April 26, 2019 – Earlier this month, a team of 40 youth peacemakers – colloquially referred to as Trainers of Trainees (ToTs) – completed a series of training sessions on business plan design conducted by expert staff from the Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative (WPDI). After completing the workshop, these ToTs will be better able to create and manage social enterprises in their respective communities, a key component of their future mission to promote peace and sustainable development.
Over a four-day period, the youth peacemakers gained knowledge and skills that will help them create robust, thorough business plans for income-generating projects within the settlement. They were taught, for example, about the components to be found in a successful plan and were given tasked to put together an example of business plans and received feedback on them from an oversight and review committee.
The workshop took place under our Business Bootcamp (BBC) program, an initiative designed to equip and support young entrepreneurs from vulnerable and violence-impacted areas. By providing them with the resources and backstopping support necessary to create jobs and community-building initiatives, we hope to promote a new generation of business and community leaders in places like northern Uganda who will strengthen the resilience and welfare of their communities.
The 40 ToTs found the training sessions to be exciting and informative. Esther told us that she “can now write a strong business plan for myself. When I go back to my cluster, I will replicate what I learned to my fellow youths. I am so happy to work with women and youths to change my community.” Simon agreed and additionally noted that he will “use the knowledge and skills I received to monitor the implementation of youth-led community projects and ensure that they are sustainable.” Without a doubt, we are looking forward to seeing all that our youth peacemakers are able to achieve in the coming months and years.
The Business Bootcamp program is supported by the Swedish Postcode and Western Union foundations at the Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement. Together, we will be able to support – over the next two years – more than 70 women-and-youth-led small businesses.