Twenty years of war and widespread displacement have left virtually the entire population of northern Uganda impoverished. Social networks that traditionally cared for the most vulnerable in this region are greatly overstretched. Those marginalized from kin and their communities are at-risk both economically and socially. Young women and girls in particular have suffered economically and educationally from the war.

It will take many years for households to build up assets and livestock and achieve pre-war levels of productivity and income. A major worry is that the most vulnerable households will not be able to develop and maintain livelihoods and income without assistance that targets their specific needs, including provision of skills, capital, and social networks.

Over the past four years AVSI has developed an innovative program intervention aimed at transitioning between humanitarian and development assistance in a post-conflict environment. This recently completed program of micro-enterprise development presents an excellent model for assisting the large number of extremely vulnerable young women, especially young mothers, in northern Uganda.

There are four components to the program: brief business skill training (BST), group formation and dynamics training, an individual start-up grant, and regular follow-up by field staff.  The evaluation will employ a phase-in of program beneficiaries over three years. No vulnerable household or individual will be identified and surveyed without eventually receiving full assistance. All 1,800 beneficiaries will be assessed and identified in advance, with assignment to phase 1 or 2 of the program performed by lottery.

The evaluation strategy involves pre- and post-program surveys of those who have received the program in Phase 1 of the program and those who are eligible to receive the program in Phase 2, approximately 12 to 18 months after the first group of women receives the program. Thus the evaluation strategy uses beneficiaries intended for Phase 2 as a comparison group for Phase 1 beneficiaries.