Catholic Sisters Graduating as Social Entrepreneurs in Uganda Urged to Stick to “bigger picture – deeper evangelization”

The SBVP is a capacity building initiative in developing sustainable social enterprises benefiting some 40 Religious Orders of Catholic Nuns in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia; it is realized in partnership with the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

The September 4 graduation in Uganda is the first in a series of graduations that ACWECA and Strathmore Business School have organized in the four African countries where the Catholic Sisters’ Social Entrepreneurship Program is being implemented.

Credit: Association of Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa (ACWECA)

Participants in the program in Tanzania will graduate on September 21, followed by those in Kenya on September 27, and finally by Zambian participants in October.

According to the implementers, the project aims to improve the Catholic Sisters’ capacities, connect them to networks and provide them with information hubs, as well as robust financial services.

This initiative comes after a survey that Hilton Foundation commissioned in early 2021 revealed challenges women Religious face in their ministries such as a lack of funding, inadequate leadership skills, and financial and organizational sustainability.

Credit:  Association of Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa (ACWECA)

The project aims to address these challenges by providing skills, networking opportunities, and resources for continued opportunities in social enterprise.

In her September 4 address, Dr. Ndunge recalled that Strathmore Business School entered the partnership in 2021, with a baseline study to understand the needs of women Religious in the ACWECA region.

She said that the main objective of SBVP has been to transform social ministries run by Catholic Sisters into sustainable social enterprises.

Credit:  Association of Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa (ACWECA)

“It has become evident that relying on donations and goodwill is now dwindling. People who used to give us funds to run activities may not be in a position to do that. This gives us the opportunity to look into how we can be self-sustaining so as to evangelize the rest of the world where the faith has been lost,” she said.

The SBVP official acknowledged the important role that Sisters play in the alleviation of poverty and suffering across the world.

She noted that it is sometimes difficult to find governments in places where they are supposed to be giving services, adding, “Sisters are always willing to go to those places and serve the vulnerable. We are proud of you because you are the agents of social development and social change.”

Credit: Association of Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa (ACWECA)

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At the graduation, the Acting Country Director of Strathmore Global Institute for Uganda, Francis Thenge, said the event was a culmination of “months of intense learning and fruitful coaching.”

“We are confident that the participants have exemplified our values of excellence at Strathmore,” Mr. Thenge said, and expressed optimism that beneficiaries of the program were better prepared to serve in their communities.

On her part, the President of Association of Religious in Uganda (ARU), Sr. Maria Speranza Namusisi, lauded ACWECA and Strathmore Business School for giving Sisters in Uganda an opportunity to learn entrepreneurship.

Credit: Association of Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa (ACWECA)

“We have gained skills to enhance our social ministries,” Sr. Speranza said, and added, “We have learnt that through the ministries we have been undertaking as charity, and of course they will remain charity, we can also benefit ourselves.”

She encouraged the 20 women Religious, who graduated from the program to share with the rest of the members of their Congregations the skills they had acquired through the training.

In an interview with ACI Africa on the sidelines of the September 4 graduation ceremony, SBVP Coordinator, Sr. Celestine Nasiali, expressed optimism that the graduates in the program would transform their communities.

Credit:  Association of Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa (ACWECA)

“We expect them to start implementing the skills they have been imparted with, to network more with others, and to mentor their fellow Sisters and their Songregations,” Sr. Nasiali said.

The Kenyan member of the Oblate Sisters of the Assumption (OA) said each Congregation that participated in the training program had an opportunity to present the businesses they had been working on with their coaches.

Credit:  Association of Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa (ACWECA)

She congratulated the graduates from Uganda for having been “a dynamic group” that had had insightful encounters, allowing the Sisters to learn from each other.

“This year, we were looking at Sisters who are in the administration of their Congregations’ social enterprises, including CEOs and financial controllers,” Sr. Nasiali explained, adding that women Religious in the Social Entrepreneurship Program were drawn from schools, hospitals, vocational centers and institutions engaged in food security.