If you want to empower women through education or if Women Empowerment is your subject, this project is for you. Education is one of the most critical areas of empowering women, offering girls with basic education enhance the possibilities of making genuine choices over the kind of lives they desire to live. The purpose of the campaign is to giving survival practical skills to female youths as a way of empowering them for economic development. This can not only bridge the skill gap but will also leave them with opportunities of employing themselves and employing others hence Spirit of patriotism since they are empowered with a reason to live. It is important to note that educating or giving skills and knowledge to a woman is like educating the whole nation. The objective of the project is to encourage the youth to consolidate their role in national development in the economic, social cultural and educational fields; to inspire and promote among the youth a spirit of unity and national consciousness; to reduce domestic violence, early pregnancy and early marriages. Education is not about studying and passing examination the core value of education is learning and not studying.
Status Report
The campaign was started in 2017 after critical analysis of financial crisis hitting young people in the district due to high level of unemployment resulting from the factor of property-less and unskilled. In this extreme poverty, it has been analyzed that female youth become the most affected victims of circumstance. From that background, the appropriate solution to this problem is equipping them with a skill which can help them sustain themselves.
Purpose of The Campaign
Giving survival practical skills to female youths in XXXXX as a way of empowering them for economic development. This can not only bridge the skill gap but will also leave them with opportunities of employing themselves and employing others hence Spirit of patriotism since they are empowered with a reason to live .it is important to note that educating or giving skills and knowledge to a woman is like educating the whole nation.
The other purpose is encouraging and supporting them in putting what they have learnt into practice through formulation and sustainability of small and medium enterprises
Objectives
- To encourage the youth to consolidate their role in national development in the economic, social cultural and educational fields.
- To inspire and promote among the youth a spirit of unity and national consciousness.
- To provide a unified and integrated system through which the youth may communicate and coordinate their ideas and activities.
- To provide Technical skills to female youths.
- To create economic independence among female youths.
- To reduce on domestic violence.
- To reduce early pregnancy and early marriages.
Targeted Group
- Total of 100 girls per year from: –
- Two town councils.
- Two sub counties from 14 to 35 yrs.
Vision
- Produce the best out of a woman in XXXXX district.
District Overview
xxxx District is one of XXXX triangle war affected district in central region of Uganda, bordered by XXXX District to the northeast and east, XXXX District to the south XXXX District to the southeast, and XXXX District to northwest.
The district headquarters are approximately 120 kilometers by the road northwest to Kampala, Uganda’s capital city. As a predominantly a rural district, the district is traversed by major highway linking Kampala with Hoima which is soon becoming Uganda’s petrochemical industrial area.
In 2010 the former one big district was split into two, the western as XXXXand XXXXX East.
Concept Problem
Skills Gap Contributing to Girl Child Torture in Xxxxx District Introduction
Education is one of the most critical areas of empowering women, offering girls with basic education enhance the possibilities of making genuine choices over the kind of lives they desire to live.
For many years, the district has not been able to perform well right from Primary leaving examinations, Uganda Certificate of Education to Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education! With no doubt this has left many youths without a firm academic foundation to compete on national level academically towards bettering their future.
This however, has witnessed the low survival levels of the future generation of XXXXX that is, youths engaging typically in unskilled casual labor, depleting environment through charcoal burning and girls mainly getting exposed to unsafe early marriages.
Relating to the XXXXX district education department reports, the increased number of school dropouts is due to a number of factors among which include;
Unavailability of academic role models
The few who persist amidst the education challenges in XXXXX hardly get exposed to job opportunities and end up in the same circles with the education dropouts. This largely limits the interest of the uneducated to labor in academics.
Forced marriage
Due to poverty there is a failure tendency of parents to both encourage and facilitate their daughters’ education carriers which has left them with no choice other than opting for unsafe marriages hence providing high chances of H.I.V/AIDS multiplication among youths, as the saying goes that idol mind is devil’s workshop.
In relation to the above is traditional beliefs, some parents in XXXXX still have cultural attributes of under looking girl- Education zeroing it down to them being better off as house wives.
Interruption by meager gifts from men
This kills their education future; most peasant female students move long distance from home to schools. This is challenging as they are enticed by men with pet offers like eats since they are hardly fed from their homes to school.
Although there are a number of challenges to girl-child education in XXXXX as presented in the paper prior analysis, some families have managed to engage in girl-child education. This has been mostly possible due to universal education system both at primary and secondary level, hands up to the N.R.M government.
However, more is still hanging due to lack of direction to those who go through the universal education system in realizing their dreams after the earlier stages of their education and thus end up into school dropouts, early motherhood, early girl-child labor hence torture that largely affect their future and families, XXXXX as a district and nation at large.
It is important to remember that, education is not about studying and passing examination. The core value of education is learning and not studying
Possible Solutions to the Concept Problem
Equip girls with technical skills
Our country Uganda needs skilled personals to boost the economy through industrialization and commercial agriculture. Industrialization and agriculture are the number one sectors which can employ large number of people. Therefore, there is a need to equip youths with human capital for them to gain from such sectors.
Increasing employment opportunities to young people will not only benefit them alone but will improve the economic status of the country hence Balance of Trade. The importation of skilled labour will reduce and exportation of finished goods will increase due to presence of technical knowhow in the country.
Technical education is concerned with hands on training and acquiring knowledge to execute particular duties and responsibilities through self-employment while earning a living and contributing to national revenue. It saves time and money and besides the kind of skills attained can be passed from one person to another informally.
It will provide skills and knowledge to those youths which will enable them offer specialized services to the community and earn a living hence contributing to national economic development.
- Sustain Students who are in school by giving them facilities which can help overcome the challenges facilitating school dropouts, carry out continuous counseling and career guidance
- Support technical institutes in introduction of girl-child friendly courses and creating of conducive environment for girl child skills development with incentives such as ready job opportunities.
Applicability of the solution
XXXXX District has been blessed with government technical institute; Bukomero Technical Institute which offers different technical courses in both Formal and non-formal education, their mode of operations caters for both continuing students and school dropouts.
In Formal education, Bukomero Technical Institute enroll students who have completed Senior four and six for two years’ national certificate courses such as Welding and Metal Fabrication, building construction, Agricultural studies, Tailoring and Fashion design, Electrical Installation
In non-formal education, admits students below Uganda certificate education level such as Primary and Ordinary level drop outs in short courses like Welding and Metal Fabrication, building construction, Tailoring and Fashion design, Motor cycle Mechanics Electrical installation for grid and solar power, Computer training and hair dressing and Salon among others.
The presence of this opportunity for XXXXX citizens is to give possible solution to skills gap affecting most Ugandans. Where the trainees are to be given practical skills and knowledge which they can apply to earn a leaving
N.B: Despite the availability of the institution, few students have turned up as a result of many factors but mainly the financial constraints by the parents who are majorly peasants.
Expected Outcomes
- Exposure of youths to use of machinery in daily life to earn a leaving hence improving standards of living. Technical education provides one with skills of creating jobs. On contrary, the general education given in school and colleges produces such educated person whose job is to search for jobs due to the fact that they are given theoretical education rather than practical.
- Reduced early marriages
- Economically empowered female youth
- Contributing to economic development of individual youths and the country as well, girls will be in position of developing themselves, take care of their families after attaining technical skills and put them into practice.
- Expertise, technical training makes expert in certain domains of life, Uganda is undergoing promotion of industrialization, it will not be possible to make industry the most important basis of economy as we envisaged without making arrangement for technical education. Youths will become experts in the cause of industrialization
- Female youth will be specialized as skilled labor and technically fit in industries.
- Reduced unskilled redundancy man power
- The spread of HIV/AIDS will be reduced due to occupied youths
- Illiteracy level will be reduced as even school dropouts are catered for
- Domestic violence will be reduced in long run due to fact that youths will become wives of economic independency.
- Increased country’s tax base as many will be involved in world of work
- Reduced early marriages
Challenges
- Financial constraints by both children and their families to acquire technical education. This is due to low incomes by parents and lack of enough resources to facilitate education.
- Negative attitude towards technical education, many take this precious thing for granted as they perceive it below the white-collar jobs.
Monitoring and Evaluation
The project will be monitored by District Youth council, office of DEO, RDC, and the source of fund agent. Reports will be done on quarterly basis to evaluate the progress of the campaign and its effectiveness in the society/community.
Conclusively, in XXXXX district the school enrollment of female students is a bit high but those who finish and attain the core values of education are very few. It is important to remember that skilled women contribute a lot to the development of the nation and that education is about learning but not studying and passing exams.
Youth under 30 years make 78% of Uganda’s population yet 83% are still stuck in unemployment valley. Therefore, stand up now and support youths ‘survival in our mother Uganda.
