fair incomes

The return of peace and security to Northern Uganda in the last years from more than 20 years of armed conflict has helped to grow the shea trade. Since the armed gangs were driven out, homesteads have been rebuilt, and hope has returned to the villages. People are now embracing different ways to restore their livelihoods.

The people in Northern Uganda still belong to the most disadvantaged group in the whole of Uganda. With the purchase of a jar of NILOTICA™ Shea butter, you can help this community earn income and self-respect, and move on to a better future.

Shea nuts are extracted from the fruits of this wild growing savannah forest tree. The gatherers – most of them women – sell the nuts to us after harvesting, de-husking and sun drying. They are then graded into different qualities for our NILOTICA™ Shea butter to be carefully handcrafted from by hand presses, filtered and then ready to be used as the most amazing natural body moisturizer.  Prices are fixed each season and follow fair trade principles to ensure the women are valued for their work.

Many of our women use their savings from the nut sales to pay school fees for their children. Others buy oxen and ploughs to regain their farmland from the bush after years of civil strife to supplement their incomes outside the shea season.

The Shea Project has been training its members in organic farming practices since 2005, to raise awareness of the negative effects of cutting trees for charcoal burning and promote sustainable livelihoods through the shea trade..