We empower marginalized youth, especially teenage mothers and out-of-school girls in Kasese, Uganda, with vocational skills in fashion, carpentry, and photography combined with business training and mentorship to build sustainable livelihoods, foster resilience, and drive gender-equitable community development.
In Kasese District, youth, especially girls, face severe challenges like early pregnancy, school dropouts, and unemployment, perpetuating poverty. With 68% of girls not completing primary school and 64% of teenage mothers unable to return, formal economic systems exclude them. Vocational centers are often inaccessible or inadequate for young mothers, limiting their skills, tools, and mentorship, thus hindering employment/entrepreneurship and community engagement.
The Empowering Futures Programme empowers out-of-school youth via a skills-first, creativity-driven solution. It offers professional training in Fashion & Design, Carpentry & Design, and Photography, plus entrepreneurship workshops. Youth build confidence through storytelling, exhibitions, and access to mentorship, materials, and market connections. This holistic, co-designed model, successful in pilot, is ready for replication and scale to foster sustainable enterprise pathways.
The program's long-term impact includes 85% of participants demonstrating vocational/creative competency, and 70% reporting improved confidence/agency. It aims for 50+ youth-led businesses, positive community perception shifts, breaking poverty cycles, equipping for sustainable livelihoods, strengthening gender equality, and fostering youth-driven innovation/economic resilience.
