By Sr. Caroline Bacia, LSIMG
Driven by the Social economic plight of the youths in Uganda especially after COVID 19, the Association of Religious in Uganda (ARU) Major Superiors in 2019 came up with an initiative to address this plight, and that is Sister Led Youth Initiative (SLYI)
SLYI has successfully concluded Phase II where it trained over 1,000 youths in different enterprises in the past 4 years. ARU had conducted a baseline survey/ needs assessment that highly showed the need for Hands-on-skills training for the vulnerable youths.
According to the Sr. Led Youth Initiative National Coordinator Sr. Caroline Bacia, LSIMG, considering the overwhelming number of vulnerable young, there is still need for continuity of the program. Hilton Foundation agreed to ARU’s proposal of having a third phase with six (6) additional training centres including Karamoja Sub-region as one of the catchment areas.
Phase III will also have spinoff inceptions of mega business as a sustainability strategy for the participating Religious Institutes to benefit the youth in terms of employment and support. Three (3) participating Religious Institutes were identified, vetted, and selected under tough selection criteria to pilot the mega business and they have submitted business plans.
The exciting story is the newly given personnel for creation of a functional Partnership and Employment Hub Office (PEHO). This would be linking not only the trained youths, but others to potential employers for job opportunities and internships.
The approved phase III has increased training centres from sixteen (16) to twenty-two (22) though in the same two Ecclesiastical Provinces of Gulu and Tororo. The inclusion of Karamoja sub-region has led to increased number of dioceses from seven (7) to nine (9).
This phase comes with a lot of gratitude to the technical team of Hilton Foundation who keenly reviewed the proposal with interest and gave it a positive consideration. It will be implemented for three years (2026 – 2029).
