Uganda remains among the poorest nations in the world despite reducing its poverty rate. In 1993, 56.4% of the population was below the national poverty line, this decreased to 19.7% by 2013. Although poverty rates overall fell between 1993 and 2016, they rose slightly between 2013 and 2016.

In Uganda, nearly 50% of children do not complete primary school—and the majority of families rely upon agriculture for their livelihoods. These ongoing challenges are coupled with an extremely large youth population and the largest refugee population in Africa—creating a great need for both education and job opportunities.

In response, Abra is focused on initiatives like:

• Creating opportunities for farmers to improve their yields and their incomes.
• Empowering and skilling more youths in self-sustaining disciplines of business
• Sourcing and providing start up capital to young entrepreneurs
• Ensuring that as many children can go to—and stay in—school.

In future Abra considers playing a role in extending mobile banking services into rural farming communities, which help families access loans, deposit savings, and make payments through their mobile phones and independent local bank agents.

The SDGs promote sustained economic growth, higher levels of productivity and technological innovation. Encouraging entrepreneurship and job creation are key to this, as are effective measures to eradicate forced labour, slavery and human trafficking. With these targets in mind, the goal is to achieve full and productive employment, and decent work, for all women and men by 2030.