Akonye Kena Self-Sufficiency Project Ltd was established in 2009 to provide young artisans in Uganda a venue to sell their goods and earn a sustainable income.
Meaning "I will help myself" in Acholi, a tribal language in northern Uganda, Akonye Kena is a program that works with community-based self-sufficiency projects. Founded in 2009 after eight years of development by its founder, Richard Kennair, based upon his volunteering experiences in East Africa during that time.
Richard found that while there were many self-sufficiency projects training youth in a “sellable skills”, the success of these projects varied greatly. With limited funding, training projects often must focus specifically on skills as opposed to providing a more holistic approach, including life skills, health and welfare, and home-based business management skills. Quite frequently, there are limited opportunities for these trainees after graduation, and there are often no funds to provide equipment or support for trainees to set up a home-based business themselves.
Many times, due to this limited funding, these well-intended projects have to focus on fundraising more than skills development! In times of dwindling aid, a drop in tourism, and an ever-increasing number of projects vying for the same “market-dollar”, many projects simply cannot survive in these conditions. This also limits projects in training only select skills and, quite frequently, there are very limited opportunities for these trained youth and young adults after graduation.
The challenge thus to be met was: "How can we provide an outlet for these well-intended projects and their students so that they can truly be self-sufficient and not reliant on additional aid?" The result was Akonye Kena, working directly with the project partners to help them develop their programs from a solely skills-based training program to the adoption of a more communal approach. As students graduate, they will be in a position to continue providing product and services to supplement their incomes.
The product produced from the partnered projects, Akonye Kena then purchases, meeting and often exceeding fair market value. The profit from these sales provides the bulk of the operational funds the projects need to not only survive, but thrive! As Akonye Kena grows, we will continue to forge additional partnerships and bring more diverse products to this site and also to our ever growing number of trade, craft, beading and quilt shows that we attend each year. Please sign up for the periodic Akonye Kena newsletter for updates on the project partners, development work, show appearances, new product and product lines, and how you can help to ensure the future of self-sufficiency development work in Africa.