Nangobi helps women live their dreams

By Stella Naigino

She worked with children’s organization for 10 years which made her realize that mothers suffer a lot while raising children.

Joyce Nangobi noticed that with or without the help of fathers, mothers struggle a lot to raise their children, so she thought of what to do to help them.

 She quit her job to start a women’s group so that together, they may come up with a work plan to solve mothers’ problems in Walukuba in Jinja district.

To Nangobi, women would do so many things given the opportunity, so she was sure her group would grow strong.

How she started

Nangobi approached local council leaders and talked to them about her idea and requested them to let her talk to the local people during any gathering.

Nangobi started mobilizing members to join her cause. She used village meeting to air out her ideas to whoever cared to listen.

“To the men, I looked like a marriage breaker and so many advised their wives against joining but those who were oppressed hurriedly welcomed the idea and joined, “explained Nangobi.

After making 30 women in number, Nangobi went ahead and started  Slum Women Initiative in Development (SWID) which she registered in 2004.

“In SWID, women are taught and given tips on how to approach different challenges they meet in life,” said Nangobi.

Most of the women are HIV positive which to Nangobi was a huge challenge. However, she never relaxed but sought for funding.

They started making hand craft items like mats, bags, necklaces which they sold as a group and the money was deposited on the group account.

They also make charcoal brickets and firewood stoves which are on high demand because they are user friendly.

They also started a SACCO where every member is required to save a certain amount of money every week.

“In the beginning, it was hard so we decided to open up a saving scheme, where we saved money and after it accumulated, members who needed loans were free to borrow and pay back with an interest of 2 percent,” she said.




The director of SWID, Joyce Nangobi

Achievements

 SWID was formed to help the grass root women to defend their rights. The organization currently has over 312 grassroots women as its membership.

“Grassroots women have been able to identify their own needs in the community and thereafter mobilize other community members to develop a system of group savings and rotation borrowing,” said Nangobi.

Nangobi has also been able to boost agriculture among SWID members by introducing them to different agricultural practices and creating sustainable seeds for economic development.

Men who used to despise women now respect them simply because women know their rights and in case they are violated, they know where to seek justice.

Nangobi has won awards and amongst them is the one she got from Uganda entrepreneurs limited as the best community organizer, Jinja district.


Some of the SWID women products

Fact file

Born to Beatrice and Safa Isanga in Kamuli district, Joyce Rosemary Nangobi was lucky to go to school.

She went to Kamuli Girls Boarding Primary School and later joined Namasagali College for O and A level.

Later she joined Shimoni Teachers College and later joined Busoga University for a degree in education. She taught for 16 years.

While in the teaching profession, Nangobi taught at Magwa primary school and Main Street primary school all found in Jinja Municipality.

After she quit teaching, she got a job with Fatima project which is currently known as Child fund where she worked for six years.

During her stay at Fatima, she worked mostly with children and parents. She realized that a mother works tirelessly to raise a child, with or without the support of the child’s father.

She is a mother of 8 and as a widow who lost her husband 10 years ago; she has raised her children single handedly