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Background – Uganda is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. The average daily income hovers below one dollar a day. While 40 per cent of the population in the south are living below the poverty line, in the north this figure rises as high as 70 per cent. A large proportion of young people in Uganda have received little or no formal schooling. Most of them are unemployed. They are being denied even the most basic, most practical vocational education and their chances of ever finding a paid job are very slim indeed.
 

The Project – Providing more young people with access to practical vocational training and thus to the job market; this is the goal of a project that Swisscontact, working closely with a variety of local partners, is implementing in the districts of Mbale and Iganga. One example has been that young women have been given the opportunity to learn their trade from fully qualified hairdressers and barbers in actual saloons. For those who have mastered the practical skills, Swisscontact provides access to courses in business administration, thus enabling them to open up their own saloons soon afterwards. The courses take place close to where the participants are living. This means that there is no need for them to leave their social and cultural environment, which thus makes training and education even more accessible. The skills are being taught to meet local demand. In the countryside, there is a heavy emphasis on agricultural skills; in urban areas, the emphasis is on manual vocations. The project is particularly keen to foster communities in which no training and educational opportunites have previously existed. The goal is to motivate women to make up 30 percent of the participants. By the end of 2010, 1,000 graduates will be working either independently, as self-employed operators, or in newly created jobs. Each of their steps out of poverty will represent an opportunity for many others and serve as an example for them all.