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Seed Fund Initiative: Strengthening Community Action for Safe Motherhood in eastern Uganda

Introduction

Many families in rural Uganda face financial barriers that delay access to maternal and newborn health services, often contributing to preventable complications and deaths. In response, Save the Mothers East Africa introduced the Seed Fund Initiative to strengthen women’s financial resilience and community support systems for safe motherhood.

 

In partnership with the Diocese of Mbale and MPHL alumni, STMEA works with existing women’s saving groups to enhance their capacity to save, borrow, invest, and respond to health emergencies. The initiative was launched in 2022 in Bukhadala Sub-county, Manafwa District, and Sironko District in Eastern Uganda as a community-driven response to these persistent challenges.

Building Community Solutions for Maternal Health

The Seed Fund Initiative works with 10 women’s saving groups, reaching approximately 200 women. Each group received UGX 250,000 as seed capital alongside two goats intended to strengthen long-term household income and group sustainability.

Over time, the goats reproduce and are passed on within the group, allowing members to benefit from livestock production and shared economic growth. This model strengthens household resilience while also reinforcing the ability to respond to maternal and newborn health needs at community level.

Savings groups operate structured financial systems where members contribute regularly and access small loans. These loans support household needs, small businesses, and most importantly, maternal health-related expenses such as transport to health facilities, medical costs, and birth preparedness items including mama kits. This has reduced delays in seeking care and improved readiness for childbirth.

Project Components: How the Seed Fund Works

The Seed Fund is built on five integrated components that combine economic empowerment with maternal health strengthening.

Seed Capital and Livestock Support provides each group with UGX 250,000 and two goats. The goats are rotated within the group, ensuring that all members benefit over time through livestock production and income generation.

Group Savings and Loan Schemes enable members to contribute regularly and access small loans that support household needs and income-generating activities, strengthening financial independence within households.

Maternal and Newborn Emergency Support allows groups to use their savings to respond to urgent health needs. This includes transport to health facilities, medical expenses, and essential birth preparedness items such as mama kits.

Training and mentorship is provided by Save the Mothers East Africa and MPHL alumni. This includes continuous support in financial literacy, record keeping, group leadership, and safe motherhood practices, ensuring strong governance and sustainability.

Safe Motherhood Education is delivered through community health talks focusing on nutrition, antenatal care, birth preparedness, and timely health-seeking behaviour for women and families.

In 2025, Performance-Based Incentives were introduced through a UGX 2,000,000 top-up fund. This rewards high-performing groups based on accountability, savings discipline, emergency response systems, and good governance, strengthening motivation and performance across all groups.

Women in Bukhadala Sub-county share how Seed Fund savings and livestock support are improving their ability to respond to maternal health emergencies and strengthening safe motherhood at community level.

Impact and Outcomes

The Seed Fund has strengthened financial resilience among women’s groups, enabling them to respond more effectively to emergencies, support safe deliveries, and improve household livelihoods. Women now report improved ability to prepare for childbirth, seek timely care, and support one another during childbirth related complications.

The revolving fund model ensures sustainability, with many groups now independently managing and growing their savings systems. Livestock production continues to generate household income, while savings systems provide a reliable source of emergency support.

Sustainability

The project is designed for long-term sustainability through interconnected systems that reinforce one another. Revolving savings and loan schemes ensure continuous circulation of funds within groups. Livestock reproduction and redistribution strengthen household asset bases over time. Peer-led financial management enhances ownership and accountability. Continuous mentorship and supervision from STMEA and MPHL alumni ensure technical support and quality assurance. Performance-based incentives further reinforce good governance, discipline, and long-term group performance.

Conclusion

The Seed Fund Initiative demonstrates how integrated community financing models can directly improve maternal and newborn health outcomes. By combining financial empowerment, livestock support, mentorship, and health education, women in Eastern Uganda are building resilient systems that strengthen safe motherhood from within their own communities.

This approach continues to show that when communities are equipped with practical tools and supported with structured guidance, they become powerful drivers of maternal health improvement and system-level change.

By Teopista Agutu – Save the Mothers East Africa Communications and Networking Director