KAMPALA – A total of 1,300 youths from 41 districts in Northern Uganda have received start-up kits following a three-month intense skills training in agriculture and agribusiness-related areas.
The training in 26 short-term programmes, which aimed at empowering the youth with crucial vocational skills to create new sources of livelihoods, was fully sponsored by the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) under the Development Initiative for Northern Uganda (DINU) Youth Skilling Programme (YSP) supported by the European Union (EU).
At a ceremony to commission and hand over packages of the start-up kits to each of the eight Technical Vocational Education Training Institutes (TVETs), for distribution to the trained youth, at the Northern Uganda Youth Development Centre (NUYDC) on November 16, 2023, the Minister of State for Northern Uganda Rehabilitation, Hon. Grace Freedom Kwiyucwiny, said: “Substantial progress and gains are being made to prioritize skilling of the youth across the country. The delivery of the start-up kits to the eight TVETs in Northern Uganda today is to enable the DINU trained youth to apply the skills and knowledge and create small businesses”.
The Head of the European Union Delegation to Uganda, Ambassador Jan Sadek, stated: “The European Union is delighted to work with OPM to implement such an important programme. Offering opportunities to young Ugandans to gain crucial skills in the agriculture sector will have direct impact on their employability, income and livelihoods. I trust that they will become role models for other young people who will benefit from their acquired knowledge.”
Background
The Office of the Prime Minister contracted eight Technical Vocational Education Training Institutes (TVETs) last year to train a total of 1,300 youths selected from 41 districts in Northern Uganda in agriculture and agribusiness areas for improved employability and livelihoods. The TVETs include ADRAA Agricultural College, Amelo Technical Institute, Lokopio Technical Institute, Amugu Agro Technical Institute, Ave Maria Vocational Training and Youth Development Centre, Kotido Technical Institute, Nakapiripirit Technical Institute, and Northern Uganda Youth Development Centre.
With an intake of 160 youths trained for two cohorts from 2022 to 2023, each TVET was awarded a grant contract of approximately EUR 50,000 or Shs220 million to conduct the skills development and training programmes in areas such as: vegetable farming, beekeeping, poultry, piggery, agro-input supply management, tree nursery operation, carpentry & joinery, solar repair and animal health management. The short-term skills training programmes also include an apprenticeship and delivery of a set of start-up kits for the trained youth, enabling them to practice their skills and to set-up and create small businesses.
