Stories

Uganda USAID

Like the most Ugandans, the 14-year-old girl lives in a rural area, in a situation of poverty., largely depending on subsistence agriculture and extremely vulnerable to environmental shocks and stresses: a year with lower rainfall then usual is likely to lever her and her siblings severely malnourished. However, if her family is supported to diversity their assets by planing a wider variety of crops and engage in small-scale marked enterprise, they are better able to spread their risks and are therefore more resilient. The increased household income will improve the changes that the 14-year-old girl and her siblings will attend school, thus decreasing the likelihood the girl will fall pregnant or marry while still in her teens. Greater household purchasing power will increase access to healthcare services and improve the family's health. If the woman in the family are supported to engage with the market, the balance of financial power in the family will become more equitable, slowing population grows.