From 16th to 18th December 2025, the Uganda Rural Development and Training Institute (URDT-I) held a strategic engagement with district technical staff from 20 districts and four refugee settlements to strengthen collaboration under the Sustainable Inclusive Youth Employment Pathways (SIYEP) project.
The engagement brought together technical teams from local governments in districts where the project is being implemented and focused on enrolling them as key partners in the five-year initiative, which will run until 2030.
SIYEP is a women-focused initiative aimed at skilling 50,000 young women aged 18 to 35 years. The project equips beneficiaries with both soft and technical skills to support their successful transition into dignified, fulfilling, and sustainable employment. The meeting also provided a platform for structured discussions on co-developing joint strategies between URDT Institute and local governments to enhance skills development and improve employment outcomes for young women.
According to the SIYEP Project Manager, Akinyi Prilla, the program is being implemented in a consortium arrangement, led by Agency For Accelerated Regional Development (AFARD), together with other 6 partners under the Young Africa Works Strategy.
The project is being maintained in the same districts and refugee settlements where the previous phase was implemented. These include Kagadi, Kibaale, Kakumiro, Mubende, Kassanda, Mityana, Kyegegwa, Kyenjojo, Kabarole, Kasese, Ntoroko, Bundibugyo, Kamwenge, Kikuube, Hoima, Kiboga, Kyankwanzi, Kiryandongo, Buliisa, and Masindi, as well as the refugee settlements of Kyangwali, Kiryandongo, Kyaka II, and Rwamwanja.
Prilla says that under the SIYEP consortium arrangement, URDT Institute targets to train 50,000 young women, including 7% refugees and 5% young women with disabilities. The project aims to enable 90% of the trained beneficiaries to access work opportunities, with at least 70% securing decent and fulfilling jobs by 2030. These outcomes will be achieved by strengthening local institutions, developing individual skills, and improving access to capital and markets.
Ms. Akinyi Prilla and Mr. Robert Katabazi sharing the overview of the SIYEP program during the workshop at New Fort View Resort in Fort Portal City
Dr. Mwalimu Musheshe, the URDT-I chairman board, explained that the organization employs a community-based training model known as the Satellite Approach. This strategy involves training young women within their own communities through artisans and agribusiness practitioners who use their farms and workshops as training centres and practical learning laboratories.
He further noted that the training under SIYEP emphasizes both technical and soft skills. The soft skills component includes entrepreneurship, mindset change, systems thinking, systems dynamics, and financial literacy, among others. The program also adopts a two-generation approach, where parents and spouses are trained alongside young women to promote a shared vision and mutual support. This engagement takes place at least once every month.
Mwalimu highlighted that many young women are currently engaged in risky and undefined livelihoods such as prostitution, frequenting bars, early marriages, and migration abroad in search of greener pastures often under poor and exploitative working conditions. He emphasized the need for continuous skilling to unlock young women’s potential and drive sustainable community transformation.
During the engagement, district local government staff expressed strong interest in being enrolled in mindset change training to enhance their interaction with young women and communities during project implementation. They committed themselves to full participation and support for the success of SIYEP, noting that the project directly addresses critical development needs within their districts.
URDT Institute has a strong track record in youth empowerment, having supported the holistic skilling of over 70,000 young people for dignified work across various communities.
Dr. Mwalimu Musheshe and the district technical staff of Kakumiro during the workshop at Prime Rose Hotel in Mubende
By Charles Agaba-DCO
