The 2017 RAHU Annual Report

2017

ANNUAL REPORT

There is no greater joy than seeing our children become better citizens passionate about transforming their communities. I would like to thank Reach A Hand Uganda for choosing the young people of Bugamba for giving them a purpose and an opportunity to exploit their potential�

GEORGE RUSHEGERA Chairperson LC I Bugamba Sub-county, Mbarara District

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What a year 2017 has been! One of opportunity, growth, trepidation, reflection and resolve. The team’s tenacity in dealing with the upheavals of the year and seizing the many opportunities has been nothing short of praiseworthy. The team being one of creative, hardworking, and devoted young people, and their zeal to support each other and other young people to make informed choices in life is overwhelmingly exciting. In 2017, we made good progress in becoming a better balanced organization as we made headway in delivering on a range of initiatives aimed at bettering the lives of young people.

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRPERSON, ADVISORY BOARD

The environment is not new to us, and our tried and tested strategy is ensuring we focus on those areas where we can deliver exceptional outcomes for young people while fully acknowledging their environs, circumstances and life challenges, many of which are either financial or/and sexual reproductive health related. In pursuit of these positive outcomes, the team and network of peer educators have continued to thrive under the guidance of my colleagues on the Advisory board. When the sleeves are rolled up and the work is on, it is easy to forget the overall goal and why you started; but this team has not forgotten. The members of the advisory board have done well to keep them grounded while looking forward to the overall vision of Reach A Hand.

Because of this tenacity, we are closer to our strategic objectives; we are in more districts this year - 25 - and we will continue to expand. Our reach to young people continues to grow, our organizational structures continue to advance, our implementation continues to cater for the young person and our funding portfolio has grown. Our only duty is to continue to do better, to learn and to improve.

CHAIRPERSON, REACH A HAND UGANDA ADVISORY BOARD

Many thanks to the team for their outstanding leadership and to all of the peer educators for carrying forth the organization’s outstanding legacy and enduring commitment to serving young people. It is with great pride and accomplishment that on behalf of the board, I present to you RAHU’s 2017 Annual Report. Enjoy!

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G O V E R N A N C E

RAHU ADVISORY BOARD

OMUK. JOSEPH KIGOZI Advisory Board Chairperson

DR. ENID MBABAZI

DR. NABOTH COOLE Advisory Board Member

RACHEAL ACHEN MONICA Advisory Board Member

Advisory Board Member

REVEREND RICHARD RUKUNDO Advisory Board Member

DR. CHRISTINE MBABAZI MPYANGU Advisory Board Member

SENGONZI SULAIMAN MBUGA Advisory Board Member

JESSICA RWAMI Advisory Board member

TWESIGYE JACKSON KAGURI Advisory Board Member

GWEN KATEGAYA Advisory Board Member

KATEREGGA EMMANUEL Advisory Board Member

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FOREWARD FROM THE TEAM LEADER On 3rd January as we ushered in the new class of 2017.

The young people who would be the cohort of the 2017 Peer Educators’ Academy burst in with a vibrance and yearning for different knowledge, unique experiences and new friendships. In spite of having done this for a while, with each new year there is a renewed energy that excites the whole team and fires us up.

Young people today feel the pinch of many challenges; high unemployment levels, teenage pregnancy, HIV/ AIDS, all kinds of violence including sexual gender based violence, and unfavourable policies, the list goes on.

These have often affected young people’s potential and momentum. However, the same young people have exhibited a high level of resilience, the ability to move forward and navigate these challenges and to forge a future for themselves. That’s why, as fellow young Ugandans, we continue tirelessly to support others by seeking out and empowering more young people through our various programmes and projects aimed at enabling them to make informed decisions This annual report is prepared in the spirit of hope and in the face of immense youth challenges, to highlight young people’s efforts, achievements and contribution to their goals, and how RAHU is working to ensure that this becomes a possibility for all.

Wherever I travel around the country, I realise that young people have big plans for the future. Many dream of building livelihoods in the formal sector and others would like to build their talents to progress in sports, the arts, music, the list is long. Some are doing a combination of jobs to provide for themselves and their families.

a significant difference. Recently, RAHU has seen a tremendous growth not only in terms of geographical scope, but also the ever increasing number of young people we are reaching and impacting through our different interventions.

We believe that full empowerment of young people will be attained when they have access to the right, correct and accurate information on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), and livelihood opportunities.

Through reviving the Young Achievers Awards this year, since it was last held in 2013, we identified, recognised and awarded 9 Young Achievers through this initiative.

We engaged and empowered in and out of school young people through dialogues, peer learning sessions, and the iKnowKati HIV/Awareness concerts to mention a few.

I welcome you to take a look at our 2017. If you see anything you appreciate, do let us know. Likewise, where there is need for improvement, flag it to us. We’re open to learn and grow. #YoungPeopleForYoungPeople

In many cases, the young people of today are already becoming the leaders and social innovators of tomorrow, contributing to local, national, and international communities in a myriad of important ways. What the world becomes is in their hands, and with the right guidance, assistance, information, skills and investment, they have a chance to shape it in ways that can make

Humphrey Nabimanya TEAM LEADER, REACH A HAND UGANDA

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MEET THE TEAM

1.

HUMPHREY NABIMANYA Team Leader

7.

SHARON BANURA WINYI Partnerships Manager

13. VICTOR MUKOSYA

Transport Officer

2.

GILBERT BEYAMBA Chief of Staff

8.

AMUTUHAIRE HELEN PATRICIA Communications & Advocacy Officer

14. MORGAN KAMOGA

Transport Officer

3.

DAPHNE ASIIMWE Finance Manager

9.

IBRAHIM NKONGE Programmes Officer

15. JOYCE BABIRYE

Welfare and Hospitality

4.

JANET KUKUNDAKWE Finance Officer

10. SYLVESTER EGUMIRE NNYOMBI

Communications & Advocacy Officer

5.

MAUREEN ANDINDA Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning Manager

11. BASHIR KABUYE

Programs Officer

6.

IBRAHIM BATAMBUZE WAISWA Communications & Advocacy Manager

12. TABITHA AKELLO

Administrative Assistant

16. EZRA MUTEGEYA

Office Assistant

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VISION OUR

“Young people making informed choices in life” Our vision reminds us everyday that it is the young person we’re doing this for. We aim to live in a world where every young person is able to make life choices fully backed by the availability of information.

RE AC H A H AN D UGANDA 2 017 A N N UA L R EP ORT R EAC H A H A N D U G A N DA 2 01 7 A N N UA L R E P O RT R E AC H A HAND UGANDA

REAC H A HA N D U G A N DA 2 017 ANNUAL RE P O RT

CONTENT

R EACH A HA N D UGA N DA 201 7 AN N UA L REPORT

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WH O WE ARE

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A S NAPS H OT O F 201 7 RE S ULTS

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O UR H ANDPRINT

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TO P H IG H LIG H TS FO R 201 7

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INT E RVIE W O N T H E 201 7 ACT IVIT IE S & PROJ E CTS

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O UR PART NE RS

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OUR F INA N C I A L S

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PICTO RIAL OF 201 7 ACT IVITIES

BE CONSCIOUS OF THE FACT THAT YOU ARE SPECIAL. DO NOT LET ANYBODY MAKE YOU FEEL LESS OF YOURSELF.

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WHO WE ARE

Reach A Hand Uganda (RAHU) is a youth led and youth serving organization premised on youth empowerment programs centered around Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights for young people, HIV/AIDS awareness and preventions, Behavioural Change Communication and livelihoods and skills development. Targeting a cross section of 12 - 24 year old young people in and out of school, RAHU designs programs, activities and campaigns that put young people at the forefront of their growth and their societal change.

RAHU’S FOUNDATION IS ESTABLISHED ON THE VALUES OF:

Youth Driven

Transparency and Openness

Appreciation for diversity

WHAT WE DO • • • • • •

Peer Education Outreach programs (school and community) Dialogues (community and national level) Media advocacy (digital and mainstream) Reproductive Health services referrals Advocacy

Teamwork

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Partnerships with

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A SNAPSHOT OF 2017 RESULTS

New Health Centers in Wakiso, Tororo, Mbarara, Moroto, Mbale, Kampala, Lira, Jinja and Kabale.

8,856

905

867

112

715

HIV tests conducted

Family Planning counseling sessions conducted

Family planning services provided

Peer Educators trained at the Peer Educators Academy

Young people hosted during the Annual Youth Health Camp

SAUTI Plus Electronic referral system piloted in 9 health centers in Mbarara district.

Hosted the 2017 Young Achievers’ Awards

Supported 35 nominees and winners with Legal advisory services for their businesses.

Online media reach in numbers

896,622 Users reached through Facebook

133,060 Users reached through Twitter

12,654 21,314

Users reached through Youtube

Users reached through Instagram

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OUR HANDPRINT Each year we continue to expand our reach to more parts of Uganda seeking out young people in different settings and communities. In 2017, we carried out interventions in 33 districts. Take a look at our presence.

Karamoja Region : Eastern Region : Western Region : Central Region : Northern Region :

Amudat, Moroto, Abim, Kaabong, Kotido, Napak, Nakapiripirit Mayuge, Butaleja, Iganga, Jinja, Amuria, Katakwi, Kapchorwa, Bududa Mbarara, Kabale Kampala, Mukono, Wakiso, Nakaseke, Mpigi, Luwero, Kayunga Lira, Agago, Kitgum, Lamwo, Amuru, Adjumani, Moyo, Yumbe, Arua

Kaabong Lamwo

Yumbe Moyo

Kitgum Amuru Arua

Kotido

Adjumani Agago

Moroto Abim

Lira Napak Amudat Amuria Kapchorwa Nakapiripit Katakwi Bududa Butaleja

Nakaseke Luwero

Kayunga

Jinja

Wakiso Mukono

Mpigi

Mbarara

Kabale

Kampala

Iganga

Mayuge

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2017 ANNUAL REPORT

YOUNG ACHIEVERS’ AWARDS

TO P HIGHLIGH T S

F O R 20 1 7

U DECIDE

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PEER EDUCATORS

YOUTH CAMP

IKNOW KATI SAUTI CARD

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INTERVIEW ON THE 2017 ACTIVITIES AND PROJECTS

IBRAHIM WAISWA BATAMBUZE

MAUREEN ANDINDA

Monitoring Evaluation and Learning Manager

Communications and Advocacy Manager

WHAT HAS 2017 BEEN LIKE FOR YOU? THIS YEAR HAS BEEN ONE OF REFLECTION, LEARNING, A TEST OF OUR DEDICATION TO THE EMPOWERMENT OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN UGANDA. WHILE THERE HAVE BEEN NUMEROUS CHALLENGES, WE HAVE REGISTERED SIGNIFICANT WINS AND SUCCESSES IN THE 2017 BAG AND WE’RE PROUD OF THAT.

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How different was this year’s class of Peer Educators’ Academy?

The class this year brought a lot of enthusiasm and excitement which set a high pace for the month in general. Eager to pick on the different topics, the 112 participants (Peer Educators’ Academy and U-Decide peer educators) went from introductory sessions such as education through active listening, behavioural change communication, body changes, life skills, managing adolescence to contraception, Sexually Transmitted Infections, alcohol and substance abuse and online communication amongst others. This year’s academy strengthened further the aspect of on hands training. The participants underwent sessions that required them to actively participate, take up mock roles, visit organizations doing Sexual Reproductive Health programming all in an effort to provide a wholesome experience of learning. What did mirror past class experiences was the zeal for new networks and friendships from the young people. That’s always a plus!

During the Annual Youth Camp in May, they supported the core RAHU team in monitoring the 715 young people gathered at Hana International school. They conducted peer learning sessions on different Sexual Reproductive Health topics such as body changes, menstrual hygiene, alcohol and substance abuse, life skills training and effective communication. They further supported in the dorm monitoring and managing of young people.

While conducting community dialogues in the Karamoja and Eastern region districts, the peer educators were instrumental in conducting Besides training them, how did you integrate the peer educators in

learning sessions, coordinating the dialogues and making referral

your work?

linkages to young people who sought for reproductive health services.

The peer educators are squarely at the heart of our implementation.

This is why we have the Academy in January of every year. They set

Having online communication and digital media usage as a

the pace for all the years’ activities. In 2017, the thorough one month

hallmark of our interventions, peer educators who showed interest

training prepared them for diverse community and school activities.

in supporting on communications were given space to support

Key to note was their mobilization role during the “Love mu Kibanda”

the communications team with online information sharing in the

valentine’s day community outreach in Mayuge district, Eastern

way of tweet-up activities and online campaigns. A memorable

Uganda. During this activity, they had the opportunity to make use

tweet-up for 2017 was during a school activity for Voices for Health

of their active listening and learning session skills as learned. They

partners, Partners In Community Transformation (PICOT) where the

did this for the iKnow concerts that took place in Lira, Masaka, Kabale

communications team backed by peer educators supported in the

and Mbarara.

amplification of this activity on different online channels.

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During this time, the peer educators were able to exercise their knowledge during the community outreach in neighbouring Nsangi town where they undertook a clean up exercise with some of the camp participants. A highlight of the camp this year was the refreshing inspirational talks from the different speakers. These included; •

Dr. Maggie Kigozi – a medical doctor and successful entrepreneur.

•

Alain Sibenaler – the Country Representative for the United Nations Population Fund.

•

Humphrey Nabimanya – the Founder and Team Leader of Reach A Hand Uganda.

•

Dr. Christine Mbabazi Mpyangu – a lecturer at Makerere University

•

Dr. Naboth Coole – a lecturer at Makerere University and the President for Hope for Persons with Disabilities.

•

Chidinma Ekile – a celebrated musician and artist from Nigeria amongst others.

What community interventions did you undertake this year?

We conducted different community activities that included;

The Annual Youth Health camp this year was massive. How did that go?

community outreaches (Jinja, Mayuge), community dialogues (Mayuge, Iganga, Bududa, Butaleja, Katakwi, Kotido, Abim), table talks (Abim, Moroto, Kaabong, Katakwi, Kotido, Napak, Amuria), Tweet up

This was the biggest one yet. This year’s camp brought together 715 young people and participants from across East Africa (Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia, Ethiopia, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo) at Hana International School in a 5-day (7th – 13th May 2017) fun-filled and life skills development camp to promote life skills development, network building and information sharing to foster youth empowerment.

This year’s edition was organized under the theme, “Get Up, Speak Out” and it aimed at opening up doors and addressing barriers that limit young people from making informed choices in their lives in order to be productive members of society. It was highlighted by a series of life skills development sessions, inspiration speaking and Focused Group Discussions on reproductive health. We sought to inspire young people to take charge of their lives by participating in goal setting and working towards achievement of the set goals, to support them to build meaningful networks and collaborations and increase access to age - appropriate, culturally relevant and socially acceptable sexuality education information.

By having a myriad of activities the entire camp, we ensured the participants were engaged at all times. These included; aerobics every morning, peer learning sessions on Sexual Reproductive Health topics such as HIV, body changes, financial management and business skills development. The participants had opportunity to partake in their preferred sport or music and art sessions.

activities (Koboko, Kampala, Jinja, Mayuge).

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What is the Young Achievers’ Award about and why did you organize the awards this year?

understand the legal dynamics surrounding startups, how to access legal aid in the face of legal and regulatory challenges and the organizational aspects necessary for business growth. Noteworthy

The Young Achievers’ Awards is a youth-inspired and youth led

are the efforts of overall young achiever (Zilla Mary Arach) and

initiative which ran for 6 years (2009-2014) before taking a break.

Innovations and ICT winner (Gerald Otim) who were linked to Murfin

Under Reach A Hand, the awards returned this year and they focused

Inc. a frontier market investment company keen on socially driven

on creating opportunities for young people in line with Uganda’s

startups with a network of potential investors to enable them mobilize

Vision 2040 which is aimed at transforming the Ugandan society from

resources to further build their business. Mohammed Kisirisa, the

a peasant economy to a modern, industrialized, technologically

winner of the social entrepreneurship category received a scholarship

advanced and prosperous country through recognising, rewarding

to go to Oxford University funded by UniTED, one of the sponsors of

and celebrating outstanding youth in Uganda.

the Young Achievers Awards. We’re very excited for these strides by the winners and nominees and we look forward to using the awards

Founded by two young entrepreneurs, Awel Uwihanganye and Ivan

as a platform where other young innovators and entrepreneurs can

Kyambadde with the main objective of encouraging entrepreneurship

thrive even more.

and recognising innovation and excellence, the 2017 awards were generation of world leaders.

In your online activity, what was the campaign that resonated most with your audience?

Reach A Hand Uganda took up the mantle this year to organize the

While all of our campaigns stood out in a unique way because of the

awards because of its premise to support young people take control

diversity in the messages that they each focused on, the campaign

of their lives and present themselves in ways that inspire and spur

dubbed #DayOfTheGirlUg deeply resonated with the audience.

confidence in themselves and peers alike under the awards’ platform

Organized in celebration of the International Day of the girl child under

where they can access opportunities to take part in transforming

the theme, “Girls’ progress = Goals’ progress: Accelerating Vision 2040

their society and lives. True to this, the winners of this year’s awards

for the Ugandan girl”, this online campaign ably brought to light the

organized with this initial goal in mind as well as inspire the next

relevant issues that still affect the Ugandan girls to this date; such as teenage pregnancies and exposure to risky sexual behaviour.

received support funding from the President of Uganda, H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of UGX 5 million to support them in their respective ventures. Furthermore, 35 nominees including winners of the different categories were hosted to a legal summit organized in partnership with ENS Africa, one of the leading law firms in Africa. This, in an effort to provide legal knowledge to support this diverse of entrepreneurs

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Why was this the case?

While this campaign highlighted the pertinent issues, it further sought to exhibit the potential of the girl that can be harnessed when she accesses information on Sexual Reproductive Health, employment opportunities and education. The use of real life stories of girls whose lives were altered due to lack of information, an inadequate supportive environment that resulted into sexual abuse made this online campaign more compelling because a lot of the audience related it with it.

Cognizant of the fact that not all the stakeholders we’d like to reach with our message are online, in the development of our online campaigns, we identify ways through which the information we share on the various platforms can be redirected to other audiences that may not scroll and tap on their screens as often. This campaign was

Please explain what the SAUTIplus e-referral card system is.

no different. The team identified different journalists from various

This is a innovation that we developed in 2017 to enable us improve

media houses with whom these unique stories could be shared and

the tracking of referrals made for young people. It consists of an

they had them published in the wider national dailies and television

electronic card that uses technology to connect youth friendly

broadcasters. This strategy enabled the campaign to surpass the

health service centres to young people in need of the services while

confines of the online audience to reach a wider audience of people

maintaining confidentiality of the client and the services sought.

with the #DayOfTheGirlUg messages.

While it primarily supports in the real time tracking of services sought by young people, an underlying intention is to include and scale up the peer model by incorporating the component of entrepreneurship.

This means that the peer educators are empowered and skilled to buy reproductive health supplies like condoms and resell them thereby strengthening the community mobilization approach while they earn an income. They are trained to use the e-card system that they in turn market to the community. With a ratings system on the sautiplus website, the more a health centre gets referrals through the card, the more its ratings increase, to foster a strong monitoring component of young people accessing sexual reproductive health services at the health centre and further strengthen coordination of districts by working with the health units and committees.

The process of the e-referral card system involves 4 critical points that include; •

The mapping of partner health centres to identify those that match a checklist of requirements to be considered youth friendly.

•

Including them in the RAHU database of health centres to which the e-card will be connected.

•

Harmonizing the system at RAHU with the selected health centres (installation and training of health center staff and peer educators on usage of the system).

•

Receiving and use of the e-card; peer educators, RAHU office, health centres and beneficiaries (registration and insertion into the database).

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Are you excited for 2018?

Definitely! This year has set such a solid base for our 2018. There’s no doubt we’ll continue to iterate and improve on our interventions.

We’re excited to see how the SAUTIplus e-referral card system will be adopted and its potential for scale. Believing that iron sharpens iron, we are optimistic about the quality of nominations for next year’s Young Achievers’ Awards and how we can support our peers doing amazing things in their spaces. This year’s was exceptional so we’re confident it can only get better.

In the way of youth inclusion, we’re excited to work on a project that will highlight the untapped gem that people (especially young people) with disabilities have and why all institutions and facets of society should seek to be disability inclusive.

2018 will rock!

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I had always dreamt of creating a positive impact in my village and u-decide has helped me achieve this dream seeing as i’m helping young people in my village to take charge of their lives by equipping them with accurate SRH nformation and the skills they need to live responsible and healthy lives.

EMMANUEL FOKUSHABA A Peer Educator from Bugamba Sub-County.

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OUR PARTNERSHIPS Fully understanding and deeply respecting the need to identify those on a similar mission to ours, we are constantly on the lookout for partners that are uniquely diverse and are driven to achieve aspirations that will provide a possibility for young people. With this in mind, we have deliberately sought and attracted like-minded partners from all angles including strategic and alliance partners, implementing partners, corporate and media partners, and funding and development partners on a local, regional and international level.

The collaborative nature of our partnerships has contributed to developing better and innovative approaches and tools to addressing young people’s Sexual Reproductive Health and livelihoods issues across the country. We believe in developing, cultivating and strengthening partnerships that are geared towards addressing local challenges affecting young people.

ST R AT EG I C A N D A L L I A N C E PA R TN E R S

The Coalition to stop Maternal Mortality due to unsafe abortion Ministry of Education and Sports

Ministry of Health

I M P L E ME N TI N G PA R TN E R S

COR P OR AT E ME DI A A N D E N TE R TA I N M E N T

F U N D I N G PA R TN E R S

Good Business

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OUR FINANCIALS In 2017, we registered a steady growth in our funding portfolio (14 funding partners - 4 up from 10 in 2016) that saw organizational income grow from UGX 1.3 billion in 2016 to UGX 3.1 billion in 2017. We continue to seek out local partnerships and support in an effort to increase sustainability for our program interventions.

INCOME SUMMARY FOR 2017

FUNDING PARTNER

Global Living Institute

AMOUNT (UGX) 98,225,000

LOCAL/ INTERNATIONAL International

Population Services International

30,000,000

Local

UNESCO

138,270,000

Local

Rutgers (U-Decide)

177,118,000

International

172,875,000

International

379,418,167

International

Planned Parenthood Global (Voices for Health)

136,668,355

International

Planned Parenthood Global and Uganda Health Marketing Group (UHMG)

156,533,500

Local

United Nations Population Fund

356,886,274

Local

51,386,910

Local

Segal Family Foundation Rutgers (GUSO)

Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) and Right Here Right Now (RHRN) Women Deliver

18,000,000

Other grants

1,465,036,615

GRAND TOTAL

3,180,471,821

International Local

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OUR FINANCIALS

INTERNATIONAL

47.8% LOCAL

52.2%

EXPENDITURE SUMMARY CATEGORY OF EXPENDITURE

AMOUNT (UGX)

PERCENTAGE (%)

Program Costs

2,798,815,203

88%

Support Costs

381,656,618

12%

3,180,471,821

100%

TOTAL

CHANGE STORY EMPOWERING YOUNG PEOPLE TO SUPPORT THEIR PEERS THROUGH THE PEER EDUCATORS ACADEMY (PEA)

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CHANGE STORY Timothy was inspired to join RAHU through the Peer Educators Academy (PEA) during his last semester at the University, at a time when one of RAHU team leaders visited the University in the Entrepreneurship and Innovations class. It was during this meeting that he got to know about RAHU, and how the organization supports, engages and empowers young people to enable them realize their full potential. As a young person with ambitions and goals to develop his social enterprise, he realized this was an

T

imothy Arnold Ssessaazi, 25, a recent graduate of Makerere University from Kyotera Uganda, had no idea how he could go about empowering and addressing young people’s SRHR challenges not until he attended the Peer Educators Academy at Reach A Hand Uganda (RAHU). In a country with scarce opportunities, few young people get a shot at developing their skills to pursue their dreams more aggressively, whilst also empower their peers.

Before joining RAHU in the 2017 cohort of the Peer Educator Academy (PEA), he had no idea how he would go about his childhood dream of empowering vulnerable young people in his home village. But after joining RAHU, and the subsequent engagements, it proved a turning point in the pursuit of his dream;

Even when I registered Dreams of Tropical Youth (DRY), a community based organization with the district I did not have a direction on how to have things start out and progress. It was after my engagements with RAHU that my thinking was transformed to move forward.

opportunity for him to learn more about RAHU so that he could get exposed on how he could support his peers;

…Having started Dreams of Tropical Youth (DRY) in 2016, I felt that this was an opportunity for me to learn more about what this organization… When the semester ended, I visited Reach A hand offices and expressed my interest to work with them.

Timothy was later to be admitted to and participated in the 2017 Peer Educator Academy where he has been engaged in many RAHU activities in communities.

‘I received an email inviting me to apply to attend a “PrePlanning Youth Conference” at Golf Course Hotel. The next was an invitation to attend the Peer Educators academy which I did and then after the academy. I got involved with RAHU’s activities for the whole of 2017” Because of his promising and outstanding contribution to supporting young people, he has been recognized by RAHU with a “Leadership Award” for supporting and empowering young people in his communities of Kyotera.

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CHANGE STORY RAHU gave me a Leadership Award at the beginning of 2018 recognizing me for having founded Dreams of Tropical Youth (DRY), a youth-led non-profit community-based organization working towards the health wellbeing and empowerment of the vulnerable and unprivileged rural young people.

Through his organization, Timothy has received both technical and financial support from Reach A Hand Uganda (RAHU) that has enabled him support and empower more young people in his community.

The Peer Educator Academy empowered him to be an all round person, to empower and support young people to realize their Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), carry out community mobilization and behavior change communication, and through conducting peer learning sessions and dialogues with young people in and out of school and this enabled young people to make informed decisions about their lives;

I also got an opportunity to be exposed through meetings, conferences and built networks with very passionate, resourceful and like-minded young people who keep inspiring me.

Although Timothy was an intake of the 2017 Peer Educators class, RAHU has continuously engaged him after the academy finished due to his passion to support and empower young people. He’s one of the PEA alumnus that RAHU is always proud to have nurtured and mentored to become an agent of change in his community.

Why the story is most significant?

Timothy is one of the many young people out there with a lot of ambitions and dreams to fulfil, and despite the struggles before him and his peers in the community, he never gave up on his dream to start up a community-based organization.

His relentless pursuit of his dream has not only inspired his peers and several other young people, but has provided opportunities for young people to develop their skills and experience in empowering their peers in the communities they are living.

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PICTORIAL OF 2017 ACTIVITIES

PICTORIAL OF 2017 ACTIVITIES

PICTORIAL OF 2017 ACTIVITIES

Plot 7502, Block 244, Heritage Village (Kitaranga) Kansanga, on Kansanga - Ggaba Road P.O. Box 21288 Kampala, Uganda Tel: +256 414 697 037 Email: info@reachahand.org Web: www.reachahand.org