COPTEC is a trans-led community organization in Uganda that has long provided life-saving HIV services to marginalized populations.
COPTEC focuses on educating our members about positive life choices that promotes long healthy lives — that’s why we have economic empowerment activities so that transwomen don’t generate money only through sex work but still can work and get paid through poultry and sponge making.
Today, amid aid cuts, COPTEC is taking a strategic and urgent step to protect its mission by building sustainable, community-owned income streams. Through its Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA), COPTEC is transitioning toward social enterprise, ensuring continuity of HIV services while strengthening dignity, self-reliance, and economic resilience for its members.
We are seeking catalytic support to launch two practical, high-demand enterprises:
- Sponge making and
- Poultry rearing.
These businesses are accessible to all VSLA members, generate quick returns, and reinvest profits to scale operations over time. Sponge production will begin with 500 units sold locally, while poultry rearing will scale to 1,000 hens, creating steady income, reinforcing teamwork, and strengthening ties with the surrounding community. An investment in COPTEC is not only a contribution to livelihoods, but also a direct investment in sustaining trans-led HIV services when they are needed most.
Your donations will provide the initial funds for COPTEC get started with the sponge making and poultry rearing.
“The board of directors retains discretion over the use of funds.”
