In 2022, the government, with the guidance of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, operationalized the Parish Development Model program with seven pillars to empower many Ugandans into joining the money economy.
Since then, each parish in Uganda receives a total of one hundred million shillings annually to benefit a trial of 100 households per parish.
In Jumbe ward (parish), Amudat town council, Amudat district, Amos Rembus Kolinyang, 25, received Shs1 million from the PDM in 2023 and ventured into goat rearing.
Kolinyang, who dropped out of school in 2014 (P.4) at Kalas P/S had no hope to secure a source of livelihoods despite having heavy tasks to meet from his family.
Top among his responsibilities was paying fees for his young brother, Michael Longara.
Before accessing PDM, Kolinyang, 25, was surviving on apiary project with two local beehives in 2015.
He says that from the little earnings in the apiary, he started buying and selling chickens to raise money for his brother, in addition to taking care of his father’s household of nine children.
Even then, Kolinyang failed to pay fees for his brother when his business was affected by overwhelming family demands.
This forced his brother to stay out of school for one year.
However, access to PDM money has enabled Kolinyang to take his brother back to school.
He says that he’s been selling a few sheep to enable him to pay fees at Mbale Secondary School in Mbale City, where the brother sat for the Uganda Certificate of Education in 2024.
“My request is for educational support for my brother so that my farm can stabilize. Because of fees, I’m forced to sell some of the sheep to raise fees,” he told the journalists on Monday.
Kolinyang wants his brother to study to fill the education gap in a family where no child has passed primary seven except Longara.
“As a family, we need somebody to work in the government to be respected in the community. Families with educated children easily connect and support each other,” he said.
The journalists (over 70) from Teso and Karamoja are currently touring key model farms including those powered by PDM across the country at the invitation of President Museveni following his recent wealth creation tour of the regions.
