AT ASONE MINISTRIES WE BELIEVE
Complex problems require comprehensive solutions.
Poverty is not just a lack of money; it is not having the capability to realize one’s full potential as an image-bearer of God.
Poverty alleviation efforts must shift from enabling dependency through charity and aid, to empowering local people to lead and drive change in their own community’s development.
MOVING TO LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENT
Too often well-meaning organizations work to address chronic ongoing poverty through one-way crisis relief- charity models that focus on give aways, handouts, feeding programs, and the like are examples of short-term fixes focused on transferring resources. However issues that many people in Uganda tend to face are much broader, larger, and more systemic. As a result rarely do these efforts solve the underlying issue, but results in a cycle of continual dependency that harms people’s dignity.
Unfortunately, this can end up reinforcing assumptions about who are the givers and receivers, namely the idea that receivers core issue is that they “lack” items or resources and “need” someone to provide them. This paradigm can bolster deeper biases, like the idea that poor families do not have the capacity to create change for themselves and they will always need to depend on outside help.
Relief efforts can get even more dangerous when a “giver” or program has little geographic or relational tie to the people they’re giving to. Commuting into a village or community to give hand-outs can make it more difficult to form relationships based on dignity and trust.*
*https://www.luptoncenter.org/toxic-charity-holistic-overview/
Uganda’s young population is projected to double in the next 25 years.
It is one of the youngest populations in the world, where three-quarters (78%) of the citizens are below the age of 35.
Yet, Uganda remains among the poorest nations in the world. With a GDP per capita of $935. The country still faces high unemployment, school drop rates, and maternal mortality rates.
With an increasing population and far reaching economic challenges, we are committed to a Christ centered investment approach, especially in the hard places.