The Bishop of Soroti Catholic Diocese Rt. Rev. Dr. Joseph Echiru Oliach has embarked on empowering the Catechists across the diocese in income generating activities .
These commitment was seen as he formed a partnership with Opul Skilling Foundation Africa Africa, a non-government organization dealing with training people entrepreneurial innovative skills to generate income in East Africa.
Fr. Michael Omaria the head of development in the Diocese, also the Director Soroti Catholic Diocese Intergrated Development Organization (SOCADIDO) said that they are determined to ensure that Catechists fully sustain the income levels in their households by adopting the innovative skills.
“In most cases Catechists have been marked as very poor people and vulnerable to famine and financial embarrassment in public and their homes because they spend much of their time doing church activities. We have therefore through the guidance of Bishop decided to propagate the enhancement program that aims at skilling them and expose them to different business opportunities especially value addition,” he said.
“One of the areas the diocese targets to train the catechists is the manufacturing of Candles to be used by all Catholic Churches during the liturgy proceedings and this could generate up to 50 Million shillings per week.
Meanwhile Dr. Joseph Opul the Chief Executive Officer of Opul Skilling Foundation Africa commended the diocese for the positive step in bettering the livelihoods of catechists.
He declared the organization’s commitment in partnering with Soroti Catholic diocese to ensure that the population becomes innovative.
Opul Skilling Foundation is an organization that is focused on skilling and empowering communities in relation to the issues of climate change, education and health promotion, Agriculture and livelihoods rural settings and refugee communities.