Sambara – A Source of Joy?

Barnabas talking about Sambara

Barnabas Samuel is Programmes Manager for Community Development Centre in Uganda, our partner leading the Soot Semee project. Among his many talents, Barnabas is also a singer/ songwriter and he has just released his first album, Sambara. I asked him to tell us more about the album, and what it means to him. Barnabas said:…

Read More

Workshopping remotely in Malawi

Kawale community workshop

On Thursday 12 August, we held a remote community workshop with partners Hope for Relief and Community Development Network (CDN) in Chitipa, Malawi. This is our first experience of starting a new project without visiting the community first. This presents a challenge … how could we honour our commitment to listening to community members, to…

Read More

Vaccine readiness in Adivasi communities

Women in a community meeting

The news from Seva, our partner in Maharashtra, India, is that despite Covid-19 spreading rapidly even in the most remote Adivasi villages, communities that have speakerboxes programmes are resisting the worst of the pandemic through robust hygiene practice and vaccine readiness. In Dhule district, Seva had trained a team from another partner organisation (much the…

Read More

Talking Shop

Rose at her talking shop with large speakerbox behind her

Rose owns a shop in Omugo 4 refugee settlement in Uganda. It’s a place where people exchange news. Her ‘talking shop’ has just had an upgrade.

Read More

Building Trust – Saving Lives

Soot Semee is helping refugee communities in Northern Uganda to protect children at risk. A large child protection NGO has been working with Soot Semee volunteers to help community members recognise abuse and know how to report it.

Read More

“…you’re still on mute!…”

Johnny Fisher “… you’re still on mute! …” If I could have a pound for every time I hear that phrase, I could probably fund our projects many times over! Love them or hate them, free Zoom webinars quickly established themselves in March this year as a means for organisations to contribute in the prevailing…

Read More

Closing the physical distancing gap

Despite Covid-19, Amplifying Voices’ partner, Community Development Centre, Uganda (CDC) continues to bring communities together. CDC’s Soot Semee project uses community-centred podcasts to overcome physical distancing challenges caused by the pandemic. Physical distancing not only prevents people from seeing loved ones, it also exaggerates the separation between people from different community groups. Barnabas Samuel, from…

Read More

Emergent Agency

During the Covid19 crisis, one encouraging theme to arise is that of ‘Emergent Agency’. As many NGOs and official sources of assistance have had to withdraw or reduce services, or have even become barriers to assistance, people in disadvantaged communities have shown great resilience and entrepreneurship in developing their own ways to overcome the crisis.…

Read More