December 14, 2022 – In September, WPDI was delighted to launch a new project in partnership with the Bank of America in Uganda entitled “Fostering Resilience and Peace in Karamoja Sub-region through Entrepreneurship and Community Building Activities.” The two main objectives of the project are to empower youth and women through the provision of vocational skills education and to improve the livelihoods of youth and women through creation and support of income generating projects/small businesses.
The project was implemented in five districts of the Karamoja Sub-Region (Moroto, Abim, Kotido, Kaabong and Karenga), four sub-counties per district and is specifically targeting illiterate vulnerable women and youth. WPDI is offering three months intensive specialized vocational skills courses in Business and Entrepreneurship, Arts & Crafts, and Information and Communication Technology.
So far, the project has been a resounding success. 102 district and sub-county leaders (81 males, 21 females) have signed up for the initiative. These include Chief Administrative Officers, Resident District Commissioners, District Chairpersons/LCVs, District Community Development Officers, District Commercial Officers, District Internal Security Officers, District Youth Chairpersons, Senior Assistant Secretaries, Community Development Officers, and Sub-County Chairpersons. Following this enthusiasm from local leaders, in the first quarter (Sept-Nov), WPDI trained and graduated the first cohort of 396 youth and women including 234 females and 162 males across the three courses available.
District leaders thanked WPDI for the project targeting the illiterate and mentioned that the current issue of cattle raids is mostly perpetrated by youth. Giving them access to new educational projects will therefore encourage them to empower themselves with new skills and be able to create and run income generating projects which will earn incomes for themselves and their immediate households. The leaders pledged commitment and support for the success of the project as the Resident District Commissioner Abim District, James Shilaku, remarked: “WPDI is not a new partner to us, they have been implementing peace activities in our districts and supporting youth with grants for a few years now. As a district, we welcome the new project, it will create an impact on the youth that voluntarily returned their guns and the vulnerable women, who are widows due to cattle raids and other conflicts.”
For participants in the initiative, it has been life changing. Ayoo Sunday, a female trainee from Kacheri Sub-County, Kotido District thanked WPDI for the effort they have made to train them in the community. “I never knew that I would get something called a certificate in my life since I am illiterate, but today WPDI has given me a certificate and I am proud to say that I am trained in business. Now I can even start my own business, even with little money, and it will do well because now I know how a business can be managed.” She thanked WPDI for supporting them in the village and opening up new opportunities for vocational training and requested that WPDI continue to provide support, guidance and capital for local startups and underprivileged communities.
The overall aim of the project is to provide the most vulnerable members of the community with hope for the future, showing them that through training and education they can create real prospects for themselves and their communities, fostering peace as they go. Local authorities have been very appreciative of WPDI’s effort in this regard: “We commend WPDI for the good engagement with Karenga District and appreciate that this project will transform unemployed youth and vulnerable women’s lives. As a district, we shall work together and ensure that our people benefit from the project through monitoring of activities,” said Stephen Lokope, Chief Administrative Officer from Karenga District.
Empowering youth and women will remain one of the main focus points of WPDI’s activities in 2023, with initiatives such as the Bank of America partnership demonstrating the effectiveness of our strategy. Sustainable development means, in our view, investing in people, building hope and resilience in individuals and communities blighted by insecurity, violence and a lack of access to basic educational programs.
In partnership with
