July News Wrap: Trained entrepreneurs with disabilities grow incomes by 35% in Kenya 

July 2026 News Wrap — our work, successes and impact

One stitch at a time, Juster Kathure Michubu has built a thriving business from scratch.

With the support of the InBusiness programme, a partnership of Light for the World and Sightsavers, Juster, an entrepreneur from Meru County, Kenya expanded her tailoring business, won new customers and increased her income. Today, she passes on her knowledge and mentors other entrepreneurs, sharing practical lessons from her experience.

“With the right support, I have been able to rebuild my life through business,” Juster says. “Now I want to grow even more and help others see that disability is not inability.”

Juster is one of the 2,467 microentrepreneurs and caregivers who participated in the programme. Participants reported an average 35% increase in income, with many applying new skills and business knowledge to improve their performance and reach more customers.

After completing the training, 849 microentrepreneurs reported improved business knowledge and skills in areas such as knowledge in business planning, marketing, customer relations, financial management and business compliance.

Participants also gained better understanding of procurement, tendering processes and tax requirements. As a result, 42% of microentrepreneurs pursued opportunities to supply goods and services to private and public institutions, and 18% successfully secured supply contracts.

Alongside developing entrepreneurs’ business skills, the programme worked with public and private institutions to promote inclusive procurement, build understanding of disability inclusion, and deepen engagement with Organisations of Persons with Disabilities. This helped to address the barriers that can limit entrepreneurs with disabilities from accessing business and market opportunities.

A new adaptive sports project in Gulu City, Uganda, has launched to create inclusive environments where young people with disabilities can shape their own futures.

Levelling the Playing Field is run by Light for the World in partnership with adidas Foundation and Ability Sports Africa (ASA), and aims to expand inclusive sports infrastructure across Gulu City and Gulu District.  

Over the next three years, the partnership will combine sport, leadership development, vocational training, entrepreneurship support and start-up capital for young people with disabilities, to help participants build skills and confidence while addressing wider barriers to inclusion. 

At a launch event, regional leadership, community stakeholders and sport advocates described how new sport pathways can contribute to the social and economic life of the community. 

Silvester Kasozi, Country Director at Light for the World Uganda, described the project as a long-term commitment to inclusive development through the power of sport. 

Trachoma cases in Ethiopia’s Tigray region have been reduced by half, partners heard at a workshop in Addis Ababa marking the conclusion of two projects tackling neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). 

Light for the World Ethiopia ran the ARISE and TFGH projects with the Tigray Regional Health Bureau, supported by The END Fund and The Task Force for Global Health (TFGH). ARISE alone provided 12,732 trachomatous trichiasis (TT) surgeries, while developing the capacity of health workers and improving integrated NTD service delivery. 

Opening the workshop, Suadik Hassen, Country Director at Light for the World Ethiopia, highlighted the progress made in Tigray and thanked partners for their commitment. Speakers from the Federal Ministry of Health, The END Fund, TFGH and the Tigray Regional Health Bureau commended the projects’ contribution to expanding access to trachoma surgery. The workshop closed with a renewed commitment to improving access to quality eye health services for all. 

Nationally, the situation remains demanding. At a separate media roundtable convened by Light for the World, Tesfahun Bishaw, NTD Programme Manager at the Ministry of Health, noted that more than 35 million people have benefited from prevention and treatment over the past 15 years. Yet Ethiopia still accounts for nearly half of all trachoma cases worldwide. 

The roundtable brought journalists together with health experts and partners. Eshetu Geletu, an NTD champion and media professional, encouraged journalists to give greater attention to NTD stories, amplify the voices of affected communities and report accurately and consistently. Participants agreed that collaboration between government, partners, civil society and the media is essential to reaching Ethiopia’s elimination targets. 

The issues raised at the NTD workshop were covered by the Ethiopian Reporter and Ethiopia Today.

Over three days in Burkina Faso, colleagues from across the country office set out to show how every one of us can advocate for positive change. 

The training was a pilot, run in Burkina Faso and Ethiopia as part of Light for the World’s international advocacy strategy, before being offered to other country offices. Early discussions focused on what separates strategic advocacy from communication, awareness-raising, lobbying and activism, and on how to move from resolving specific difficulties to addressing the root causes behind them.

For Traoré Chantal, Coordinator of the Inclusive Education Programme at Light for the World Burkina Faso, it shifted how she thinks about the work.  

“We realised that there is no one-size-fits-all advocacy approach. Each approach must be tailored to the specific realities, achievements and challenges of each programme,” she said.  

Her team will now raise advocacy priorities within consultation frameworks with partners to identify shared issues and develop messages together. 

The key takeaway for Rella Bonégo, Project and Programme Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, was that effective advocacy also rests on evidence.  

“This training helped me understand that, even if I don’t directly lead advocacy efforts, I can contribute significantly through monitoring and evaluation data,” he said.  

Data gathered through the programmes, he notes, is not only a measure of results, but a way to build arguments decision-makers will find hard to dismiss. 

The teams left with identified priorities, better-structured messages and a clearer sense of what each person contributes.  

“The next step will be to support the teams in implementing their initiatives, identify any potential obstacles and ensure consistency between the international strategy, the country strategy and the actions developed,” says Elie Bagbila, Advocacy Manager at Light for the World. 

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