Climate Curve

Primary Project Category:

Secondary Project Category:

Name of Project:

Year Project Originated:

Project Summary / Description:

The C-VSLA Network transforms traditional Village Savings and Loan Associations into decentralised, climate-focused finance hubs in Masindi, Uganda. To date, it has empowered 150 marginalised women and youth, including widows and teenage mothers, to shift from charcoal-dependent livelihoods to high-yield agroforestry and apiculture.

The core innovation is a "Carbon-to-Credit" system supported by a citizen-science M&E framework tailored for low-literacy settings. Using appropriate technology such as pictorial KoboCollect data and USSD codes, members track tree biomass and carbon sequestration on their plots. Physical verification employs colour-coded Diameter at Breast Height (DBH) tapes, enabling semi-literate farmers to measure and confirm tree growth.

Verified data is aggregated at a Digital Hub and translated into "Climate Dividends", which serve as grant-backed capital injections into VSLAs, reducing interest rates for members who meet carbon targets. By monetising standing trees as verifiable financial assets, the project provides economic incentives for forest conservation and rural decarbonisation, aiming to halt deforestation in the Budongo Forest buffer zones.

How Project Affects Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions:

['Reduces GHGs (e.g., projects that reduce sources of GHGs, such as through efficiency or other changes in consumption)', 'Removes/stores GHGs (e.g., projects that capture, sequester, or otherwise enhance the "sinks" that accumulate and store GHGs)']

Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

The Masindi C-VSLA Network is designed specifically for rural women and youth who are currently "invisible" to global carbon markets. Traditional carbon projects require land titles and large acreages, barriers that exclude women. The software uses the VSLA model as a legal and social proxy, allowing members with even the smallest plots to aggregate their data. By digitising these savings groups, the initiative provides women with a verifiable "Climate Work History," which they can use to improve their economic contribution to the community. The User Interface is optimised for low-resource settings, ensuring that digital literacy is not a barrier to participation.