A woman standing at her market stall in Yumbe

Programme area 02

Green Skills, Livelihoods and Market Access

Learning a trade is one step. Finding tools, capital and customers is another.

About this programme

About this programme

BetterLife combines practical skills with enterprise coaching, savings, finance and market connections. Participants train in areas suited to local demand, including agriculture, poultry, carpentry, tailoring, barbering, weaving and solar technology.

The work continues beyond the training day. We help people test a business idea, understand costs, join a savings group, approach finance and find a route into the market.

Who participates
Refugees and host-community members, women and young people looking for a route into work or enterprise.
Projects
1 in this area, 2 connected
A woman serving at her shop counter in Yumbe A carpentry workshop in Yumbe A hanging scale used to weigh produce in Rukungiri
What we do

Activities in this programme

  • Vocational skills training
  • Enterprise coaching
  • Savings groups
  • Access to finance and small loans
  • Mentorship and business support
  • Market connections

Training is only the first step. The real test is whether someone can buy tools, find a customer and still be in business a year later.

Denise AyebareFounder and Executive Director
Projects

Where this programme is delivered

Filter the project directory
Participants holding rolled mats at a SMILES activity
Featured project

SMILES

SMILES brings refugees and host-community members into the same training groups and local economy. Participants learn practical trades, then receive mentorship, business support, market connections and access to small loans, building relationships as they train, save and trade together.

Connected from other programme areas

A farmer walking through a banana plantation at BetterLife Agro Tourism Farm
Food Security and Climate-Resilient Agriculture

BetterLife Agro Tourism Farm

Rukungiri, Uganda

BetterLife’s working demonstration farm and market link. Farmers learn through solar-powered irrigation, greenhouse farming, beekeeping, dairy and livestock, then have a route to supply produce through BetterLife Agro Tourism Farm Ltd.

Produce listings in the Agribusiness Connekt app on a phone in Yumbe
Digital Tools for Farmers

Agribusiness Connekt

In use in Uganda

Agribusiness Connekt links farmers and small agricultural enterprises to buyers, finance, services and market information, giving producers trained through BetterLife programmes a route from production into longer-term enterprise.

A woman preparing food at her stall in Yumbe
A woman preparing food at her stall in Yumbe
Selected evidence

What the figures show

  • 78% Of participants moved into sustainable income pathways SMILES · SMILES, reported across target groups
  • 85% Reported improved refugee-host relations SMILES · SMILES, reported across target groups

Each figure belongs to the project or activity named with it. Figures are shown separately and should not be added together.

In pictures

From the field

Partner with us

Partner on Livelihoods, Skills and Markets

Back the step after training: start-up tools, small-loan guarantees, business mentoring or a market connection for producers.