Do you want project based on economic empowerment of youth? This project is specially designed for you. Through this project we intend to promote small manageable businesses (SME’s) and different skills such as hairdressing, paper bag making, environment management through recycling, sewing and tailoring, Knitting, Handcraft training, computer training and party decorations among others The promotion of small manageable SME’s will be an entry point for the enhancement of wider action on wealth creation and improving livelihoods not only for the respective households involved in the project but also involving the wider community. The general goal of the project is to promote healthy lifestyles amongst the youth so as to bridge the gap between youth unemployment and adolescent sexual related problems with the general objectives To empower youths with basics life planning, leadership and entrepreneurship skills so as to compete in the labour market and reduce the unemployment gap and To establish a strong and resilient youth network which will advocate for better youth development government programs and accountabilities. The project will aim at imparting the beneficiaries with knowledge and skills of SME’s so as to enable them manage their income and support themselves as well as their dependents.
Organization Background
XXXXXXX is a registered Ugandan nonprofit community-based organization working towards improvement of youth livelihood, women empowerment, education and creative arts promotion and health and sanitation awareness initiatives in Uganda. We aspire to improve the living conditions of the poor and marginalized by adopting strategies through community initiative, participation and sensitization. The organization works with local communities and local leaders to see that aims and objectives are achieved. We have considered Women self-help groups as the base for all interventions and livelihood activities enabling them to contribute towards mainstream development process. Our experienced field teams work on the ground in the places we serve. When you contribute, we ensure your support flows to projects that produce lasting and meaningful change. We envision a productive and sustainable community livelihood towards a poverty free, just and healthy society. Our Mission is to uphold human dignity, equity and accountability through people’s active participation, capacity enhancement and access to resources for self and community development.
Project Summary
In efforts to achieve our vision, we plan to implement the ‘STAND OUT’ project. This phrase means persisting in opposition or support of something, we therefore believe that the project name shall directly motivate the beneficiaries to stand out, raise their voices and speak about the effects of all forms of challenges they face within the community. We plan to implement the project in the communities of Kisenyi ‘A’, South West Parish, Western Division in Busia Uganda which is the busiest border crossing between Uganda and Kenya. The district boasts of informal cross-border trade as its main activity as well as gold mining and fishing on Lake Victoria.
Problem Statement
According to statistics from the Ministry of Gender, labor and social Development about 400,000 youth annually become eligible to join the job market yet still youth unemployment is a major challenge which the government of Uganda is facing today. Uganda is ranked among the countries with the youngest population in Africa and the highest youth unemployment rate estimated at 83%. Busia district is not exemption either. The district is faced with the prospect of a number of less informed and unskilled generation of young people, some of these young people who have not been able to enter the labor market dropped out of school as a result of financial constraints and other personal or domestic challenges. In 2016, the national population and housing census projected the Busia district population at 345,352 people (Females: 179,524 & Males 165,524), with over 60% of these being young people below the age of 30. I.e. 18-30yrs (70,234) and females in reproductive age bracket 15-49yrs (77,104). A marginal number of these youth have managed to establish small cottage businesses as an initiative to help them earn some sort of income and keep themselves at school while supporting their families.
In Busia Municipality trading in food crops bought from outside the district does dominate. Otherwise, the outskirts of the town depend mainly on agriculture activities of crop growing. However, the lack of a valuable and stable cash crop for the people of Busia District coupled with lack of livestock has greatly affected household incomes. Commercial farming is only 0.5% of the total farm activities. The pattern of livelihood affects the different categories of the population differently and also by places of residence. The urban centre in this case Busia Municipality has many persons with disability on wheel tricycles, and children engaged in smuggling as a means of livelihood for example. Adolescents are also common in this urban setting doing odd jobs like working in bars. Additionally, the nature of traffic flow in this are being a border town has made adolescents very vulnerable to sex trade as a means of earning a livelihood and hence associated poverty concerns.
Justification
Through empowerment programs that aim to promote rights of the poor & marginalized, food security interventions we strive to contribute to the economic development and employment generation as well as the Global Goals (SDGs) specifically goal 3; Good health and improved well-being. Through these programs we believe that enhancing skills and increasing knowledge acquisition through supporting continuity of community training initiatives creates relevant and quality employment as well as service provision. We further believe that there is an urgent need for young people to be empowered with valuable skills and accurate sexual reproductive health information so as to take charge of their lives and start making conscious decisions in regards to their sexual reproductive health, career paths and shaping up of their talents. This in the long run creates an environment where they build networks with each other, share knowledge as well as engage in activities that help them develop innovative ideas hence solving some of the problems, they face in their day to day lives.
In order to realize sustainable health measures and entrepreneurship among the young people both male and female, we are bringing together adolescents’ girls and young mothers, women, boys and men to prioritize and implement entrepreneurship development training programs. Through such training programs, we can strategically work together in local, national and international levels to create and support employment opportunities that help to foster youth development specifically in entrepreneurship development and business management. In order to become this major catalyst of change, young people need capacity building in the fields of Entrepreneurship, innovation and business development. Therefore, to prepare these youths for that challenge, we are creating innovative methodologies of knowledge and information exchange between youth advocates as well as having a continuous and sustainable youth voice. Our ‘‘STAND OUT’’ project will create an opportunity where the youth from Busia Municipality will interactively Learn, Engage, Inform and get educated through various trainings in addition to the Entrepreneurship and business development trainings among others.
Target Population (young women (aged 16-30)
Our primary beneficiaries of the project will be the adolescent girls and young Mothers (aged18-25yrs) including the Karamojong girls who are considered as displaced girls and are employed as domestic workers, the orphaned, out of school, formerly / currently married as well as the disabled young women (aged 18-24). Due to economic family deprivation, these group of girls fend for themselves and contribute financially or materially to support their families from a young age. Given the nature of our urban centers, they are forced to engage in unsafe sexual behaviors such as early sexual debut, multiple sexual partnerships, limited condom use, intergenerational, commercial sex or informal transactional sex in exchange for gifts, money to meet their basic needs etc. This situation has increased school dropout rates especially among the adolescent girls and led to an increase in the rates of unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, HIV/AIDS transmission among others.
With the help of community facilitators, local government leaders especially the women councils, Community Development officer and other peer organizations. We plan to involve men in adolescent girls and young women initiatives in order to enlighten them on the value of women within the family and the community among other programs. Changes in both men’s and women’s knowledge, attitudes and behavior are necessary conditions for achieving the harmonious partnership of young men and women. Men in most societies exercise preponderant power in nearly every sphere of life, ranging from personal decisions regarding the size of families, negotiating for sex, among others. We believe that with improved communication between men and women on issues of income generation, and the understanding of their joint responsibilities, men and women are equal partners in public and private life. This, therefore, will help promote and encourage equal participation of men and women in all areas of family and household responsibilities, including family planning, child-rearing, and housework.
The Project Purpose (specific goals of this project)
- To promote healthy lifestyles amongst the youth so as to bridge the gap between youth unemployment and adolescent sexual related problems.
General Objectives
- To empower 2300 youths with basics life planning, leadership and entrepreneurship skills so as to compete in the labour market and reduce the unemployment gap by the XX-XX-XXXX.
- To build 1000 young people’s individual capacity to make safe choices so as to strengthen the linkages between information and service delivery by the end of XXXX.
- To establish a strong and resilient youth network which will advocate for better youth development government programs and accountabilities in Busia Municipality by the XX-XX-XX.
The Project Relevance
Through this project we intend to promote small manageable businesses (SME’s) and different skills such as hair dressing, paper bag making, environment management through recycling, sewing and tailoring, Knitting, Hand craft training, computer training and party decorations among others The promotion of small manageable SME’s will be an entry point for the enhancement of wider action on wealth creation and improving livelihoods not only for the respective households involved in the project but also involving the wider community. Since SME’s are sustainable and easily managed with minimal resources, the youth will be able to work effectively within their village settings there by creating jobs among themselves and reducing on the hustle of looking for formal employment. Additionally, SME’s are comparatively inexpensive to manage and operate and are equally environmentally friendly. The social benefit of the implementing this concept can greatly mitigate the disadvantages and challenges many disempowered girls endure due to the lack of basic needs also Small manageable businesses have radically been proved to create a world where women and girls can step boldly into the promise of their future.
Project Design Process and Sustainability Plan
The project will aim at imparting the beneficiaries with knowledge and skills of SME’s so as to enable them manage their income and support themselves as well as their dependents. The project will target 120 participants from 20 households in Kisenyi ‘A’ village in South West parish among which shall include girls, young mothers, men and rural women groups. These beneficiaries will be divided into different cohorts for easy facilitation and the activities shall be scheduled for between 5days to 6months per category of participants depending on the nature of the training package during the implementation period. We shall also target the women council chairpersons and the local leaders in the selected parishes since they are key persons in these selected communities for the sustainability of this project. Women chairpersons at the village level are contact persons in addressing challenges faced by young mothers as well as women in general since they spend most time with these groups hence it becomes easier to identify challenges besides, they will provide a lot of human resource to this project.
Strategies and Activities to Achieve Goals and Objectives
Objective 1. To empower 2300 youths with basics entrepreneurship skills so as to compete in the labour market and reduce the unemployment gap by the XX-XX-XXXX.
Intervention 1: To train 2300 participants on life planning skills and hair dressing by the end of XX-XX-XXXX.
Strategy: This training will aim at imparting participants with life planning skills and specifically hair dressing skills so as to enable them develop salon business management skills and help them manage hair dressing business in a more professional manner as well as deliver similar trainings to the other project beneficiaries in future cohorts. The training participants will be identified from the villages of South West Parish i.e. Kisenyi ‘A’, Kisenyi ‘B’, Madibira ‘A’, Madibira ‘B’. The trainings are designed to take six months thereafter the beneficiaries will roll out the skills learnt through experiential learning to other cohorts in existing salons set up with support from Engage all Africa.
Intervention 2: To conduct awareness on entrepreneurship development through community campaigns targeting adolescents and social media users within Busia Municipality.
Strategy: Through this intervention, we will roll out SME’s campaigns at grass root levels and they will aim to make girls and boys, adolescent are girls and young mothers. Through the campaign, we intend to promote the social marketing of locally made products such as crafts, liquid soap and paper bags to population within the communities. The promotion and distribution of locally made products and services as earlier noted is an entry point for the promotion of wider action on the community economic empowerment.
Project Monitoring and Evaluation (management team)
Project team: The organization has a team of 10 committed and dedicated volunteers who are ready to implement the project. The team which comprises of 1 finance officer, 1 project officer and 8 service volunteers is fully engaged in organizational activities and are well placed to help the in the realization of the project objectives and goal.
Training team: The organization has identified committed and dedicated trainers who are ready to implement the trainings. The team which comprises of women and youth is fully engaged in entrepreneurship development and management trainings both in Busia and rest of Uganda and are well placed to help the in the realization of the project objectives and goal.
Monitoring team: The organization’s leadership is guided by board of directors. That will play a key role in monitoring the project activities. The local government leadership is also charged with the responsibility of monitoring and evaluating the projects run by non-governmental organizations. The offices of the District Community Development officer, the sub county chiefs, women councils and among others shall directly be involved during the planning, implementation and evaluation of the project.
Competence Statement
The organization has past experiences in implementing community development activities where through our village partnership model, we partnered with villages, people and worked together to ensure community members access and drink clean water to about 2000 people living in Busia Buwuma A and Buwuma B village, properly dispose of wastes including use of latrines. We have implemented hand washing and sanitary habits activities. Most importantly, we have empowered people to take better care of themselves. The organization enjoys a good track record of working with both local and international stakeholders as well as other implementing partner agencies. We have worked closely with the Busia local government, ASHWA, Straight Talk, Uganda Cares, amongst other stakeholders. These engagements have brought on board a wealth of experience that we are currently employing in working with partners which is a requirement for the success of this kind of project being mindful that we all operate in resource limited settings. In addition, our motivated Board of Directors actively monitor and evaluate the implementation of these projects and ensure the maintenance of standards and adherence the organization policies.
