Life skills training restores hope for refugees, women in host districts

As a girl, she wished to be self-reliant. But due to the circumstances around her, Ms Nyiransabimana decided to get married to a South Sudanese man with the hope that he would take up the responsibilities of taking care for herself.

But due to political instabilities in South Sudan, Ms Nyiransabimana together with her family fled to Uganda for refugee.

“From the camp I am placed under category three, these are the people who are not given any support, you need to struggle yourself in order to survive,” she said.

“But when a friend of mine came and informed me about the GROW project that is skilling the women, I took interest and said to myself let me join,“ she told Monitor in an interview.

In refugee host districts in Northern Uganda where challenges often overshadow opportunities, Nyiransabimana said she decided to upgrade on her tailoring skills to be able to contribute to her family’s household income.

“Before I left to come and enroll for this program, my major interest was on two major things. One was to learn how to write measurements in English and to get a certificate,” she said.

“Because that certificate is going to help me a lot. For instance at times I would be given an opportunity from organizations to train women with a tailoring course but because of lack of a certificate, the opportunity would be given to someone else,” she added.

For the women, the skilling progamme is a ray of hope as the government enrolls women and single mothers in refugee host districts to upgrade their skills in tailoring, hairdressing, liquid soap making, soap making and bakery.

In Northern Uganda, the World Bank has provided funding under the Generating Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women Enterprises (GROW) to Private Sector Foundation, and Ministry of Gender, Labor, and Social Development to work with implementing partners like Northern Uganda Women’s Network for Business Development, (Nuwebiz) to provide entrepreneurial services to women businesses to support them to scale up to Small and Medium Enterprises. 

About 300 single and teen mothers were passed out last week after completing a three months training at Nuwebiz center in Lira City.

According to Sharon Nagenyjwa Okello, the Executive Director of Nuwebiz Foundation, the training sessions provided intensive instruction and hands-on experience to the participants.

“The GROW Project is about supporting women in business to grow in their different fields of business. It is important to equip them with the right skills in their line business for them to make quality products, which will in turn grow their market for profitability,” says Ms Okello.

She says now that the 300 women have completed this program, a new cohort will be enrolled to ensure a continuous cycle of skill development and opportunity for women in the region.

“The project will not only address the immediate need for economic empowerment among women in refugee host districts but also underscores the importance of collaboration between government, private sector, and non-profit organizations in driving positive change,” she added.

Adding that “By investing in the skills and potential of women, NUWEBIZ Foundation and its partners are not only transforming individual lives but also laying the foundation for stronger, more resilient communities,”.

Agents of change

The trainees believe that they are no longer confined by the chains of poverty but are empowered mothers with a vision to emerge as agents of change, inspire hope by training other teens and single mothers.

 “Now that I have gotten professional skills in tailoring, I will teach more women because I know how to do measurements in English perfectly,” she said.

“I will be able to teach them well without mixing French, Kinyanrwanda and Arabic. I will now use English only,” Ms Nyiransabimana added.

Ms Godrine Joy, a single mother of three from Mayaka, Madi-Okollo District said ”I know with the training I have gone through is going to improve my life.”

“This course it’s going to take me definitely to another level. Am so happy with the empowerment they have given to us women,” she added.

Ms Rebecca Kukundakwe, the Gender specialist at Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) said “We are training women. We are going to give them business management skills, access to capital and then they will have opportunity to access production facilities.”

“Not to just produce 20 liters of liquid soap but to be able to produce in tones since they will be able to access state of art equipment and facilities and then we go ahead and provide them with call business development services, such as branding among others,” Ms Kukundakwe said.

She added that apart from skilling these women, under the GROW project the PSFU in partnership with the government will also help these business women to certify their products with Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS).

“A quality mark which can enable them to compete on the market and sell their products even outside Lango Sub-region.in Uganda even outside the country,” she added.

Uganda has one of the youngest populations in the world with 78% of the population below the age of 35 years old according to UNICEF U-Report 2022.

Uganda has very high unemployment rate standing at 4.30% in 2022 with women unemployment rate standing at 4.86 percent  according to World Bank Report titled ‘Uganda Jobs Strategy for Inclusive Growth’,

 An average 661,129 new Ugandans enter the labor market every year. This number is expected to double to 1,024,649 new entrants every year between 2030 and 2040.