In April 2024 we launched our Vocational Training project with Uganda partner, TA Crusade, to delivery skills training to 135 individuals across eight different trades. As this 12 month project draws to a close, the graduates will move onto our Transition to Work project commencing in May 2025. They will receive support and guidance in preparing for employment, from CV writing and interview skills to preparing business plans and accessing job-finding services. Participants will gain the skills and confidence to build their own enterprises, or enter the formal job market.
With an estimated population 48.6 million people (UNFPA), Uganda ranks 166 out of 189 in the 2023 Human Development Index. The UN dashboard of key socio-economic metrics records high rates of child marriage and a third of young women bearing children before the are 18. Almost half of all students drop out of school as they finish primary education, and latest data from the International Labour Organisation indicates that 30% of youth are not in employment, education, or training.
In Nakifuma County, where our project is located, young men and women have been hit hard by the economic impact of COVID 19 and the subsequent effects of inflation driven by the war in Ukraine. The slow recovery of the post-pandemic economy has been exacerbated by rocketing prices, especially for fuel. Lockdown regulations at the height of the pandemic led to many workers in the informal economy losing their income and a large number of small enterprises closing. Those lucky enough to run small business, have watched their capital and savings evaporate and have been forced to deploy other strategies to cope, depleting their future economic capacity. Workers who lost their livelihoods and new labour market entrants are looking for jobs in a changed labour market. Competition is fierce, and opportunities are few.
As our vocational training project graduates transition to work they face many challenges: high competition for jobs, lack of work experience, a limited customer base and start-up capital are significant obstacles for securing employment or self-employment. This project will help graduates navigate these obstacles and support them as they put their theoretical knowledge into practice to launch their own businesses.
Graduates in Tailoring, Auto-mechanics, Masonry, Welding, Plumbing, Hairdressing, Catering and Electrical Installation will receive top up vocational training to plug any gaps in their core trade skills. They will be introduced to core business concepts that are critical for success, including calculating costs, profit and loss, marketing and customer care. Trainees will be supported in preparing for formal employment, through high quality career guidance and job-finding services, direct employment linkages with local businesses and mentorship.
Crucially, trainees will receive a business start-up grant to help them get their enterprises up and running. In order to secure these grants, graduates must commit to delivering an agreed piece of work to benefit their community.
TA Crusade will conduct monthly visits to trainees, to provide a troubleshooting service and offer advice to graduates if they have difficult orders to manage or if they have aspects of their business management they need help with.
A customer enjoying his meal in the restaurant
During their vocational training, our graduates visited successful businesses relevant to their trade to see first-hand the day to day running of a major enterprise. This provided the opportunity to network, experience first-hand the different facets of a business including production, merchandizing and display, marketing and promotion, staffing, customer service and retailing.
Plumbing and Electrical Installation graduates gained on-site work experience by repurposed a building on the TA Crusade campus to create an on-site creche facility. This will support trainees and other members of the community with meeting childcare needs.
Masonry and Plumbing trainees have repurposed an additional space as a restaurant. As part of a planned pathway towards starting their own business, Catering trainees have used the restaurant to prepare meals on a commercial basis for the training centre users and wider community.
Trainees have supported community organisations, refining and showcasing their skills and providing valuable resources for the local community. Tailoring graduates produced 650 Reusable Sanitary pads for four Community Primary Schools, and Welding graduates made twenty bunk beds for the training centre hostels as part of their work experience.
Towards the end of training, graduates formed small business groups, and each group received a start-up kit with core tools for their respective trade.
Through this project positive change is expected in the following areas:
• Participants will move from little or no employment into regular income generating employment.
• Participants will use business resources to secure and grow their business.
• Participants will start reporting increased confidence in their business practices.
• Participants will regularly use the learned business skills in daily operations.
• Businesses will start to show increased income over the project life cycle.
• Businesses will report increasing customers and/or clients over the project life cycle.
• Individual participants will report greater financial resilience and improved well-being.
In October 2024, 122 individuals graduated from our previous Transition to Work project with TA Crusade. At the end of the 12-month period, the following outcomes were recorded:
Employment Rate: 16% of graduates secured employment within 6 months of program completion.
Entrepreneurship Success: 80% of graduates started their own businesses, creating jobs for others.
Increased Earnings: Average salary increase of 30% for employed graduates.
Improved Skills: 90% of graduates reported enhanced skills in their field.
Networking: 80% of graduates established have established professional networks.
From their initial vocational training (which began in 2022) to reaching the end of their Transition to Work project, all graduates reported increased earnings, crossing the International poverty line. The average income of Transition to Work graduates working in business groups was: 450,000 -1,000,000 UGX /month. For graduates working alone, the average income was 350,000 – 500,000 UGX per month. The equivalent earnings in Pounds Stirling are represented below.
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May 2025
