For most of her adult life, Agnes Bako never imagined herself as anything more than a subsistence farmer. Born and raised in Lubaracha Village near the Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement in Uganda’s Yumbe District, Agnes went to school up to Primary Seven, the highest level of primary education in the country. After that, like many girls in her community, she dropped out to help on the family farm and eventually got married.
Now widowed and raising three children on her own, Agnes struggled to make ends meet.
“We farmed just to survive. We didn’t know you could get money out of it. We grew only enough to eat. Nothing more,” Agnes recalled.
“But now I’m the one paying my children’s school fees because of the DREAMS program. This project has helped me become both mother and father to them.”
That transformation began in 2022, when she joined the DREAMS initiative from Village Enterprise and Mercy Corps and was placed in a business savings group of 30 women called “Ever Ready.” She later formed a smaller business group called “Good Luck” with two other members and received a business grant.
How DREAMS helps refugees and host community members build financial self-reliance
DREAMS (which stands for Delivering Resilient Enterprises and Market Systems) aims to empower refugees and community members like Agnes from the villages surrounding refugee settlements by providing them with the training, startup cash, and access to markets so they can establish successful micro-businesses and break out of extreme poverty. This approach combines Village Enterprise’s proven poverty graduation model with Mercy Corps’ expertise in Market Systems Development.
Agnes and her group started by selling small quantities of agricultural produce before receiving training in high-value crops. They chose to cultivate sesame across 21 acres. They harvested 4.5 tons and sold the produce to a private company they were linked to through Mercy Corps’ Market Systems Development work. The group earned 21.15 million UGX (USD $6,000) and saved 19 million (USD $5,397).
“In total that year, we made 40 million,” said Agnes, her face lighting up. Forty million Ugandan shillings is equivalent to USD $11,362.
“Before Village Enterprise, I never had a bank account. I never even thought it was possible,” she said. But after training on financial literacy, her group opened a joint account with Centenary Bank. Inspired by the experience, Agnes opened an individual account for herself.
Her commitment and leadership didn’t go unnoticed.
In 2023, Agnes was nominated by the DREAMS program to join a new poultry initiative run by Chick Masters, a private sector partner that was brought in by Mercy Corps’ market linkages work. Chick Masters trained Agnes and other women to become Mother Unit Operators, allowing them to raise chicks and distribute them to other farmers. In total, she bought 750 chicks in three batches at a subsidized price and was trained to raise and care for them professionally.
“I started with just 250,” she said. “Now I have over 1,300 chickens. The business is expanding. I’ve built one structure [to house them], added a second, and I’m now constructing a third.”
What was once unimaginable is now a daily reality: running a growing poultry business that feeds her children, pays school fees, and opens new opportunities for her.
Using her success to uplift other women
Agnes’ story took another turn when she was selected by Centenary Bank to become a Trainer of Trainers. As a Trainer of Trainer, Agnes trains other women from her community in financial literacy, savings, and how to access bank services. In a region where most people operate outside formal banking systems, her role is game-changing.
“I train them on how to save, how to access services from the bank,” she said. “So far, I’ve helped six groups open accounts. And 42 individual members have opened their own accounts through me.”
That’s no small feat in a place where banking often feels out of reach, especially for rural women.
“Even being inside a bank used to feel impossible,” she said. “Now I teach others how to walk in confidently.”
Her group continues to farm sesame, though last season they sold individually due to low market prices. This year, they’ve adjusted by diversifying into maize and cassava across eight acres, applying the same market-driven approach that first changed their fortunes with sesame.
In many ways, Agnes represents the multiplier effect of the DREAMS program. One woman receives training, starts a business, gains access to improved markets and subsidies, opens a bank account, and before long, dozens more are following her lead.
From struggling every day to get by to becoming a rural businesswoman and banking ambassador, Agnes Bako is proof that investing in women can create change that multiplies. The transformation, she says, is just beginning.
“We are now planning to dig more acres. The more we plant, the more we earn. And the more we earn, the more we grow.”
Learn more about DREAMS here.