The huge population of rural youth in Wakiso, Uganda have a phenomenal potential to implement change in their communities. The Centre for Youth Driven Development Initiatives wants to empower these youth through education to be agents of change in their own communities. By implementing a Health & Computer Literacy Camp, we will provide a safe space to educate youth in the fields of health and computer literacy, and give them the leadership skills to engage other youth as Peer Education Leaders.
Extra-curricular engagement & education opportunities are difficult to find in Uganda, especially rurally. Education focusing on health, computer literacy & research skills are often limited to a school's resources and already overloaded staff; therefore, these topics can be neglected in the classroom. Prevalence of unemployment, school drop-outs, malnutrition, & insufficient sexual & reproductive health significantly affects youth. Our camp aims to address all of these issues through education.
Through implementing a camp during the school holidays, this project will expand on students' health & computer education focusing on nutritional, dental, sexual, & reproductive health, as well as reading, critical thinking, computer, internet, leadership, & organisational skills. The participants will be trained as part of our Youth Leadership Team in order to extend our education projects as year-long peer educators. This will keep the flow of knowledge continual, holistic, & community driven.
Our past camp succeeded in training 20 youth from 5 secondary schools. This group meets regularly at the CFYDDI library to learn from their peers, to discuss & share health information, to read books & to research the internet. These leaders share information at their schools & in their communities regarding crucial community development issues, including entrepreneurship, health, digital inclusion & gender equity. Thus the more youth we can train, the more they & their communities will benefit!
This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).
