Tag Archive for: Uganda

Iganga Youth Day: A Practical Solution to Youth Disparity – Mr. Kayemba Patrick, LC 5 Iganga District

One of the challenges this country has is the disparity in terms of available jobs against the number of youths and this has created a lot of unemployment or underemployment among the young people. The youth in my area may have the creativity to innovate but lack the confidence to start, pushing them in other unsolicited behaviors like drug abuse, bad sexual activities that some get addicted to which further leads them away from a right path they should have taken had if they had the right guidance and motivation – highlights ; a local leader (LC5) of Iganga District where the Iganga Youth Day event takes place annually.

From his perspective as a leader he acknowledged that the event has been a big contributor to uplifting the confidence of the youths staying in Iganga as it brings different young people across the country to share inspiration, ideas and network with the ones they met in Iganga. Despite the fact that while many of them lack the capital to start their own initiatives, they have picked confidence, good networks and basic skills through the various learning experiences and entrepreneurial interactions incorporated within the activities that happen on Iganga Youth Day. Mr. Kayemba also appreciated Hangout Foundation for the efforts and all the investments they have incurred in making the event happen annually for the past 3 years since 2016.

I give a plus to the organizers of the event who have continuously put in efforts to bring Iganga Youth Day to my community and emphasized the sharing of start-up success stories, preaching the message of self-belief and confidence has played a big role in making the young people I lead to have hope that they can also be successful in whatever they believe in doing.

He then informed us that earlier on, very many young people would just redundantly refuse to do anything beneficial to their communities. They never had any motivation to collectively do a social cause for the good of those in their particular society and when the first Iganga Youth Day happened, very many youths were mobilized to participate in Iganga town cleaning. The exercise put together local leaders like Mr. Patrick the LC5 of the area, company owners, media personalities and young people that showed up for the event. He also mentioned that not only was it fun, it also opened the eyes and confidence of the young people in Iganga to start such activities that contribute to the good of the community. At the moment, so many youth groups have come into existence as a result of Iganga Youth day and they are continuously on the look out to be impactful in the area. “As a leader, I count that as an accomplishment for ever allowing to be part of Iganga Youth day and continuously allowing the event to be in an area I lead,” concludes Mr. Patrick.

We later informed him that this year 2019; we are looking towards creating sustainability in the impact we are creating by working towards doing long-term projects that equip young people with practical and soft skills through capacity building especially in the area of Leadership, Entrepreneurship and personal development. Upon hearing this, Mr. Kayemba Patrick pledged out of being very impressed with the idea to always be of support as much as he can.

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Connections provide you with an invaluable opportunity to best prepare for your career goals

Building your connections will provide you with an invaluable opportunity to best prepare for your career goals. It is important to remember that networking is a mutually beneficial process. You never know when your skills and resources can prove to be beneficial to others in your network.

From all my past Youth Day event engagements I boldly rate the event’s impact 10 on scale of 1-10. The event is and continues to grow as a networking opportunity for youth from all around the country, stresses Angelus Muhindo; a volunteer of Busoga Information Centre Network in Jinja.

He also adds that Iganga Youth Day serves as a time to show case how youths are working hard to create positive impact in their various communities.

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I have met so many differently skilled young people that have advised and supported me

Kismat Ismail is one of the many young people whose face lightens up at the mention of Iganga Youth Day. To him, the event is a great platform for networking and taking out insights from different youth leaders who share lessons from their various journeys of starting/leading youth-led initiatives.

Ismail leads a community initiative; Nva Busoga Foundation, a charity working in Busoga region. The initiative mobilizes different young people to make donations of pads and clothes and other livelihood necessities to unprivileged rural communities in the region.

When asked how Hangout Foundation’s Iganga Youth Day event has impacted him, Kismat replied;

I value Iganga Youth Day because I have met so many differently skilled young people that have advised, supported and walked with me the journey of growing my community initiative at the event. I am encouraging all my friends not to miss the event this year so that just like me, they can also connect to the meaningful network of young people Iganga Youth Day creates annually.

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Creating a Culture of Collaboration & Giving Back to the Community

The youth are a critical force in the development of any society. Young people account for more than a quarter of the world’s population today. Timely interventions directed at young people are more likely to yield a greater return for sustainable development than attempts to build these capacities later in the life cycle.

In our effort to continue empowering the youth to take charge of their destiny and become the forces of social change, we do acknowledge that we first need to address the multidimensional barriers they face for them to be active citizens of their communities. Of these obstacles, decent employment, education, health and civic participation are the most essential to their well-being. Some of the constraints they confront are related to lack of opportunities, living with HIV while others are limited access to information and resources.

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Through our community outreaches, we have continued to create a space where youth lead sessions using peer to peer approach in schools and other platforms where we are invited. Hangout Foundation took pride in joining the Iganga University Students and Youth Association in a recently concluded community outreach where we addressed the issue of health living among young people if we are to work towards the attainment of sustainable development in our communities and country at large. Through such platforms, we motivate the youth we work with to become aware of the needs of the people in communities around them. It is also an opportunity for them to learn and share talents and gifts with those community members we reach out to.

Besides providing young people in our network with material and technical support, we continue to encourage them to engage in socially aware projects and activities that will promote the good of the community. For the past three years, we have continued to be impressed by how much the young people all over Uganda join in our annual community event; Iganga Youth Day where we celebrate youths and jointly give back to community through an identified social cause. The resulting end of our annual event is that young people take an active role in community development through a heightened sense of duty and responsibility.

We call out more young people out there to join us this year as we prepare for our annual International Youth Day celebrations as we stand in the gap for 50 teenage mothers who lack sufficient machines for them to learn the tailoring skill to eventually support their young ones and beat the cycle of poverty that is engulfing deeper communities of Busoga region.

Your donation can change a teenage mother’s life; send your donation through http://www.hangoutfoundation.org/iganga-youth-day-2019/

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Here Is What You Missed At Iganga Youth Day 2018

Over the past two years we have been organizing Iganga Youth Day under the International Youth Day celebrations allover the world, discussing the given themes from the United Nations. This year 2018, with support from Balloon Ventures and Africell, we are organized this event again. Putting young people together and giving back to the community.

If you missed out this year 2018, here is what happened 🙂

On Friday 10, 2018 we kicked off with an interview with Kyamagero Andrew from NTV, discussing the role of young people and leaders towards community development. Later in the evening, we had a great camp fire with BBQ with a group of young people sharing and networking together.

On Saturday 11th, The main event started with a match from Iganga District to Iganga main hospital with a band to present our  donation to the pediatrics ward. After, we moved back to the main venue for speeches, discussions and more engagements with youths.

The theme for International Youth Day 2018 Was: “Safe Spaces for Youth”

Youth need safe spaces where they can come together, engage in activities related to their diverse needs and interests, participate in decision making processes and freely express themselves. While there are many types of spaces, safe spaces ensure the dignity and safety of youth.

Safe spaces such as civic spaces enable youth to engage in governance issues; public spaces afford youth the opportunity to participate in sports and other leisure activities in the community; digital spaces help youth interact virtually across borders with everyone; and well planned physical spaces can help accommodate the needs of diverse youth especially those vulnerable to marginalization or violence.

Watch our interview at NTV

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