Stitch of Hope

Founder's Story

Joseph Okwanga and Nabuchiga Winnie became parent while still a teenager and experienced firsthand the stigma, financial hardship, and limited options available to young mothers in Northern Uganda. Rather than remain defined by that setback, he/she resolved to build an institution that gives other young women and other vulnerable groups facing similar exclusion practical tools to rebuild their lives and hopes. Their stories are central to the Centre's identity and will be used to build trust with beneficiaries, staff, and partners. The training skill is structured in progressive levels so beneficiaries can enter at a level matching their prior exposure and exit with a genuinely marketable, production-ready skill set.

Business Description

Stitch of Hope is a skill training Centre and enterprise-development initiative established at Odokomit Trading Centre, Lira City West Division, Lira city Northern Uganda. The training Centre will specialize in training in tailoring, fashion and design, and garment equipping teenage mothers, school dropouts, and persons with disabilities with a focused, marketable trade, start-up support, and mentorship to help them achieve financial independence and reintegrate into economic and social life.

The initiative is founded by a team of 2 dedicated members who lived a life experience Joseph Okwanga and Nabuchiga Winnie, themselves are teenage parents whose lived experience has shaped a deep commitment to giving other young women and vulnerable persons in Lira a genuine second chance. There personal story grounds the centered approach: practical, dignity-centered, and community-rooted.

The training centre core offering is structured tailoring, fashion, and design training delivered in progressive levels from basic garment cutting to fashion & design and small-business production complemented by literacy support, life skills, sexual and reproductive health education, and business/entrepreneurship training built specifically around running a tailoring enterprise.

A revolving start-up kit (sewing machine and tool kit) and savings scheme (VSLA model) will help graduates transition into self-employment or employment in the garment trade.