TRAINING OF YOUTH GROUP LEADERS AND CHILD MOTHERS IN LEADERSHIP & ADVOCACY

Recently, ACFODE organized a two days training workshop in Leadership and Advocacy for youth group leaders and child mothers in Apac district. The activity was implemented in line with the Nurturing Young Trees to make a Thick Forest project that is being implemented by ACFODE in partnership with ACORD, APPCAN, and VSO with support from Comic Relief.

The training; which took place from the 6th to the 7th of March 2012 brought together a total of 12 participants of which 6 were child mothers and 6 were youth group leaders; some of which were from Akokoro Sub County and the others from the Town council.

Its main objective was to empower participants with skills in leadership and advocacy so that they are able to effectively engage in monitoring service delivery processes in the district. Youth and child mothers were targeted specifically because this unique category of people has been left out in a number of development initiatives.

During the training, participants were exposed to a number of skills in regard to leadership and advocacy, and with information that would enable them to ably participate and benefit from development initiatives like NUSAF 11, NAADs, and the PRDP among others.

They commended the initiative/ project since it presented them with the opportunity of participating in, and benefiting from numerous development initiatives. One of the participants (a child mother) by the names of Acen Scovia confessed that there has never been any development program targeting child mothers particularly and was therefore very grateful to ACFODE and other project partners for taking special interest in them regardless of the fact that they had been rejected by many in their local communities.

Some of the issues that emerged during the training include; lack of development programs that specifically target the youth, and also ignorance about available opportunities. They also requested for more trainings in other areas like conflict management, networking, and proposal development among others.

NB: This project seeks to promote peace, reintegration and the protection of children and youth affected by the prolonged conflict in Acholi and Lango sub-regions in Northern Uganda. It focuses on improving protection and legal services for the children, providing sustainable alternative livelihoods opportunities to child mothers, effectively engaging youth with duty bearers, and also increasing the capacity of key actors to address the needs of children and youth in conflict affected areas.

Compiled by
Ofwono Salume
Project Officer – ACFODE
Nurturing Young Trees to Make a Thick Forest
Email: ofsalume@yahoo.com