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The SUUBI Program

A Global Assets Project Initiative
Principal Investigator: Dr. Fred Ssewamala
This is a two-year Project funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The project was initiated in October 2005, and will run through September 2007. The two primary aims of the SUUBI study are: (1) to refine and test the feasibility of a family economic empowerment intervention that includes opportunities for asset-ownership, the development of anticipatory planning skills, the enhancement of mental health and reduction of risk taking behaviors for orphaned children in Uganda; and (2) to examine the impact of this family economic empowerment intervention on the psychosocial outcomes of orphaned children. SUUBI is designed to advance existing strategies within Uganda that involve organizations providing “aid” primarily to meet the physical needs of orphaned children and their caregiving families. “SUUBI” is a word from a local language (Luganda) that is widely spoken in Uganda, signifying “hope.” Overall, the asset-ownership/family economic empowerment intervention proposed in the SUUBI study, if effective, can be adapted and used as a model in other African countries. It is an intervention strategy based on traditional African societal norms and moral and community ethics of children being raised by a family within a “village.”

See also:

A Novel Economic Intervention to Reduce HIV Risks among School-going AIDS-Orphaned Children in Rural Uganda.
Ssewamala, Fred M., Alicea, S., Bannon, W., and Ismayilova, L. (2008) Journal of Adolescent Health, 42(1), 102-104.

Fred Ssewamala Awarded Grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to Expand SUUBI (“Hope”) Program to Families in Uganda
Columbia University School of Social Work Press Release. 4 September 2008.

The Bank of Suubi
A feature-length documentary film currently in pre-production. The film follows the work of Dr. Fred Ssewamala with the SUUBI project in Uganda.

Economic Empowerment as a Health Care Intervention among Orphaned Children in Rural Uganda (CSD Working Paper 06-16)
St. Louis: Washington University, Center for Social Development, November 2006.
Authors: Ssewamala, Fred M., Bannon, W.M., Aliecia, S. and Leyla Ismayilova