As the recipient of the 2019 Katherine Fleming International Development Award Grace Arach was recognized for her work in Uganda as founder of the Foundation for Women Affected by Conflicts (FOWAC). After participating in Coady Institute’s Diploma in Development Leadership program, Grace committed herself to honouring and promoting the legacy of Katherine Fleming.
Fleming, a 1985 graduate from St. Francis Xavier University, dedicated her life’s work to overcoming child poverty in Africa. In her work with the United Nations Children’s Fund, she was committed to human rights and the defense of those rights on behalf of children. She died at her home in Tanzania in May 1999 at the age of 35. Fleming’s classmates established the Fleming award and for the past 24 years an African woman leader has been supported in her studies at Coady Institute.
In 2019, Grace returned to Uganda and was able to raise $3,000 during the Covid pandemic to train a group of girls and mothers to sew and design dresses, shirts, and bags to sell.
“The beauty about this is that after training the 25 girls it created a multiplier effect, because about 10 or 15 of them were able to train other girls,” Grace says. “Now we have about 68 girls who have been trained. They are training other girls in schools, in the community, and in the office. Our role as an organization is to market what they do.”
They were able to turn an environmental issue into income – it was economic empowerment for the girls.
She credits her learnings from Coady in helping FOWAC’s success, noting she uses asset-based, community-led methods to engage others and uses her learnings in social entrepreneurship daily.
“The courses I took were very important in dealing with leadership issues,” Grace says, noting the award gave her more energy to do even more.
“We are identifying talents and locally available resources in the community. We then support the community in understanding the value of those natural resources, how best they can use them, and then turning it into income generating activity.”
FOWAC is also training women in beekeeping as well shea nut and sesame oil production. The organization provides machines and equipment for harvesting and processing. Together the women are using value chain development to get the most out of the products while FOWAC helps market the products.
“We have a lot of shea nuts in the local community, and we encourage them to invest in the nuts which we squeeze the oil from. We make products like smearing oil over a kind of cosmetic which we can take to market.”
Grace says she was inspired during her visit to Antigonish to create a gift centre where these products as well as other items are sold. Items are bought, or donated, locally and sold at a reasonable price.
“There is a percentage we give them, and they really enjoy knowing at the end of it all they are going to get something and are able to save every week.”
Girls trained in honour of Katherine Fleming with bags they created.
Grace Arach receives the 2019 Katherine Fleming International Development award.
Grace Arach with Carroll Bonnie, president of TAPS.
FOWAC is also partnering with Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivor (TAPS), a U.S. based aid organization which supports those who are grieving a loved one who died from the impact of war and violence.
“This organization has been supporting us in areas of capacity building where we do a lot of training on how to assist war victims and widows of veterans of war,” Grace says.
She recently spent time with TAPS during an exchange visit to Washington, D.C. to share, learn, and copy best practices to help create a transitional justice program with the government in Uganda. Grace says she was introduced to various dignitaries and hopes the networking allows FOWAC to reach greater heights.
“They requested the girls that we trained with vocational skills in honour of Katherine Fleming to make bags,” she says.
Grace says the girls were encouraging each other to come together for the effort and that making 1,000 bags was a life transforming moment because the girls were paid for each bag. The money will help with school fees and uniforms, and other needs such as supporting families.
“I asked them to put their stories on the bag inside so each of them put their own story in the bags,” Grace says. “Everyone had a connection with at least one of the girls who made the bags, and TAPS was really, really appreciative.”
She says the project used recycled cloth and allowed for the creativity of the girls to shine as they created beautiful designs while learning from one another.
“The day we finished making the bags, the girls were like, ‘Wow! we made it. We made it’,” Grace says.
“They were able to turn an environmental issue into income – it was economic empowerment for the girls.”
Visit Katherine Fleming International Development Award to learn more, or to donate to the fund.