Edoovillage #2768 - Uganda, Mbarara: Foundation for Youth Empowerment - FOYE

FOYE Computer Skills Business Training Center

Foundation for Youth Empowerment was founded in May 2010 by Niwagaba Ivan and registered in 2016 under the Registration No. MMC/CBS/6020 with our head offices in the main City of Mbarara. The CBO was formed as an initiative to spearhead youth oriented development activities through supporting the disadvantaged youth groups through talent promotion and skills development within the western districts of Ankole Sub region. For the previous 6 years, the organization has been conducting several youth programs among them including Digital literacy training, Youth and Girl Child Community Empowerment outreaches, Peer and Career guidance drives in primary and secondary schools within Mbarara, a talent search (Western Uganda’s Got Talent) where various youth groups both girls and boys have been given an open platform to showcase their different talents in areas of music, comedy, poetry, public speaking, dance and drama. With the support from our local sponsors, some of the winners have been signed by several recording agents besides the prize awards we normally award to the finalists.
The requested laptops from Labdoo will be used in recruiting FOYE youths at the FOYE Computer Skills Business Training Center and they will help out in training of other youths who will be enrolling in the same Computer training programs at the FOYE Computer Skills Center. These computers will also help the trainers at the same time in the learning/training process. The same laptops shall be used for teaching purposes as a form of instructional materials. As FOYE our aim is to train and equip more unemployed youths in Mbarara with basic computer skills thus we intend to use the acquired laptops for that very purpose. The same Computer Skills Business Training Center will be open to the general public in times when the trainings are not taking place to be used as a resource centre/hub. Every member willing to use the centre will be asked to give in a very small contribution for it’s maintence.
Every year, the number of students that graduate from over 230 Higher Education Institutions each year has been increasing over time. In 2018/19, this figure stood at 78,300 students, according to statistics by the National Council for Higher Education in its ‘State of Higher Education and Training in Uganda 2018/19’ report. The unemployment rate in Uganda increased by 0.2 percentage points in 2021. In total, the unemployment rate amounted to 2.94 percent in 2021. Over the observed period, the unemployment rate has been subject to fluctuation (O’Neill, 2022). There is no scarcity of initiatives to address youth unemployment in Uganda. In recent years, well-intentioned donors have established programs in the country aimed at putting young people to work. At the same time, the Ugandan Government has set out several strategic plans and initiatives to tackle the issue. This level of donor and domestic interest is unsurprising: Uganda has one of the youngest populations in the world, with 78% under the age of 30, representing significant development potential. Despite job creation efforts, the youth employment challenge has hardly diminished. But if left untapped, it could turn into a major development challenge (Kempner, 2020). Most of these young people fall between the age bracket of 13-30 years and the majority is unemployed with no practical skills to enable them sustain and meet their daily needs of life. This has left many with no employment forcing them to run to streets, get into drug abuse and early marriage practices. It’s from the above background that FOYE started up a Skills training Project where the most vulnerable youth are equipped with knowledge and skills in computer training in addition to their natural talents. This Skills Center is acting as a facility where the most vulnerable youth are being identified and trained in areas of computer and internet use. The attained skills enable them to start their own small businesses, improve on their financial literacy in business management while acquiring basic knowledge in computer application programs. This will be better achieved if we get more resources including laptops for this Computer and Skills center to accommodate many beneficiaries where some of the youth who can’t afford to meet the training fees charged in schools and other institutions normally get an opportunity to learn and obtain key skills.
Objectives
1. To train and equip the youth with skills in computer application
2. To create a conducive and safe learning environment for the unemployed youth
3. To train and equip the youth with entrepreneur and relevant business skills
4. To create an open platform for all talented youths to exhibit and showcase their abilities in areas of technology, research and innovation.
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