By Benedict Mukoni…….
The Sisters’ Blended Value Project (SBVP) is making remarkable progress in building the capacity of Catholic sisters in Eastern Africa with now social entrepreneurship skills in its second cohort, first module which took place at Association of Religious in Uganda (ARU) Secretariat from 21 – 25, July 2025.
The second cohort is targeting to train around 172 sisters within five countries where the program is being implemented in the Association of Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa (ACWECA) region; Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia.
This project started germinating in 2018 after the Impact Investment Conference that was held in Rome by major superiors who meet annually to discuss issues within the Catholic Church and the congregations and later, launched in 2021.
The initiative is a collaborative effort between the Association of Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa (ACWECA) and Strathmore University Business School, with funding from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.
In the first cohort as piloting, SBVP trained around 690 sisters from 147 congregations in project management, social enterprise development, and leadership skills which has supported the establishment of sustainable social enterprises, enabling sisters to address community needs while ensuring financial stability.
According to Sr. Celestine Nasiali, Oblate Sisters of the Assumption and ACWECA Regional Project Coordinator for SBVP, before the recruitment of this second cohort, they visited all the congregations that went through the program and the ones who were intended to join the program and found significant strides and energizing stories from the sisters.
“They have been able to start some social enterprises and this gives us a lot of energy to continue this program because we feel that what we are giving to the sisters has come timely and is really helping them to move and think on sustainability.” Sr. Celestine remarked.
Sr. Alice Kyosimire, from Daughters of Mary and Joseph is a participant in this second cohort and attended the first module. She says “We have learned how to come up with social enterprises, run them, how to know and get on with people who are going to help us run the enterprise and the impact that these enterprises are going to have on the society.”
She also learnt on the approach of selecting the kind of enterprise to run after doing a needs assessment and knowing what the clients will really need and if it will solve their problems in the society one is setting up an enterprise.
Sr. Arita Tuhirirwe, a participant from the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary notes “I should not always just focus on my own plans, but first identify from the community and get to know what people are really facing, then I build up from there. I should look at the needs of the people in the society.”
