Mr. Sulaiman Ssempijja is a resident of Butiti village –Butiti Parish –Lwanda sub-county, Rakai district in Uganda living with his wife and 5 children. When Unbound mobilized for enrollment of adult learners of the ICOLEW program, him and other 32 members joined and formed Toggwamussuubi ICOLEW Community Empowerment Group.

ICOLEW fosters a sense of collective responsibility and encouraging active participation in development initiatives. Participants utilize participatory rural appraisal (PRA) methods to determine the most important subjects for group learning. This method allows them to identify barriers that hinder progress and devise strategies to overcome them .Mr. Sulaimani who was renting a one roomed house which was not adequate and safe to accommodate all members of his family; the wife Fatuma and 5 children sensed a golden opportunity. During the Group meeting, he shared his challenge with group members and it rose concern among members who later decided to intervene. Given that he had acquired a plot of land and had already constructed a VIP latrine using his sponsorship funds, members of Toggwamussuubi CEG decide to give a hand to ensure Mr. Sulaiman achieve his goal of constructing a three roomed house.

Through the practice of labor pooling, group members decided to work together as a team in each activity that they agreed upon, which included laying bricks, digging the foundation of the house, collecting water, fetching sand in addition to any other kind of labor that was required. They managed to lay 15,200bricks which were enough to build a three roomed house as per their plan. The group members also guaranteed Sulaimani to acquire a loan from their CEG saving and loaning scheme and he was able to buy other materials like iron sheets and iron bars, timber as well as catering for other labor costs which required a technical person.

Toggwamussuubi ICOLEW Community Empowerment Group had identified food insecurity and low incomes as one of the challenges they face as a community. They agreed to grow enough food and applying sustainable agricultural practices to increase productivity. Sulaiman managed to established a banana garden of around 50 plants and 30 coffee trees on the plot boundary thus ensuring food security for his family members.

The ICOLEW program gives community members the chance to collaborate and forge closer bonds, which produces more lasting and successful results. When community members work together, they can combine their financial, material, and human resources to accomplish objectives that would be hard or impossible to accomplish on their own.