The purpose of this chapter is to explore the extent to which four important
informal economy “craft” activities (pottery, carving, basketry and iron
work), which constitute what we call “material culture” have the potential
to enhance well-being at the household level in 10 districts of the traditional
Ankole Kingdom of S.W. Uganda. In doing so, we seek to determine how
far these informal activities might play a signifi cant role in poverty reduction
and what transferable lessons might be learnt. Research shows that in
Uganda, most of the poor people live in the informal economy and work in
small, informal businesses and that there are correlations between poverty
and informality (Keene-Mugerwa 2006). Ocici (2006) further posits that
the informal business dominates the private sector in Uganda. Many of the
businesses (approximately 97%) are not registered and 80% of the citizenry
are employed in the sector. More than 80% of the population lives in rural
areas (UBOS 2010) and integrate traditional skills and knowledge for their
livelihood.