Tomorrow Begins Today
Until recently, life for four young men in a remote village in Bunyangabu district was filled with uncertainty. Godwin (28), Godfrey (29), Cosmas (22), and Godson (25) relied on casual work and subsistence farming, yet their earnings were never enough to support their families. Providing school fees and food was a daily challenge. Today, they speak with confidence and pride. Their harvests have improved, they are saving money for the first time, and they are building a poultry business that promises a brighter future for their families and fellow youth.
“Earlier, with no employment, I used to loiter around the village doing nothing. I only cared about what to eat,” recalls Godwin, who tried to support his 8-year-old daughter with odd jobs and small-scale farming. Godfrey also remembers how limited life felt, despite having a goat and a pig, his casual jobs were barely enough to sustain his three children. Cosmas, at only 22, had a two-year-old and an infant to care for, while Godson, who had left school in sixth grade, worked casual jobs without stability to provide for his family.
In early 2025, their community partnered with RTV to address multidimensional challenges around ultra-poverty and sustainably improve household incomes. “The village chairperson told me about RTV and their program. I went straight to the Sub-county offices with excitement and found staff from Raising The Village. When I interacted with them, they gave me an opportunity to help mobilize community members in my village. I helped mobilize over 150 community members and they were all excited to work together,” shares Godwin.
Soon, the young men and their community began attending training sessions on mindset change, WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene), financial literacy, and good agronomic practices. “We were taught about mindset change. I learned a lot from the training, which changed my perspective on farming and money, and we formed saving groups,” Godwin explains. Community members also received farming inputs and tools that made a huge difference. “Each member received seeds. We also got different varieties of vegetables which we first planted in the joint nursery bed and later transferred to our gardens and keyhole gardens,” says Cosmas. Godson adds, “We also received tools like hoes, spades, spray pumps, jerrycans, a tarpaulin, watering cans, and a pickaxe, things we mainly lacked to do most of our farming activities. This made us fall in love with farming even more as we had all the tools and training we needed.”
With new skills, inputs, and equipment, their harvests quickly improved. Unlike before, when they only grew food for survival, they began selling their produce for income. The financial literacy training led them to join a Youth VSLA (Village Savings and Loan Association), where they began saving money from produce sales and accessing loans to meet family needs. As their confidence grew, the four decided to take a bold step together and start a poultry farming business. With guidance and support from team RTV, they decided to rear chroilers, a fast-growing, disease-resistant breed of chicken with strong market demand.
They have so far built a poultry house, are mobilizing other youths to join and contribute to the start-up capital, and plan to start with 100 birds. Their vision goes further still. “We also intend to have our own hatchery for the eggs so we can start hatching and selling day-old chicks to the community farmers,” says Godwin, who has since been elected Agriculture Champion for his community and has offered his own land for the youth poultry project site. “Our families are now happy, and we believe they will be even happier as the poultry project grows,” shares the group.
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