March 28, 2019 – Twenty-nine young leaders empowered by the Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative (WPDI) recently completed the second round in a series of five-day workshops for 277 local youths from vulnerable communities in the Acholi sub-region, a part of Uganda that remains affected by conflict. The workshops – organized in partnership with the Education Above All Foundation – are designed to build a grassroots peace force on the ground in northern Uganda, which will work to foster peace and reconciliation through educational and economic projects.
The workshop sessions were facilitated by the 14 young women and 15 young men that we have trained throughout 2018 to become youth peacemakers – colloquially referred to as “Trainers of Trainees” (ToTs) – as part of our Youth Peacemaker Network (YPN) program in northern Uganda. The YPN is WPDI’s flagship initiative. It is a youth empowerment program that focuses on promoting peace and sustainability through youth-led initiatives and projects. To that end, we provide intensive training in peacebuilding, information and communications technology (ICT), and business and entrepreneurship to a select cohort of highly talented and dedicated youths – the ToTs – who can act as transformative changemakers. After completing their training, the ToTs return to their communities and replicate their training to other local youths, which is exactly what the ToTs have been doing in the eight districts of the Acholi sub-region since January 14th.
For nearly eight weeks, the 29 ToTs held five-day training workshops in the Gulu, Omoro, Amuru, Nwoya, Lamwo, Kitgum, Agago, and Pader districts. Some 277 local youths attended trainings focusing on peacebuilding, conflict management, mediation, and business and entrepreneurship. As these workshops were the second for the local youths, WPDI’s ToTs mainly focused on enhancing comprehension of those topics amongst the local youths, many of whom had questions about how to successfully mediate conflicts or about advice concerning how to best operate their businesses.
Each workshop was very positively received. Jennifer, a local youth in Gulu, told WPDI that the training she received in the first workshop helped her resolve a conflict in her village between two people. That led her to “carry out community education on conflict resolution, reduce conflict, and promote peace within my community. This is because of the knowledge and skills I attained from WPDI’s trainings.” William, from Pago sub-county, mentioned how he “was able to start a small business which is now fast moving and well-paying” after the first training workshop.
These results are encouraging indeed and so too are local leaders in the community. As one local government official noted, “I am so encouraged that WPDI is building the capacity of the youths within my district – this will make my work easy.”