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I am now an example and testimony to my village mates. I lead fellow youth in becoming model citizens

My name is Kusiima Christine. I am 17 years old. I am a young mother. I live in Ibambiro village, Katanga Parish, Bugambe sub-county, Kikuube district. I was a student at Bugambe Tea primary school in primary six before schools got closed due to COVID-19. After two years of no school, I decided to find work in the Tea factory together with my friends who convinced me to forget about education. This pissed off my mother who told me to leave her home if I do not get back to school. I was not able to join school again.

To get work in the Tea factory, I had to lie about my age. I used to load and offload tea. This is around the same time I got into a relationship. I got pregnant, gave birth and this is when the father of the baby disappeared. The responsibility of looking after the baby fell all on me but I had lost the job at the Tea factory. I had to go back to my mother’s home.

When Nascent RDO enrolled our household in Ibambiro village, I was among the youth identified and got a chance to participate in Life skills training which helped me have new goals, desires and new ambitions. This motivated me to actively participate in the ACCEL-LIVES project activities like awareness creation on child labour and other various campaigns that empower children to stay in school.

I joined a youth VSLA group thanks to the ACCEL-PROJECT and started saving money. In fact, I was elected to be the group’s chairperson because of my mobilization skills. Through my leadership, we accumulated over 520,000 UGX in 5 months. I also enrolled in the projects skilling activities where I was a beneficiary. My interest was hair dressing which is what I largely do now for income.

I am now an example and testimony to my village mates. I lead fellow youth in becoming model citizens as well as guiding them in using their potential to have a better future, stop engaging in hazardous work, drug abuse, and abstain from sex to avoid pregnancies. My dream is to expand my saloon business into a leading beauty house in my village.

I thank Nascent RDO and ILO for bringing the ACCEL-LIVES project to my village. I wouldn’t be this strong without their support.

Quick facts

Project:

Livelihoods Enhancement, Education and Skilling as a pathway to eliminating child labour in Uganda (ACCEL - LIVES)

Period:

2021 - 2022, 1 Year

About:

Nascent RDO-U is collaboratively implementing this project in partnership with the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Ministry of Gender Labor and Social Development (MGLSD). The LIVES project is part of the larger programme titled "Accelerating Action for the Elimination of Child Labour in Supply Chains in Africa" Project (ACCEL Africa Project-Uganda). The goal of the LIVES Project is to provide direct support to project beneficiaries through their member-based organizations that shall include vulnerable men and women to diversify and enhance their livelihoods by accessing productive, welfare, and financial services and to children aged 14 - 17 supported in their school-to-work transition and referral of children to the formal education system.

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