At FIPA, we recognize the need to promote expanded choices for the poor to access and explore opportunities for
income diversification that will in the long term reduce pressure on natural resources.
Providing livelihoods assistance enables youth and communities to meet their basic needs and has positive cumulative effects on other sectors such as health, environment, education and shelter as people have the necessary money to build their homes and pay for essential items such as medicines, transport to health centres and scholastic materials for children and uniforms.
FIPA’s Livelihoods program is working to increase livelihood opportunities and promote economic development in communities in communities adjacent to national parks, natural forests, lakes and other protected areas.
This program is focused on improving the livelihoods of the most vulnerable through the provision of agricultural inputs and training and cash for work. Communities are further trained in selection planning and enterprise management through their Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA), a programme adopted from Care International in Uganda.
The programme further involves the youth and poor households in agro-enterprise development to help poor farmers and youth groups produce goods and services based on market demand using basic marketing and business principles. It supports collective action, diversification, and value addition as viable pathways out of poverty. Farmers are clustered according to what crops they specialize in producing i.e. coffee, cocoa, tobacco, maize, beans and millet.
Promotion of pro-poor financial services such as linkage banking, mobile telephone services such as mobile money, information services regarding better farming practices, disease and vector control, access to market and prices of their products.
Village savings and loans associations (VSLA) encourages people with similar economic background to learn to save, borrow and invest in productive business ventures, income-generating and self- help projects
