Jackie is only 21 years old and is already a mother of 2 children, ages 4 and 5. When she got married at the age of 15 she lost all hope of continuing her education. She quit school upon completing only primary class 7.

By the time she was 17, she had become a mother of two children, now in KG1 and KG3. Her husband is attending school together with his brother. Jackie is the only person in the household who earns income and pays school fees. The cost of school fees for her two kids is UGX50,000 ($15), her husband UGX190,000 ($143) and brother-in-law is UGX170,000 ($128) per term.

When she dropped out of school, Jackie joined a Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) project initiated by IIRR in Nwoya in Northern Uganda where she became a Community Conversation Facilitator (CCF) in 2014. CCF’s have community conversations about SRH and emphasize on changing cultural norms. They recruit from their villages, and Jackie was responsible for recruiting over 100 people in her area with who will practice family planning.

IIRR partners with Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) to enable CCF’s to upscale economic activities and improve household incomes. To qualify for getting a loan from the group, a CCF member has to complete the basic financial literacy training, develop a simple business plan and select an enterprise that has a chance to succeed. Jackie took UGX460,000 ($138) loan from her VSLA. She used the money to buy 6 goats and the rest for planting peanuts. Her fortune turned around when her goats multiplied to 12, she sold 3 for UGX180,000 ($136) to put her kids through school and leaving Jackie with owning 9 goats to continue to multiply and help with planting vegetable seeds. The sale of her peanuts even grossed UGX860,000 ($258).

Jackie is a great example of a social entrepreneur who dropped out of school at a very young age when her father died and overcame adversity by investing in sustainable practices that IIRR has to offer. With the sale of her peanuts and multiplication of her goats Jackie is a proud sponsor of her two children, husband and brother in-law. Jackie is also attending vocational training school where she is learning tailoring skills. Jackie has this to say about the support that she received from IIRR:

IIRR empowered me to take care of my household!