We believe that when rural women have access to the right tools, training, and partnerships, they can transform their own lives and strengthen their communities.

Our Story

Meet Monica LaBiche Brown
Founder and Executive Director

Born in the Seychelles and raised in Uganda, Monica LaBiche Brown has spent her career creating opportunities for underserved communities. After returning to Uganda more than thirty years after leaving, she was struck by the contrast between rapidly growing cities and rural communities that still faced many of the same challenges she remembered from childhood.

Drawing on more than two decades of experience in international development, including leadership roles with the World Bank and Water For People, Monica founded Africa Development Promise in 2014. Her vision was simple: empower rural women with the skills, resources, and market opportunities needed to build sustainable livelihoods and stronger communities.

What began as support for a single cooperative has grown into a thriving organization working across Rwanda and Uganda. Today, Africa Development Promise partners with agricultural cooperatives and provides vocational training programs to equip women and youth with the knowledge, resources, and opportunities needed to build resilient futures.

Under Monica’s leadership, ADP has become known for its commitment to long-term partnership, local ownership, and practical solutions that create lasting impact. From strengthening women-led cooperatives and improving market access to launching the ADP Impact Hub in Uganda, the organization continues to invest in pathways that help women transform their own lives, strengthen their families, and contribute to the economic growth of their communities.

MISSION

Our mission to improve the lives and livelihoods of rural women in East Africa through training and resources that support their collective efforts to operate competitively in the marketplace.

VISION

We envision a future in which rural women have the knowledge, resources, and opportunities to build sustained, resilient livelihoods that benefit themselves, their families, and their communities.

Why Agricultural Cooperatives?

Cooperatives turn individual effort into collective opportunity—allowing women to share resources, reduce risk, access markets, and build stronger, more resilient enterprises together.

Stronger Together

At ADP, we believe cooperatives are one of the most effective pathways to economic independence for rural women. In East Africa, cooperatives build on existing social networks and traditions of mutual support, enabling women to work together toward shared goals.

By pooling resources, sharing knowledge, and collectively managing risk, cooperative members can access opportunities that would be difficult to achieve on their own. Unlike individual enterprises, which often struggle in fragile rural economies, cooperatives create strength through collaboration, allowing members to invest in new technologies, improve production, access larger markets, and negotiate better prices.

For many women, cooperatives provide a practical and sustainable entry point into market-based agriculture, helping them transition from subsistence farming to profitable enterprises that benefit their families and communities.