YOUTH PROGRAMS

Background

The Youth Department of Comboni Samaritans of Gulu was formerly known as “Youth Alive with Jesus”. The Department was started in 1994 by Rev. Sr. Dr. Dorina Tadiello to create awareness on HIV/AIDS prevention. The major aim of the department then was to enable young people develop a positive behavior and lifestyle in order to stay safe from HIV/AIDS. The main emphasis was that the youth should not only be alive, but be alive with Jesus, and that their life was to reflect Christian ideals. It was the third department to be created in the organization after Education Department.

The initial goal of the department was then to enable young people develop positive behaviors and lifestyles so as to respond positively to the challenges of life, including HIV/AIDS, spirituality, and Socio–economic challenges.

Targets

The Youth program targets the sexually active youth (boys and girls between 15-35 years of age who are most at risk of HIV infection) through a behavior change program, termed “education for life”. “Education for life” uses a musical band, dances, and drama as a strategy for creating awareness about HIV/AIDS, its transmission, prevention, and care. These targeted youths include both in school and out of school youths.

Activities

At the moment, the department is implementing economic activities under Fondazione4Africa (F4A) project with funding from Italy through Good Samaritan Onlus. The F4A project started in October 2008 to support mainly the rural youths. The youth program provides income-generating activities to empower the youth economically in order to reduce HIV infections arising out of economic vulnerability. It is carrying out peace-building and reconciliation activities through peace activists (PAs), forming youth groups (YGs) to transform youth into peace agents in the Acholi Sub-region (a region fresh from two long decades of devastating LRA orchestrated war). This region is also partly responsible for the heavy HIV prevalence as Uganda strives to recover from the effects of the war under the Development framework of Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP).

Area of Intervention: Gulu, Nwoya, and Amuru Districts of northern Uganda.

Specific activities of the Department include but not limited to:

  1. Education for Life awareness campaign
  2. Economic support to youth groups through Micro Credit and agricultural support
  3. Community sensitization for individuals to assess their health status through Voluntary Counseling and Testing -VCT
  4. MDD exhibitions for creation of awareness on peaceful conflict resolution
  5. Games and Sports gala
  6. Community dialogue
  7. Trainings on:
    • Peace and Reconciliation
    • Business Ethics/skills
    • Land Rights

Goal

To support the Peace Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) of the Government of Uganda (GoU) through rehabilitation of voluntary return of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to their villages of origin, resettlement and reintegration of former LRA fighters, and demobilized Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) soldiers into their communities.

Objectives

    1. Promote peace-building initiatives targeting youth beneficiaries on health issues
    2. Promote peace-building initiatives targeting the youth members of the economic groups and their communities
    3. Provide support to coordinate Peace and Reconciliation activities under District Reconciliation and Peace Team (DRPT)

Youth Project Activities

    1. Spiritual counselling, Training on the value of life, bible sharing, attending daily morning prayer, continious monitoring & follow up of the 20 youth, food provision, Health support.
    2. Provision of Hygiene needs like sanitary towels bathing soap, clothes tooth paste etc
    3. Career guidance to the youth along the trade selected. (Tailoring motor cycle mechanics motor cycle mechanics)
    4. Identification of the training needs, continuous monitoring & follow up of the youth both from home and at the training sites.
    5. Identification of the training sites and Placement of the youth in the different training sites.
    6. Distribution of startup kit for the who have completed their training, Family tracing, Family meeting/dialoged Family re union, one on one counselling, Group counseling, Training on behaviors change, stake holders meeting
    7. Basic training on business skills, basic knowledge in income generating activities, continuous monitoring & follow up of the youth.