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The importance of microcredit in Uganda has soared in the recent decade and the instrument is now seen as one of the most effective tools to tackle poverty in the country.

One of the successful micro-credit projects operating in Uganda is the Wekembe Micro-credit Scheme.

Wekembe means to “work hard to pull out of a certain condition”. Initiated by the Bishop of the Luwero catholic diocese in 2001, the primary goal of the Wekembe Microcredit Scheme was to provide access to financial services to active poor women to enable them improve the quality of life of their households.

The Wekembe scheme focuses on women because lending to women is thought to benefit the whole family and strengthen the role of women in society. In addition, as in most other parts of the world, women have proven to be better repayers and, in fact, Wekembe has enabled its members to improve their economic and social conditions. It has begun to instill a new culture of saving and access to credit among its members. This new financial stability has given its beneficiaries greater access to improved health services, better housing structures and improved agricultural practices.

Efforts are now underway to strengthen the scheme to make it a more effective and stable instrument for improving the economic, housing and educational situation of the people in Kampala Archdiocese with particular attention to:

• increasing food security
• increasing health conditions and access to medical cares
• reducing economic gender balance created by the empowering of women
• Ffacilitating home building and home improvement
• incentivizing a culture of savings
• financing new programs for food processing and marketing
• increasing overall household income