Sam Owori Projects
Building a Future to Stay at Home!
It all began with a vision
Uganda is one of the poorest countries in Africa with almost half of its population under the age of 15. Despite compulsory schooling, 53 per cent of the 15 million school-age children do not complete primary school. Girls are particularly affected.
The country is characterised by agriculture, and most of the work is done by women under precarious conditions. The climate crisis is exacerbating poverty, and flight is increasingly seen as a solution.
With the ‘Sam Owori Projects’, first steps could be taken to improve the living situation, together with the people in Kidera, a village in eastern Uganda, through training, creating opportunities and providing infrastructure: Building a Future to Stay at Home.
The aim is to develop and adopt the village Kidera together with the 5,000 residents, as a pilot project, and then to transfer the holistic concept to other villages. This will give young people in Uganda opportunities, training and knowledge to have a secure and prosperous future in their own country.
Our Projects
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Education
Access to education helps laying the groundwork needed to feel confident and courageous to master one's own life. However, poverty often means the end of schooling.
Girls in particular are denied access due to household chores, menstruation, a lack of sexual and reproductive education, and forced marriages.
In this part of the project, the foundations were laid for a prosperous, safe, and sustainable future of the boys, girls, teachers and parents. -
Empowerment of Women & Youth
Women are the driving force in Kidera – they take care of their families and work in agriculture. The economic potential of women is huge: promoting women as entrepreneurs and strengthening their position in agriculture can improve both the food and financial situation of their families.
Youth unemployment is very high and vocational training of young people is an additional focus of the project. -
Improving Health Care
The community in Kidera village accesses health services from Panyangasi Health Centre III which is located approximately 5 kilometres from Kidera village. The Health Centre, in particular the maternity ward, does not have adequate facilities/ equipment and needed structures.
In this part of the project, improving health care and access to clean water will be an important focus. -
Modern Agriculture - School Farm - Bicycles
The fact that agriculture is the main source of income for the people of Uganda makes them very vulnerable to food shortages. Climatic uncertainties and the resulting problems are the challenges.
This project aims to provide knowledge, training on how to deal with these climatic challenges, and access to the necessary inputs and seeds in order to sustainably reduce the adverse effects on agricultural production and ensure food security. -
Power & Energy
In Kidera, only a few households have access to electricity which is expensive and unstable.
The planned project to set up a grid-independent solar technology will provide the people in the community, school, health centre and small businesses with a reliable energy supply and thus an opportunity for high-quality health care, education, enhancing safety and security. The topic of ‘clean cooking’ and reducing deforestation will also be a focus. -
Future Plans
All activities of the Sam Owori projects will make Kidera a pilot project of a “smart village” with the aim of fighting poverty and providing new employment avenues.
The entire community will benefit from the improved and more secure Smart Village.
With the help of The Rotary Foundation, a large-scale project is planned for 2026/27, so that the concept of the model village of Kidera can be transferred to other villages in eastern Uganda.
About us
The original idea for the Kidera project arose from the two Rotarians Sam F. Owori and his wife Norah A. Owori, who have sadly already passed away.
Sam and Norah recognised the opportunities that could be used to give people in the poorest regions of the world hope and the tools to improve their own living conditions so that they can create a better place to live in their homeland and villages. It was particularly important to Norah to ‘empower’ girls and women. They chose Sam’s ancestral home of Kidera as the site for this project.
The “Sam Owori Projects” are in honour and upholding Sam and Norah Owori's legacy.
The two sons of Sam and Norah Owori, Daniel Owori (left) and Stephen Owori (right) follow in their parents' footsteps. They work - on a voluntary basis - closely with the project team and personally support the activities in Kidera.
The two Tyroleans Judith Köck (left) and Doris Steinmüller-Nethl (centre) are in daily contact with Stephen and Daniel. Doris and Judith are the organisers of the ‘Sam Owori Projects’ and wholeheartedly support the people of Kidera - on a voluntary basis and with great dedication.