Refugee-led · Youth-led · Women-led
This work did not begin in a conference room. It began with young people who knew that poverty, displacement and climate change do not arrive one at a time, and who wanted solutions that make sense in the whole of a person’s life.
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Denise Ayebare founded BetterLife International in Uganda in 2021, at nineteen, with USD 200 and a small team of young people. As a refugee-led team, we had grown up experiencing many of the challenges facing the communities we wanted to work alongside.
We knew the uncertainty of providing for a household when food, income and opportunity were difficult to secure. We had also seen the knowledge and determination within communities. Our commitment was to help people build on that ability, with practical support to grow food, earn, save and access markets.
We were tired of watching communities receive short-term help while the conditions keeping them vulnerable stayed the same. BetterLife was created to work differently.
That beginning has grown into an organisation that reached 112,430 people in 2025, with work in five African countries. The work continues through community members, staff, volunteers and partners who help shape it every day.
2021 founded in UgandaUSD 200 starting budget5 countries today
Denise AyebareExecutive Director & Founder
Desire AinembabaziRegional Director
Samuel AhabweHead of FinanceOur leadership works alongside country managers in South Sudan, DR Congo, Tanzania and Ghana.
Meet the full team and board
Each figure counts a different part of the work, so they should not be added together. The people we reach take part in different activities and receive different kinds of support.
22% to 92%Knowledge of climate-smart agriculture among the 72 women who completed structured training
35%Average reduction in household spending on vegetables, reported by participating households
We envision a world where every person, regardless of their background, has the opportunity to live a fulfilling and sustainable life.
To create a better life for everyone by promoting sustainable practices, empowering young people, supporting vulnerable groups, and fostering peace and equality in communities.
Our focus is food security and sustainable livelihoods. Alongside refugees, displaced people and host communities, we help families grow food, earn an income, save and reach markets, and build the climate resilience that keeps those gains in place.
People closest to a problem must have a real hand in defining it, designing the response and deciding what success looks like.
People are partners with knowledge and ability, not passive recipients of help.
Those living with a problem should have real influence over the response.
An idea matters when people can put it to work in their own circumstances.
We are responsible to the communities, partners and institutions that place their trust in us.
Participation must be designed around the barriers people face, not simply offered in theory.
We change course when evidence and experience show us a better way.
When a woman tells us her harvest failed, seeds may appear to be the answer. Listen longer and the picture changes. She may have no water nearby. She may spend much of the day collecting firewood. She may lack money for inputs, access to a phone or a buyer for what she grows.
Giving her seeds alone leaves most of the problem untouched.
We take a systems approach because people live in systems. One programme may include a demonstration garden, a savings group, a digital tool and a buyer connection, shaped by the barriers people actually face.
Food sits at the centre. Select a connection to see how it shapes the harvest.
A harvest depends on water close enough to use. Our work includes water access and water-efficient production, and solar-powered irrigation in South Sudan.
Firewood collection takes hours. Clean energy, from biogas to solar, eases that load and can power farming itself.
When much of the day goes on water and firewood, little is left for farming, learning or earning.
People adopt what they can see working. We teach through demonstration sites, local-language facilitation and peer learning.
Without money for inputs, good knowledge stays unused. Savings groups and credit co-operatives help members plan and invest.
A phone and timely information change decisions. Soilla brings soil, crop, climate and price information closer to farmers.
For farmers producing for sale, access to buyers helps turn a harvest into income. Buyer connections and Agribusiness Connekt link producers to markets.
We work through women’s groups, farmer groups, refugee and host-community structures, schools, community organisations and local facilitators. These groups help us understand what is changing, what has already been tried and what people can realistically sustain.
A technique explained in a workshop can remain abstract. A garden that is producing through a dry spell is harder to dismiss. We use demonstration sites, local-language facilitation, peer learning and community champions so that people can see, question and test new practices.
Knowledge matters, but so do tools, money and customers. We connect learning to starter inputs, savings, finance, business support, services and markets wherever possible.
We strengthen existing groups and local institutions instead of creating temporary committees that disappear when a project closes. Local ownership is not an exit strategy added at the end. It is part of the design from the beginning.
People learn faster in groups they already trust.
We use monitoring data, participant feedback and field observation to understand whether people are applying what they learnt and whether that application is improving food, income, confidence or resilience.
Women hold much of the responsibility for food, water and household care, yet often have less access to land, money, technology and decision-making.
Our programmes pay attention to the barriers that shape participation, including time, phone access, mobility, confidence and social norms.
We work with children and young people through schools, youth centres, climate education, digital learning, livelihoods, leadership and innovation programmes.
They are not only preparing for the future. They already have ideas and decisions to contribute today.
Our programmes support people affected by displacement to rebuild their ability to produce food, earn, save and take part in the local economy.
We work with refugees and host communities together whenever possible.
We help farmers improve soil and water management, access climate and market information, diversify production and connect to services, finance and buyers.
Office or base Field presence Programme country
Uganda is where BetterLife began and where much of our work is based. Programmes include climate-resilient agriculture, refugee and host-community livelihoods, women’s economic empowerment, Green Libraries, tree nurseries, clean energy, water access, digital agriculture and BetterLife Agro Tourism Farm. Our West Nile work is coordinated through Yumbe and Bidi Bidi.
Through our Juba office and field presence in Yambio, we work on food security, solar-powered irrigation, climate-resilient agriculture and practical livelihoods for young people, women and communities affected by conflict and displacement.
Our Tanzania work is based in Kayanga Town, Karagwe District. Together with FADECO, we use schools, community radio and practical training to support climate education, health, green skills and youth enterprise.
In Ghana, our work focuses on youth leadership, climate action, sustainable livelihoods and community-led environmental solutions.
Our work in the Democratic Republic of Congo supports young people and communities affected by poverty, conflict and displacement through livelihoods, environmental action and local participation.
BetterLife International was founded in Uganda with USD 200 and a small team of young people.
The organisation expanded its community programmes and began establishing work in South Sudan and Tanzania.
BetterLife launched Soilla, expanded its school and environmental work and opened the Apala One Stop Youth Centre in Alebtong.
We started our communal farms, powered by clean energy.
Our water access and livelihoods programmes continued to grow.
BetterLife deepened its work with women in Yumbe through the Foundation S-supported climate-resilience programme and strengthened BetterLife Agro Tourism Farm as a bridge from training to markets.
We began setting up our 20-acre communal farm, with clean energy supporting its operations.
The Women’s Action Circle approach began expanding through Farm Radio International’s Green Leaf Platforms Uganda, and work continued on Soilla, Agribusiness Connekt, the BetterLife Climate Academy and regional youth innovation.
Two BetterLife platforms help farmers make production decisions and reach buyers, always paired with field training.
Our digital agricultural advisory platform. Farmers use it for soil and crop guidance, climate information, market prices and agricultural services, and to find suppliers, experts and other producers.
How Soilla fits our programmes
Where Soilla supports production decisions, Agribusiness Connekt focuses on the business around the farm. It links farmers and small agricultural enterprises to buyers, finance, services and market information.
Explore Agribusiness Connekt
We work with organisations that bring resources, knowledge and reach while respecting the experience of the communities at the centre of the work.
Read our impact reports How each partner supports the work Become a partner
BetterLife International Organization is an indigenous non-governmental organisation, registered with Uganda’s National Bureau for Non-Governmental Organisations under the NGO Act, Cap. 109, and holding a permit to operate countrywide. Our permit covers innovative environmental solutions that reduce carbon footprint, sustainable practices, preserving biodiversity, and climate change education and awareness.
Choose the way you would like to be involved, and our team will take it from there.
Support community farming, school meals, households and enterprise, or build a programme with us.
Partner With UsOffer your time, skills or expertise to strengthen the work already under way.
Volunteer With UsInterview requests, panels and speaking invitations for our team.
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