PICKNET Community-led Identity Participation as the Parthway to Prosperity.
Hello guys!
It is now almost one month without having a good internet, sorry for the inconvenience.
We want to share with you about our initiative of Strengthening VELAs (Village Entreprise Learning Associations). At PICKNET, participation is not a buzzword, it is our foundation. We believe that sustainable development happens with communities, not for them. This belief is at the heart of our work strengthening VELAs, where learning is practical, ownership is collective, and impact is measurable. As our work bridges humanitarian response and long-term development by integrating protection, agribisiness, skills training, and youth leadership into one holostic community-led model.
In refugee and host communities facing economic exclusion, climate shocks, and limited access to financial services, VELAs offer more than skills training, they offer dignity, resilience, and opportunity. Through PICKNET's hands-on, community-led approach, VELAs become engines of local economic growth, transforming vulnerable households into confident entrepreneurs and climate-smart producers.
From Learning to Action
The Maendeleo Revolutionary Farmers is one of our formed VELA that stands as a powerful example of what is possible when participation leads the process. Through PICKNET's practical training in entreneurship, financial literacy, and group governance, members have gained the skills and confidence to take control of their economic futures.
Today, Maendeleo Revolutionary Farmers members are actively applying these skills in agribusiness and regenerative agriculture. They are increasing productivity through better planning and record-keeping, strengthening savings and internal lending systems, reinvesting profits into income-generating activities, and adopting climate resilient.
This transformation did not come from handouts. It came from participation, members learning together, making decisions, and holding each other accountable. As a result, knowledge has become action, and action has become prosperity.
Why VELAs Matter Now More Than Ever
Refugee and host communities are often trapped in cycles of dependency, informal labor, and financial exclusion. Climate change further compounds those challenges, disrupting agricultural livelihoods and eroding already fragile incomes.
VELAs respond directly to these realities by combining:
Entrepreneurship development grounded in local markets. Financial Literacy and inclusion, including savings, lending, and reinvestment. Agribusiness and regenerative agriculture for food security and income collective ownership in the hands of communities, VELAs turn beneficiaries into leaders and learners into change makers. This approach aligns strongly with global commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly poverty reduction, decent work, climate action, and inclusive economic growth. Through VELAs, members can fight malnutrition through agribusiness. In reality, malnutrition remains one of the most pressing challenges in displacement settings, undermining health, education outcomes, and economic productivity. PICKNET addresses this crisis by integrating nutrition-sensitive agribusiness into its programming transforming agriculture into both a food security and livelihood solution. We are also training youth and women in climate-smart farming, vegetable production, poultry and small livelistock rearing, and ppst-harvest management. All those activities improve household access to nutritious food while generating surplus for sale in local markets. By linking agriculture to entrepreneurship, PICKNET enables participants to earn income, strengthen resilience, and reduce dependency on food assistance.
A Proven, Scalable, Community-led Model
What Makes PICKNET's VELA model Unique is its emphasis on practice over theory and participation over dependancy. Training is delivered through real-word application, members learn by doing, reflecting and improving together. Local facilitators and refugee-led leardeship ensure relevance, trust, and sustainability. The results speak for themselves: Increased houshold incomes and savings stronger group cohesion and governance. Improved food security through climate-smart agriculture.
Greater confidence among youth and women as economic actors. With the right partnerships and donors support, this proven model can be scaled to reach more VELAs, deepen impact, and strengthen local economies across refugee settlements and host communities.
Why Donor Partnership is Critical Despite its effectivene, the demand for VELA support for exceeds available resources. Many motivated groups lack access to quality training, seed capital, market linkages, and climate-resilient technologies. Donor investment will enable PICKNET to expand entrepreneurship and financial literacy training to new VELAs , support agribusiness incubation and value-chain development strengthen regenerative agriculture practices for climate resilience. Equip youth and women with leadership and governance skills. Build monitoring systems that demonstrate measurable, long-term impact.
Every dollar invested multiplies through community savings, reinvestments, and shared knowledge, creating lasting value for beyond the initial support.
A shared vision for Inclusive Growth
PICKNET envisions communities where refugees and host populations thrive together economically empowered environmentally resilient, and socially cohesive. VELAs are practical pathway toward this vision, proving that local solutions can deliver global impact.
By partnering with PICKNET, donors become a part of a movement that values participation, believes in a community capacity, and invests in sustainable futures.
Together, we can move beyond short-term relief toward inclusive, locally driven development that restores hope and opportunity.
Join us in Turning Participation into Prosperity. The success of Maendeleo Revolutionary Farmers/VELA shows what is possible.
With your support, this success can be replicates and scaled, reaching more communities, empowering more entrepreneurs and building stronger, climate-resilient local economies.
Participation is our priority. Prosperity is the outcome.
We invite you to partner with us (PICKNET) and help transform learning into action and action lasting impact.
Thank you so much.