✨ VSLA Growth in Namutumba! 🌱

Following our recent update in May, the momentum keeps building. This week, two new groups — Kasodo A and Nabuli B — officially received their VSLA kits and have begun their journey together.

With these additions, the network of women-led savings groups in Namutumba continues to expand, creating more opportunities for financial independence, micro-business growth, and community resilience.

📍 Every new group means more women supporting one another, saving together, and building sustainable futures for their families and communities.

We are proud to celebrate this step forward and look forward to sharing more stories of resilience and leadership from Namutumba. 🌿

#VSLA #WomenLeadChange #Namutumba #CoCuDiCenter #CommunityResilience #SavingsPower #GrassrootsLeadership #UgandaVoices #WomensFinance #CoCuDiUpdates

🌾 Harvest Joy in Namutumba! 🌶️🌽

It’s harvest season — and our fields are bursting with plentiful maize and, for the first time, a thriving chili crop!
The smiles say it all: this season marks a major success for the Namutumba Innovation Agriculture Program. 🔥🌽

Thanks to the dedication of local farmers and the expert guidance of our agronomic coordinator Muguya Nehemiah, this season’s harvest is abundant and transformative. 🌱

💪🏾 Farmers are gaining income, confidence, and new skills that will carry them into the next growing cycle stronger than ever.

Swipe through to meet two of our proud farmers - Namono Jenefer and Kamya Ali - standing tall in their fields with crops in hand and joy on their faces.

This is what agricultural resilience looks like. 🌍✨

#CoCuDiCenter #NamutumbaHarvest #InnovationInAgriculture #ChiliSuccess #MaizeSeason #RuralResilience #AgricultureUganda #FarmersFirst #FoodSecurity #SocialImpact #VSLA #GrowingTogether

The women-led VSLA groups in Namutumba continue to grow in strength and solidarity.
From weekly savings to launching micro-businesses, these groups are more than financial tools — they are engines of dignity and resilience.
Led by Mpiiya Scovia of the Busambaiza Women Saving Group, almost 500 women across 10 groups are thriving.
And now, we’re excited to announce the opening of 5 more groups!
📍 Today, dozens of women like Scovia are not only managing their own savings and loans — they’re supporting one another through every challenge, building something bigger than themselves.
We’re inspired by their leadership and proud to keep walking alongside them. 🌿
#VSLA #WomenLeadChange #Namutumba #CoCuDiCenter #CommunityResilience #SavingsPower #GrassrootsLeadership #UgandaVoices #WomensFinance

Looking back and reflecting on the last year, we find numerous highlights in our #BarkCloth and Indigenous #Crafts visiting course to #Uganda, where many of its moments have become beautiful sparks of connection, eye-level #Collaboration, and shared #Exploration. This autumn, we facilitated an intensive bark cloth course with Makerere University and Shenkar College and accompanied a group of Israeli #TextileDesign students to Uganda, where they met their exchange partners in person and encountered the diverse local craft and design scene.

This has been our first in-person student exchange in a while, and we were delighted to see not only the remarkable final presentations but also very valuable cross-cultural teamwork and innovative material research. Clearly, a special moment was the field trip to Masaka province, where the bark cloth #ProductionProcess came to life, and students observed its many stages, from tree planting to bark harvesting, boiling, meticulous hammering, and stretching. We thank our longstanding collaboration partners and the teams at Makerere University @makerere , Shenkar College @textile_shenkar , and Masaka Bark Cloth Center for these highlights, and wish you all a happy 2025! 🎆🎇✨

@african_studies_gallery
@shenkar_college
@michael.keidar @shirashoval @mrs.sengendo @dekel.tamar

Final presentations at the Toy Design course with Edward Balaba from Makerere University College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology and Shlomi Eiger from Bezalel Academy.

African Studies Gallery

With a slight delay, we are excited to share the final projects of this year’s #WoodCarving course at Bezalel Academy. Edward Balaba, Dr. Lilian Mary Nabulime, and Omri Nissin surpassed themselves in this short intensive course, and the Ceramic & Glass and Fine Art students participated enthusiastically.

Check out our feed for a short reel showing the last finishes and tweaks on the last workshop day before presenting the finished projects. We were delighted to see such diverse outcomes and the students’ #Professionalism and #Experimentation in engaging with the tactile qualities of #Wood. 👏

Thank you to our partners at Bezalel Academy, Makerere University, and the African Studies Gallery for your behind-the-scenes work in making this course such a success! 💯

המחלקה לעיצוב קרמי וזכוכית בצלאל Ceramics and Glass Department Bezalel African Studies Gallery Makerere University College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology