Youth in conflict torn Northern Uganda are being offered vocational and life skills through a new project implemented by the Commonwealth Secretariat.
A news release from the Commonwealth Youth Affairs Division says the first phase of the Northern Uganda Youth Development Project will transfer agricultural skills to young people affected by the conflict. Courses in tailoring, carpentry, brick-laying, hair dressing, and other skills will follow.
The director of the Secretariat's Youth Affairs Division, Fatimah Serour, says the scheme aims at ensuring that vulnerable youth become productive in order to lead normal and profitable lives in their communities. She says it will target disadvantaged youth, such as the internally displaced, youth out of school and those who have lost educational and employment opportunities due to extreme poverty and the conflict.
The local manager of the project, Joseph Okema says that the youth have already harvested some 40 bags of rice from the model farm at their Koro Lapainat base in northern Uganda. He says that the youth are trained in planting methods, selection of viable seeds and planting materials, mulching and other skills.
