Empowering Refugees through skills: Florence Uwineza’s journey from tailor to trainer

In Uganda's rural communities, apprenticeships solve shortage of skills while proffering individuals worthwhile vocational training and employment prospects. But, the deficiency of training opportunities and remoteness restricts their aspirations. Florence Uwineza’s journey exemplifies the impact of apprenticeship in her household and the community she lives in.

Due to the war, Florence Uwineza, 43, and her husband, Yohane Singuru, travelled from North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Kyangwali Refugee Settlement in Western Uganda in February 2016. The Office of the Prime Minister, the Government of Uganda authority entrusted with the affairs of refugees provided the couple a third of an acre of land, a blanket, a jerrycan, a basin, a hoe, a panga, silverware, poles, and tarpaulins for temporary housing when they obtained refuge in three months. They currently live with their seven children in Mukarange Village.

When they arrived, they also received a monthly cash ration of UGX 31,000 (6 GBP) per household member from the World Food Programme. However, the cash ration could not fully sustain the household’s basic needs, so they resorted to casual labour, earning UGX 5,000 (1 GBP) daily. The couple also joined a village savings group where they saved an average of UGX 4,000 (1 GBP) weekly.

The major challenge that faced Florence’s household was meeting their basic needs, such as education and food security, as well as savings that could sustain the home in the event of an emergency. “The children lacked scholastic materials, uniforms and other requirements, which led to them skipping school or performing poorly. Due to a lack of a balanced diet and regular meals, children’s health was frequently compromised,” Florence.

However, due to the continuously developing community, in 2018, Florence decided to employ her tailoring skill in order to increase the household’s income streams. "I kept an eye on the growing population and learnt about the tailoring business, including the purchase of materials and a tailoring machine, among other things. I paid UGX 20,000 (4 GBP) a month to rent a tailoring machine. We took advantage of market days and made about UGX 20,000 (4 GBP) a week from the tailoring business." Florence clarifies. 

Florence and Yohane became members of another village savings group where they saved UGX 10,000 (2 GBP) per month. In order to purchase a second-hand tailoring machine and supplies including garments, threads, needles, and lubrication oil, they borrowed UGX 350,000 (72 GBP) in total from the two village savings groups. The business brought a slight change in the household in a way that some of their children started attending school.

In July 2024, Florence’s household was enrolled in the UKAid funded-Graduating to Economic Resilience Project. Through this initiative, they were introduced to a variety of interventions such as apprenticeship, crop and animal husbandry, joint decision-making, conflict management and negotiation, saving practices, financial literacy, Enterprise Selection, Planning and Management, setting of SMART goals and the six pathways of the graduation map, such as food security and nutrition, child growth and development, and basic needs, among others. 

Additionally, their household received a monthly cash stipend for food of UGX 189,000 (39 GBP) for nine months. In addition to saving, the monthly cash stipend for food improved their nutrition and food security and also enabled them to purchase four turkeys and four ducks. “We also invested in onion and tomato farming for one planting season, which accrued us UGX 380,000 (78 GBP) from a sixth of an acre,” says Yohane.

"As a result of my tailoring skill set and business, I was also selected as one of the project’s artisans, training 15 project youth in tailoring. To finance my training endeavours, I obtained a loan of UGX 300,000 (62 GBP) from the Village Saving and Loans Association to purchase training materials and rent five additional sewing machines. Each sewing machine was utilised by two apprentices,” says Florence.

Florence also received UGX 5,648,000 (1,160 GBP) from the project to cater for the entire four-month training of the fifteen apprentices. From the project disbursement, she paid back the loan, established a tailoring space to accommodate the apprentices, bought two extra tailoring machines, and with the balance, they invested in a rabbit-rearing business.

After obtaining the UGX 1 million (205 GBP) business cash grant, Florence used UGX 500,000 (102 GBP) to buy a tailoring machine and supplies, as well as to cover some basic expenses. She also used UGX 500,000 (102 GBP) to buy a start-up kit for her 20-year-old daughter, which included a tailoring machine, scissors, a needle, threads, and garments. As a gesture of encouragement,

"I offered my daughter a start-up kit to start a tailoring business, which she operates at her home, since she was one of the selected youths to benefit from the project's apprenticeship activity," says Florence.

Florence’s tailoring business has grown in profitability and currently owns four tailoring machines.

"we have been able to enrol three of our children in boarding school; we can afford three meals a day and a balanced diet; we currently save UGX 92,000 (19 GBP) per month from three saving groups. We also earn UGX 60,000 (12 GBP) monthly by renting out two tailoring machines,” declares Florence who intends to stock tailoring supplies to facilitate accessibility and train more community youths who are interested in the vocation. To create high-quality fashion products, she also plans to purchase a sewing machine that runs on solar power, in addition to their plans to grow their rabbit-rearing enterprise for revenue diversification.

The Graduating to Economic Resilience project is an 18-month initiative funded by UKAid with the main objective to improve household economic status and self-efficacy for 2,100 extremely poor refugee and host community households and 12,600 individuals in the rural districts of Kyaka II and Kyangwali Refugee Settlements in Western Uganda in order to enhance self-reliance and resilience.