History of SLAC Uganda

SLAC is a German association working closely with its community-based partner organization in Uganda which was founded in 2019 by William Prosper.

The region is mainly populated by subsistence farmers and is characterized by extreme poverty. Although this poverty has been successfully reduced over the last twenty years, it still determines the lives of most of the inhabitants. Poverty is accompanied by challenges such as malnutrition, inadequate education and a correspondingly high unemployment rate, which in turn encourages domestic violence.

Women, who together with their children usually do most of the work on the farm and in the household, suffer particularly under these conditions. Patriarchy remains strong in the region, meaning that the achievements of women are often downplayed and taken for granted by husbands, fathers and brothers.

Despite the unequal division of labor, the goods earned are then awarded solely to the man, who is allowed to dispose of them according to his own needs. In this way, women are kept in a dependent relationship from which they can rarely free themselves on their own initiative.

The gender imbalance in Uganda is further reinforced by polygamy, i.e. the marriage of one man to several women. In Uganda, this is highly regarded by society, meaning that many men are either married several times or have children with different women.

As a result, one in four children in western Uganda grows up without a father. This increases the financial and emotional pressure on single mothers many times over and drives many women even further into poverty.

Often, the women concerned cannot rely on the support of their birth families either, as they usually attribute the failure of the marriage to the wife's inadequate fulfillment of her marital duties and refuse her most help.

William, who himself grew up as the child of a single mother and experienced her challenges on a daily basis, made it his mission to fight gender-based discrimination and support women and disadvantaged young people with his organization. His approach is to emancipate those affected and equip them with the skills and knowledge that will enable them to become independent.

However, in order to become truly self-efficient, it is not only vocational training that is necessary, but above all the emancipation of women from their often perceived inferiority. This is the only way to truly empower disadvantaged social groups to earn their own living and thus lead a self-determined life independently of their families.

The Founders

Through their expertise we create projects that are perfectly adapted to the locality and our partners. In this way, we intervene as little as possible in the local culture and create trust for successful implementation.

WILLIAM PROSPER

My name is William, and I am the ninth of 25 children in a polygamous family. Due to financial issues, I didn’t start school until I was ten and got into trouble after assisting my mother’s escape from her severely abusive husband, my father. We fled to my ancestral home - an action that caused my father to stop caring for us in all basic needs of life including my education. My mother's situation was not an exception but the rule in our rural community. For me, our escape from my father became the turning point when I began to understand the extent of discrimination against women. Since then, I have been looking for ways to empower women in concrete ways and enable them to lead self-determined lives.

At 36 years old and with my biography marked by extreme poverty, I now inspire my audience in similar situations as my mother back then to face their challenges. My story encourages people not to give up, but to aim high despite the odds. Since I graduated with a bachelor's degree in vocational studies with education in 2015, I have been working as an agriculture teacher in a girls' secondary school. However, I strive to use my skills and knowledge to benefit my community directly and thus empower and uplift the people I grew up with and that weren’t as fortunate as me. Thus, I founded the CBO Steam the Light for African Communities (SLAC) with the motto “if you change the way you look at things the things you look at change”

SLAC is creating an alternative training approach that casts grassroots innovators and has proved that it is possible to achieve sustainable development by finding each individual’s driving force.

Hannah Bruckmann

I'm Hannah, a student of social anthropology in Hamburg. I grew up with my four sisters and both parents in a small town in Lower Saxony until I graduated from high school in 2019. In the same year, I visited Uganda for the first time as part of a volunteer service and then returned for another year in the fall of 2022. When I arrived, I was shocked to see that large parts of the rainforest had been cut down in just a few years and that nature, which had previously been so colorful and vibrant, had become silent.

Together with William, whom I met during my voluntary service, I therefore decided to take action and set up the SLAC for Eden project. The original reforestation project eventually grew into a much more comprehensive development project, in which my broad, in-depth knowledge of cultural-relativist approaches to poverty reduction and ethics from my studies was particularly helpful.

Today, I am the project coordinator of SLAC for Eden and the first chairperson of the German SLAC association, which works with the Ugandan organization of the same name. So I keep track of the different processes that are currently taking place in the project or that still need to be organized; establish networks between Germany and Uganda and represent the project externally.

Like all the other members, I work exclusively on a voluntary basis.

Jonathan Hege

I am Jonathan and I grew up in Germany in a family of 4. As customary in Germany, I started school at the age of 6. I went through the free German school system straight through to the A-levels. There was enough money for school trips, extracurricular activities, membership in clubs and the like. After graduating from high school, I studied physics in Halle and Heidelberg with stays abroad in Shanghai and Montreal. During my studies I was supported by a scholarship of the evangelisches Studienwerk. Today I work as a management consultant and am involved with SLAC as treasurer.

In Uganda, GDP per capita (according to the World Bank 2021) is 883 USD/year; that is 2.41 USD/day. GDP per capita does not equal income and income is unequally distributed. Absolute poverty starts below 1.90USD/day. Consequently, most people in rural Uganda experience absolute poverty. For comparison, in Germany the GDP per capita (according to the World Bank in 2021) is 51,204 USD/year i.e. 140 USD/day. We can afford to help in Uganda.

With SLAC for Eden, SLAC is helping to sequester CO2 and mitigate climate change, in other words, to solve a problem that we Germans have helped to create. I think that we should take responsibility for this, which is why I'm involved here. What do you do?

The Team

Mrs. Alitegeka Kasfa

Head of Gender Affairs

Holds a bachelor’s degree in rural development; a certificate in sustainable agriculture; and a certificate in rural entrepreneurship and business management. As an outstandingly informed and outspoken woman, she heads the gender affairs in our organization and helps SLAC not only inform, but also build long-lasting trusting relationships with the more vulnerable women in the community.

Mrs. Asiimwe Mary

Head Of Public Health

Holds a diploma in public health nursing and a certificate in nutrition. She is very competent in health-oriented services and has done a variety of health activities like sensitization, radio talk shows and outreaches for over 13 years. With her expertise and her social skills, she is the perfect person to successfully implement all health related programs within the CBO.

Mr. Mutabazi John

Head of ICT department

Holds a diploma in information communication technology; a diploma in business administration and management; and a national certificate in agriculture. Currently, he lectures at the paradigm institute and is a chief corner stone for the 21st century digital space at SLAC.

Mrs. Kiiza Regina

Head of vocational department

Holds a national diploma in technical teaching, and a certificate in machine maintenance and repairing. She is a dynamic entrepreneur with over 10 years’ experience in vocational training and joined SLAC to enable it fulfil its social vision and mission of transformation.

Mr. Bukenya Francis

Head of environment department

Holds a national diploma in forestry management. He brings a wealth of expertise in environmental sustainability and has a high passion for combating climate change.

Mr. Edward Asiime

Head of Entrepreneurship

Holds a Bachelor of Arts with education from Makerere University; a certificate in public administration, organisation leadership and management; and management of vocational training institute. As an innovative and creative individual, he helps our beneficiaries to develop strong business ideas.

Mr. Ayesiga Amon

Head of social work

Holds a bachelor’s degree in public administration and management and a national diploma in journalism and mass communication. Prior to joining SLAC he worked with the Kagadi District local government as a parish chief and therefore assists SLAC in building bridges to larger networks in the community.

Mrs. Birungi Sarah

Assistant Head of Environmental Department

Holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental science as well as a certificate in computer applications. Her scholarly background greatly assists us in making our endeavours in sustainable development scientifically sound.