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Category Archives: Life Skills

I want to see girls who can move with their heads up

I want to see girls who can move with their heads up

Lillian, one of our APPCO staff members, is a skills facilitator and a personate girl child activist. She has facilitated many sessions to mentor girls and young women and share her knowledge on Life skills, SRHR, menstrual hygiene and human rights.

When schools in Uganda closed for a period of 21 months during COVID-19, many girls had to be home, leaving them vulnerable to gender-based violence and teenage pregnancy, among other deteriorating effects of COVID 19. To avoid leaving the girls in the Mukono district behind, APPCO implements the Action for Girls Empowerment Project (AGE) since 2021.

Lillian participated in training the girls with various skills which included Soap and shampoo Making, tailoring, baking, hairdressing, and producing bags. These trainings are aimed at building their capacities in relevant skills which can serve as a source of revenue during these challenging times.

Pictures above show Lillian actively participating with the girls during the different training sessions in Mukono district, Uganda.

“I want to see a girl child well established, confident with high esteem who can move with her head up”

is Lillian’s motivation to inspire the girls.

Many of the girls had dropped out of school, were young mothers, early married or living with a disability. Therefore, Lillian’s soft skills sessions on social skills, interpersonal skills, and a positive attitude were also instrumental in raising their self-esteem and overcoming stigma and trauma. Lilian expressed that “It gives me great joy when these girls and some of their parents get to call me for advice every now and then”.

“The majority of the girls have grown more self-assured, are now mentors in their communities, talk and express themselves freely in public, they also freely share their experiences with their peers.” –

Lillian

When schools reopened, Lillian got involved in the initiative of starting school clubs for the young students in various schools around Mukono district with the health club, human rights clubs, and many others created. In these clubs, topics such as sexual and reproductive health, menstrual hygiene, gender-based violence and others are debated.

Funded by the Children’s Rights and Violence Prevention Fund (CRVPF), the AGE intervention promotes self-confidence and empowerment of female youth by building capacities in health, life skills and income generation.

Over 400 Out-school Girls in Mukono district get Skills, Business start-up kits after Covid-19

Over 400 Out-school Girls in Mukono district get Skills, Business start-up kits after Covid-19

An event to Release a group of girls who have spent the last 2 years in Mukono district – Uganda, receiving training and skills development. The girls who had acquired different life skills, such as bakery, tailoring, hairstyling, etc., received various startup kits during the event to enhance their capital needs.

The beneficiaries together with their parents/guardians were appreciative of the efforts of all the partners, district /sub-county fraternity and donors for the financial and moral support that enabled them to be trained with skills geared towards empowering them economically and grooming them to face the future. They were able to showcase some of the products they made including; bags, clothing, and various bakery products among others.

District dignitaries who graced the occasion included the Senior community development officer, Chairperson LC5, and the Deputy Resident District Commissioner all of whom encouraged the trainees to work hard to change their lives and that of their families.

The guest of honor Fatumah Ndisaba (Resident District Commissioner – Mukono) in her speech appreciated APPCO and its partners for the great work the organization is doing in the community and for committing resources to support such a group of vulnerable youth. She encouraged APPCO and its implementing partners to always knock at her office when in need of support and linkages for the sustainability of the project. She called on the girls to utilize the skills acquired for their benefit and promised to support them in accessing any development funding including Emyoga that the district receives to support hard-working and organized youth.

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“You need to be relevant and build businesses that will be helpful and supportive to you especially those with ambitions of furthering their education . . . educating a woman means educating a nation.
Fatumah Ndisaba
RDC - Mukono District

Empowered to become an Entrepreneur

Empowered to become an Entrepreneur

Meet Munyunyu Brenda, a senior 3 student at St. Johns Namuyenje, in 2020 she moved from Busia where her parents are based, and came to live with her elder brother in Mukono District where she met the opportunity to obtain baking skills that she is currently practicing.

“ At the beginning of the AGE  project, we were invited for dialogues together with our parents, guardians, and peers and told the objectives of the project among which was to help skill the vulnerable girls for socio-economic transformation in the face of Covid-19 in Mukono district, I was among the many girls who participated in the on-going skilling sessions and was able to benefit in various ways, given that we have been in the lockdown and we have been staying home for a while, I would always allocate my time well and make sure that I seek permission from my brother to come to attend the skilling sessions at the safe space in Namuyenje.

I always practice what we would be taught at the safe space and that’s how a few months back I started my small business of baking, I make snacks and sell to people within our trading center and that is how I manage to purchase scholastic materials that I use at school. At the resumption of school learning, all I asked my brother to do was pay school fees since I had saved some money that would help in meeting other school-related costs from my snacks business.

And as I speak today my business venture is growing since, I have continued baking and selling the snacks at the school canteen something that has earned me the nickname “Munyunyu snacks” among my peers in school funny it is but not deterrent of my goal which is to be the largest baker in our trading center here. I am happy though that I have been able to inspire many young girls in our community and school who have also embraced the idea of engaging in income-generating practices as I do, now that we are being trained in various skills courtesy of this intervention.

Munyunyu and her peer are among the many girls who have and are currently benefiting out of the AGE project interventions being implemented by APPCO and cluster partners in the Mukono district as a response to the COVID-19 inflicted challenges and aims at contributing to the empowerment of girls in and out of school with SRHR and socio-economic friendly services