment and inclusion.

The centre's availability has been instrumental in sustaining group cohesion. Although 4 groups from the previous year are yet to regroup in 2026, we anticipate their return in the coming weeks. Encouragingly, 30 new members have joined existing groups — a testament to the growing confidence in and visibility of the programme.

Voluntary Savings and Loans (VSL) Activities
Voluntary Savings and Loan (VSL) activities remain a cornerstone of our economic empowerment strategy. Groups continue to meet every day at the Community Center to conduct savings cycles, get loans, and discuss issues affecting them in their groups and in the community.

The impact of savings from previous cycles is already visible. Members were able to use their accumulated savings to guarantee the education of their children — a powerful indicator of the long-term ripple effects of financial inclusion. When mothers save, children go to school.

Key VSL milestones this period:

• 5 groups have been provided with capital funds to boost their savings and loans portfolios, expanding the volume of credit available to members.
• 2 groups have been trained on the VSL concept and bookkeeping through a collaboration with the Social Development Office, ensuring proper record-keeping and group governance.

Skills Development & Financial Literacy Training

26 community members have been trained in entrepreneurial skills and financial management during the month of February. These sessions equipped participants with practical knowledge on budgeting, business planning, record-keeping, and income generation strategies. The Community Center provided the ideal venue for these sessions. We believe that entrepreneurial training, combined with VSL membership and access to credit, creates a powerful pathway out of poverty. Participants leave with both the mindset and the practical tools to build sustainable livelihoods.

Psychosocial Support & Therapy

Two Psychosocial Support Groups with a combined membership of 54 individuals have undergone structured therapy sessions facilitated at the Community Center. These sessions used carefully designed trigger questions to guide participants in exploring life challenges, identifying coping strategies, and building emotional resilience.

Community Engagement & Partnership
The Community Center has also hosted two significant engagement events that would not have been feasible without a dedicated community space:

Volunteer Donation Drive
A group of 19 visiting volunteers used the Community Center as the base for a community donation drive, distributing essential items to members of the community. The center facilitated organised and dignified distribution, ensuring that community members were received with respect and care.

Community & Stakeholders Meeting
A community engagement and stakeholders meeting was convened at the Community Center, bringing together community members, local leaders, and key stakeholders. This meeting provided a platform for open dialogue, affecting these communities, especially women, young girls, and children, programme updates, and the work we are doing, and joint planning for the future. Such engagements are vital to the sustainability and community ownership of our programmes.

The Current Reality
At present, our tailoring training programme operates from a makeshift room that was previously used as a dispensary. This space was never designed for training and poses significant limitations:

• The room can only accommodate a small number of trainees at a time, creating long waiting lists and limiting our reach.
• The space lacks adequate lighting, ventilation, and room for equipment layout needed for effective skills training.
• The makeshift nature of the venue affects the quality of the training experience and the confidence of trainees.
• Expansion to additional trades — such as hair and beauty, carpentry, or food processing — is impossible in the current space.

The Opportunity
With a purpose-built Technical Training Center, we envision:

• A significantly expanded capacity to train more trainees in tailoring and related trades simultaneously.
• Dedicated workstations, storage for equipment, and proper layout for hands-on practical learning.
• The ability to introduce new skills programmes such as hairdressing, fashion design, and other vocational trades.
• A certified training environment that could attract partnerships with TVET institutions and government vocational training programmes.
• A sustainable income stream through the sale of products made by trainees, enabling the centre to partially self-fund.

Going forward, the center will continue to serve as the anchor for all our community development initiatives — a place where people come together, grow together, and transform their lives together.

We thank you, our donors, from the bottom of our hearts.

With deep gratitude,

Alfred M Aswani

Links:

• School Website