Self Help Africa’s Youth Project Nominated for Prestigious Award

Self Help AfricaDevelopment Education, News, Uganda

Self Help Africa’s MANZO Youth Empowerment Project (MAYEP) has been shortlisted for a prestigious award that promotes entrepreneurship in education in Africa.

The four-year scheme, which is seeking to provide training, technical skills and wider employment opportunities for 3,000 young people in the remote West Nile region of Uganda is amongst the short-listed contenders for the annual Teach A Man To Fish Pan-African Award for Entrepreneurship in Education.

The four-year project, which started in 2016, is providing training, technical skills and wider employment opportunities for 3,000 young people living in the remote West Nile region of Uganda.

To date, 1,500 young people in the Maracha, Nebbe and Zombo Districts have received farm and business training, with 900 of  them also receiving ‘agri starter kits,’ including improved quality seed, watering cans and drip irrigation kits, and other equipment with which they can establish their own small horticultural plots.

In order to develop the job creation potential of the initiative, MAYEP is supporting the establishment of local partnerships with agri-processors, traders and buyers with whom participants can conduct business. The scheme links rural youth in West Nile with business networks, and has strengthened institutional and political support for youth development.

MAYEP is promoting ‘peer to peer’ learning – with 424 of the 3,000 who have enrolled having received some level of agricultural/vocational training they are encouraged to pass on to others.  The project is aiming to support one-third of the total participants (1,000 young people) to attend agricultural training college.

MAYEP is also encouraging young people to have the confidence to embrace leadership responsibilities within their own communities. Half of all of those who are enrolled with the project are young women.