Center for Social Development

Welcome to AssetsAfrica

... Water that has been begged for does not quench the thirst.
-Ugandan Proverb....

AssetsAfrica is a demonstration and research initiative designed to test asset building innovations in Africa. No continent is in greater need of asset accumulation--at all levels--than the African continent. The focus of AssetsAfrica is asset-building among impoverished households and communities. AssetsAfrica currently has a pilot project in Uganda. This project, which will run for 5 years, has just completed the first round of asset building and purchasing. Beneficiaries include both men and women from a wide variety of ages, educational backgrounds, professions, and geographical locations. Some common assets obtained by the beneficiaries include motorcycles, bicycles, goats, chicken, oxen, and land. The project uses an asset-building model that is modified to be socially, culturally, and economically relevant to the African context. The hope of this pilot project is to expand asset building techniques into other African countries and improve the economic livelihood of all participants.

Gina Chowa, of CSD, leads the project. International Care and Relief-Uganda (ICR-Uganda), a national NGO, is a research partner.

Project participants in the village of Kabuukye, Uganda

A project graduate poses with goats she purchased through the project

Another graduate shows off the sewing machine she purchased through the project

Center for Social Development
George Warren Brown School of Social Work
Washington University
Campus Box 1196
One Brookings Drive
St. Louis, Missouri 63130-4899
tel: (314) 935-7433
fax: (314) 935-8661
csd@wustl.edu