Gladys Foundation is making efforts to help farmers through various strategies such as agriculture trainings. Farmers’ workshops which introduce awareness of improved farming practices and practical advice on how the farmers can deal with changing rainfall parterns. Irrigation doesn’t seem to be a viable option for most Ugandan communities; how one get water to water crops when they are struggling to find water for drinking and domestic use. The workshops also address issue markets and new technologies that make agricultural information accessible to farmers in rural areas via cell phone and the Internet. Gladys Foundation is researching some of these technologies that will be soon introduced to our farmers. There is also some genetically improved crops breeds that could be more resistant to rough seasonal changes and with potential for higher yields on small plots.

Additionally, the Gladys Foundation also provides seed loans to farmers who may not have seeds to plant due to crop failure in the previous season. At harvest they have to return a certain percentage of their produce to the Gladys Foundation to pass to another farmer in the following season. We are assisting child-headed families to plant small vegetable gardens that are manageable and would help improve the kids’ nutrition.

We would like to acquire a Tractor which would be useful for the community; farmer can rent and use to plough their fields. With hand hoes you can’t really cultivate bigger plots. In the old days you could get people to work for you but now it’s difficult to find people looking for farm work. So families are limited by what they can manage to cultivate and maintain– it comes down how able-bodied one is digging in a very dry field and often having to work long hours in the sun — and if you are not eating well, you can be productive with manual labor. Transforming the communities one at a time. The Gladys Foundation.

The story illuminates a common problem in international development. The recognition of culture and local belief systems is not typically included in the study and implementation of development projects. Beliefs, values, and worldviews common to Westerners can be extremely different from the ones in developing countries. While the volunteer successfully addressed a community need by his own standards, he missed half of the equation—the unseen, unspoken half that decides how the community feels about the project. It may seem absurd to investigate whether a well was actually wanted by the village. However, without community participation and an understanding of the cultural complexities at play, the well (and many other projects like it) fail to be sustainable.

The Gladys Foundation works to provide a solution by engaging in a more comprehensive approach to development—one that integrates pragmatic solutions with the qualitative interior needs of individuals and communities. These interior aspects (feelings, beliefs, values, and worldviews) are the source of empowerment and the ability to collectively and sustainably rise out of poverty.

The trauma of war, famine, marginalization, desertification, and economic oppression divides communities and reduces self worth. Delivering resources and implementing needs-based solutions does not automatically trigger a belief in individual and collective action. When plans and solutions come solely from outside intervention, results may look good temporarily, but they do little for the community’s belief in their ability to sustain change. In some cases, foreign intervention may actually further feelings of helplessness and disempowerment.

Sustainable solutions must understand the process of personal empowerment and social transformation in order for local ownership to take hold. Communities need to actively participate in the planning, execution, and maintenance of any development solutions that affect them. Since interior growth takes time and is difficult to achieve, any effective development intervention will integrate the perspectives it confronts and translate key messages in terms that can be understood and valued by the community. This allows the community to engage the work in ways that conform to local traditions and ways of thinking.

Sustainable development practiced by The Gladys Foundation involves cultivating relationships, building trust between stakeholders, and acknowledging local value systems in a community-centered approach. Our purpose is to find the barriers in ourselves and our community partners that prevent individual and collective empowerment. Only when these complex barriers are addressed can we implement development solutions in a collaborative and sustainable manner.

We at the Gladys foundation are providing you with a chance to impact someone’s life by giving them a cow. A cow can give a family daily source of milk to drink, manure for crops and – a few months down the line – calves to sell or eat. Once the cow has calved, each will return one calf to the foundation, who can then loan it to another family.

Projects like this give people the tools they need to become self-sufficient. A gift like this can therefore give so much. For as low as $200 you can be the change agent and affected families to end poverty.