AUPWAE was founded in 1992 to improve the welfare of rural women and girls, and improve outcomes for professional women in agriculture and environment. It works across a broad range of activities for women, from funding academic training to career guidance to technology transfer projects. Key to its success is the involvement of many members as volunteers in its various endeavors. McKnight provides support to increase the incomes of rural households in the Manafwa District, a densely populated mountainous district about 12 miles from Mbale. Through rural agricultural and economic empowerment, McKnight invests in efforts to strengthen local institutions and initiatives that sustain and improve the livelihoods of the most vulnerable women in Tanzania and Uganda.

With McKnight’s support, AUPWAE is implementing the Manafwa Household Income Enhancement Project, designed to improve women's capacity to manage resources while increasing incomes and saving significant time and labor. Aiming to build a useful collaboration with local officials, AUPWAE introduced the project early on to Manafwa’s district offices, as well as officials of the Bukhaweka and Khabutola sub-counties.

Working together, the officials and program coordinators identified 20 local,agriculture-based groups that would benefit from additional support and training. Working across these selected groups, AUPWAE supports a variety of efforts to build capacity among Manafwa’s women, including hands-on training in new methods and technologies to improve rain water harvesting, agroforestry, and farming as a business. AUPWAE also trains the women to get involved in thevillage savings and loan association system, a crucial key to ensuring that all program participants can afford water jugs and other productive technologies.

Impact Story: Association of Uganda Professional Women in Agriculture and Environment