Christina Anyango Ouma & Divine Youth and Development Foundation

Christina Anyango Ouma is a Social Worker and Project Officer at Divine Youth and Development Foundation in Mayuge, Uganda, and a Diploma holder in Organic Waste Management. Coming from a community where youth and women face limited income opportunities, she leads the Foundation's work converting agricultural waste into organic oyster mushrooms and compost — creating affordable nutrition and income while promoting a circular, zero-waste farming system in Kityerera Sub County, Mayuge District.

With our $500 Giving Joy microgrant, (generously donated by ARC Collective, a woman-founded and led media company), Divine Youth and Development Foundation is training 106 youth and women in mushroom cultivation, composting, and sustainable waste management over a six-month program — covering substrate preparation, spawning, and harvesting in the early workshops, hands-on mentorship and record-keeping in the middle months, and quality assurance, value addition, and basic business skills in the final phase. The grant covers facilitator fees and venue costs, training materials and protective gear, technical mentorship, mushroom drying and value-addition training, and monitoring and evaluation — building the skills participants need to run consistent, income-generating mushroom enterprises long after the program ends.

The Expected Impact

This grant is expected to directly benefit 106 people: 60 women entrepreneurs starting or expanding oyster mushroom enterprises, 20 smallholder farmers, 20 unemployed youth, and 6 community trainers who will help sustain the program's mentorship after the grant period. An estimated 848 additional people, including roughly 212 families and 636 wider community members, are expected to benefit as participants share their skills and reduce local organic waste.

Looking Ahead

The program moves through three phases: hands-on workshops introducing mushroom production and composting techniques, a period of mentorship visits and peer coaching to reinforce what participants have learned, and a final phase focused on quality assurance, value addition, and market readiness. Along the way, participants will build a demonstration site that continues serving as a training and learning hub for new community members well beyond the grant period.