Seed Effect Q1 Impact Report 2024

IMPACT REPORT Seed Effect | Q1 2024

SEED EFFECT STATS Since 2017, Seed Effect grown to serve over 91,000 South Sudanese and Ugandans who have celebrated tremendous growth and impact! Thank you for making this growth possible!

Members Served

Groups Served

Active Branches

$ Saved

$ Loaned

92,185

3,455

9

$10,437,873

$6,962,755

22% of 2024 new member goal reached!

EXPANDING IN THE HARD PLACES At Seed Effect, we believe the hard places, like refugee settlements, conflict zones, and fragile states, are worth investing in and that how we help truly matters. Amidst the tumultuous landscape of South Sudan where continual conflict and displacement have left deep scars, the return of Seed Effect brings a glimmer of hope. We’re thrilled to be bringing our program BACK to South Sudan. Read more about this pilot project here.

“Through Seed Effect, I envision God working miracles, transforming despair into hope, poverty into abundance, and brokenness into wholeness. As we embark on this journey, I trust in God’s faithfulness... to use Seed Effect as an instrument of His divine purpose in South Sudan.” - Bismarck, South Sudan Country Director

CULTIVATING HOPE: SE + EFI With the many challenges refugees face, opportunities in economic empowerment and agriculture emerge as beacons of hope. We are excited to be piloting an innovation to our agriculture program in partnership with Equipping Farmers International. “Farming God’s Way” mimics the natural processes that we see in nature and promotes the restoration of man’s relationship with creation. Read more about this pilot here.

SATURATION IN UGANDA

Seed Effect set out to bring the hope of Jesus and critical financial tools to those who needed it most and to saturate all seven refugee settlements as quickly as we could. Empowering a few individuals within a community can have some positive effects. But saturating the entire community with economic development tools and resources has several distinct advantages including widespread impact, synergistic effects and a positive feedback loop of growth, a sense of social cohesion and unity, a greater push towards long-term sustainability, and a more resilient community overall.

Since embarking on this expansion project, together we have: Grown to serve in all seven refugee settlements and reached over 91,000 families served.

Reached over 20% of the population (S. Sudanese and Ugandans) in these districts.

Reached over 25% of the refugee population in northern Uganda.

And yet, there is still so much need and overwhelming demand for Seed Effect’s program. Now that we’re in all seven settlements, our goal is to reach at least 40% saturation in each of these locations. Read more about our vision to saturate northern Uganda with the hope of Jesus and economic empowerment here.

INVESTING IN LEADERS Investing in our staff is a strategic way to keep the mission strong and focused amidst exponential growth. We are grateful to have kicked off Q1 with an inaugural Leadership Summit. The leadership teams from all eight Ugandan branches traveled to the shores of Lake Victoria for three days of meetings, fellowship, and team building. It was a rare opportunity for these leaders to all be together in the same place to share best practices, discuss challenges, and plot out plans for the new year. Read more about our 2024 Leadership Summit here.

MEET NANCY As Nancy prepared to attend her Seed Effect group meeting, she paused and looked around.

Her children, ranging from age 13 to 24, surrounded her. With smiles on their faces, they looked happy. But, as a refugee who was forced to flee the horrors of war, it wasn’t always like this.

Nancy shared, “When we arrived from South Sudan, life was not easy. Feeding my family was so difficult. Sometimes we would only eat only once or twice in a day, and I was not able to afford school fees for my children.”

Dreaming about a better life or a more secure future once seemed futile. But after more than a year of saving with her group, Nancy can easily share her hopes and dreams. She said, “When I joined the Seed Effect saving group, we started saving and taking loans and life started changing.

I was able to set up my own business selling food stuff using the Plan for a Better Business training and a loan of $310,000 UGX from my group. I haven’t run short of stock in my store and my business has been growing steadily. Since the program includes a way to earn interest through the loans, my share out for 2023 was worth 400,000 UGX! I added my business profit and bought a motorcycle to provide transport for my shop. Additionally, I rented a piece of land for farming and bought some livestock.”

“Now my family eats three times a day and I can pay school fees. I was also able to build a semipermanent house instead of just sleeping in a tent. My dream is to continue to grow my business, purchase more livestock, rent more land for cultivation, build a nicer house with an iron roof, and ensure continued ease in sending my kids to school.”

But the impact has not only been economic. Nancy shared, “When the war broke out in South Sudan, the community that came as refugees were hostile to one another as it was a tribal war.

The presence of Seed Effect with the bible study and saving methodology has restored peace and harmony in the community since the group is made of all the tribes.”

Thank you for investing in restoration and economic empowerment!

Learn more at www.seedeffect.org