Success Stories – VILLAGE SYNERGY

Hellen Alum, a 43 years old feminist activist, and a resident of Atongtidi sub-county in Kwania district is adhering to policy, laws governing fishing, and negotiating with leaders for redress, upon receiving the training and capacity building by Village Synergy, Hellen says “I can speak up on issues affecting me, and other women…”

The violent interruptions to regulate fishing by the Uganda government in 2018 without preparation and transition of the inhabitants adversely affected women, and majority of women in Uganda lacks inclusion in the management, access to and control of the natural resources, most notably land, water, fisheries and forests. Village Synergy is a regenerative development and advocacy organization in Uganda, supporting women build confidence in championing and voicing out the injustices and inequality threats women face and also encouraging inclusive women’s participation

Juspin Akello a resident of Obutuwelo A’ Village, Lira City East is one among the youth supported by Village Synergy, in enabling and creating employment for the youth. After the entrepreneurship training and skill building, Juspin started her baking and chapati making business with start-up kits provided by Village Synergy. According to Juspin she is now able to pay her house rent promptly, buy food, educate her one child and also seek better health service as compared to before, and to-date Juspin trains youth to undertake baking business.

Youth unemployment in Uganda stands at a level between 64{ae5edbf7b53b33fc3d8ba75c4c7b6be48909e6a4d8736a2d9837f1ccef51c1a1} and 70{ae5edbf7b53b33fc3d8ba75c4c7b6be48909e6a4d8736a2d9837f1ccef51c1a1}, and 1.8 million people representing 25{ae5edbf7b53b33fc3d8ba75c4c7b6be48909e6a4d8736a2d9837f1ccef51c1a1} of Uganda’s population went back into poverty as reported by independent newspaper December 23, 2021. Village Synergy is a regenerative development and advocacy organization striving to contribute in bridging the gap in creating enabling environment for the youth to have jobs and employment in Uganda

Village Synergy

We are incorporated and legally registered as a national not-for-profit, non-governmental organization.

URSB Reg. No. 80020002617793
Lira City Reg. No. 20/LCC/002
NGO Reg No. S.5914/11930 Number 11536

Contact

Address

Box 507 Lira
Plot 1B Adyel Kasubi
Lira-Gulu Road
West Division
Lira City,
Uganda

Social

Peace Building

Village Synergy at a local community level affected by domestic violence and conflicts, peacebuilding work is needed to create the basis for a sustainable, peaceful future. In our programs, we aim to transform the attitudes and behaviours of conflict actors and address local causes of conflict. We work at the grassroots level, with communities, local leaders, and stakeholders. As women and youth have a key role in promoting peace and security, Village Synergy strengthens its influence in peace and reconciliation processes. Our focus on areas of peacebuilding work are;

1. Strengthen social cohesion and trust
Domestic violence and conflicts lead to mistrust between people, the destruction of the social fabric, and trauma. If people do not deal with their own traumatic experiences and do not regain trust in each other, conflicts may easily start again. People need to learn new ways of non-violent behavior and inter-generational cycles of violence need to be broken. Sometimes working directly on peace and conflict is too sensitive. In these situations, bringing different groups together on less sensitive topics of common interest is an effective way of breaking down stereotypes and creating a common understanding between groups. Specific village Synergy interventions in this area of work are:
• Community-Based Socio Therapy (CBST)
• Mixed groups for sport, livelihood, or community projects
• Peace education in schools and other groups

2. Community-based security, conflict prevention, and resolution mechanisms
In domestic and conflict-affected countries the violent conflicts of the past have led to divisions in society, feelings of hatred, marginalization, and trauma. Formal justice systems are either absent or dysfunctional, corrupt or inaccessible due to distance and costs. Local peace committees are an alternative mechanism focusing on the resolution of local conflicts, emphasize reconciliation and community cohesion, and play an important role in conflict prevention and early warning systems. Village Synergy supports the establishment and the functioning of these committees. Village Synergy also aims to improve the effectiveness and inclusiveness of local security councils. These councils are local mechanisms with representatives of local security actors, local government, and civil society, whose role is to protect civilians and provide security.

Livelihoods, food security and job creation

Uganda as a country faces several socio-cultural, economic, and political challenges, which perpetuate high levels of poverty and inequality. This limits the participation of vulnerable groups, particularly women, youth, and children in economic decisions that affect them. It limits their access to opportunities and resources and makes them more prone to risks, shocks, and other vulnerabilities.

Village Synergy works to ensure that vulnerable women, youth, marginalized men, and other vulnerable groups in a range of Ugandan livelihood settings are economically empowered and enjoy their rights to food as well as have increased incomes.

We empower women with information on their land & seed rights so that they can push for the formulation and implementation of gender-sensitive policies that enable them access to and control over economic resources.

We campaign on issues of climate change to strengthen women’s food producers and achieve resilience in communities to the effects of climate change.
We address youth employment through vocational and life skills, training, and mentorship while lobbying for changes in the education system.
We research issues like unpaid care work that hinders women from being economically engaged and use the evidence to push for practice changes.
Village Synergy is focused on addressing the following;

Policy gaps.

The Focus is on influencing the formulation and implementation of relevant policies. Interest is in the participation of women and youth as well as in the attitude change of the rights holders towards economic realities in the country. Building on evidence from our program footprints in the rural communities, we facilitate and engage at local, and regional as well as link with regional and national processes.

Markets & Value Chains.

focuses on Influencing both market and non-market actors to provide an enabling environment for farmers and traders; strengthens market linkages between the different actors, promotes gender-sensitive value chains, engages actors, including the private sector in promoting business models that benefit, especially women and youth, and builds the capacity of farmers, groups and cooperatives to produce for the market.

Gender inequalities.

Strong focus is put on addressing the underlying factors of gender inequalities. Gender Action Learning System (GALS) methodology is integrated and scaled up to ensure that women’s rights are at the center of all programming as well as to address the social hindrances to women’s participation in decision-making over productive assets. Campaigns to address violence against women at all levels are conducted and linked to regional and national efforts.

Natural Resource Constraints.

Interventions in agriculture and livelihoods promote sustainable solutions to minimize the pressure on scarce resources such as water and land. We support advocacy for the implementation of the national land policy with a strong focus on women, youths, and children.

Impact of Climate change.

Increases resilience of the local communities, especially women, by promoting the range of livelihood options for the communities we work with. We promote Disaster Risk Reduction models that help vulnerable women, youth, and men to ‘thrive’ despite the situation of uncertainty.

Youth Unemployment.

Strives to increase productivity and opportunities for rural, urban, and peri-urban youth living in the greater north through increased livelihood options by piloting innovative interventions that increase skills and facilitate access to new technologies including ICT to create employment opportunities for female and male youths. The intervention outcomes contribute to evidence for policy influencing at the national level.

who we are

Village Synergy (www.villagesynergy.org) is a relief, development, and advocacy organization that offers a unique blend of innovation and experience to its project design and management. It specializes in transformative social change and strategic communication that address complex local context development challenges. Established in 2015, we have had an outstanding track record over the years with our community and clients.
Key principles of our integrated approach are evidence-based and multisectoral with a focus on; Healthcare and health promotion services, Environment and Climate Justice, Livelihoods, food security and job creation, Education and sports, and Peacebuilding with a goal towards self-reliance, our approach has been successfully applied. Village Synergy applies a participatory or co-designing process that brings together critical actors from all sectors to develop and contribute to workable solutions
Our programs and activities are designed to reflect target audiences’ motivations and beliefs as well as the cultural, social, and environmental factors (norms) that influence these audiences.
Social and cultural norms are rules or expectations of behavior and thoughts based on shared beliefs within a specific cultural or social group. They can be formalized through laws, policies, and regulations or they can be informal through social networks, religious groups, and families. Norms can be the primary barriers that prevent change closely followed by misinformation or rumors.
We prioritize learning to understand what our key audiences’ social perceptions are – positive or negative – about an issue. And, once we know their social perceptions, we know how to make necessary changes that will create an environment that supports individual and societal change.
Our work stems from advocacy, community dialogues, public education, and community engagement and social mobilization including services provision based on the need while paying attention to cultural and social norms social influencers, peer advocates, credible champions, and limited community media all combined support individual, household, and community change.
Whether positioning a product, an idea, or changing a norm establishing what the social perception is, is the first step to change.