40 SKILLED YOUTH PASSED OUT UNDER SUIDAC PROJECT IN ARUA CITY

The youth who completed the three months training posed for photos with their certificates with the city officials. Photo//Erema

By Erema George

Arua City

The first cohort of trainees under the Sustainable Urban Integration of Displacement-Affected Communities (SUIDAC), in Arua City have been passed out with the trainees expected to be productive as leaders advocate for more youth empowerment.

The 40 youth both refugee and nationals within the urban center who attained practical skills in catering and hotel management, hairdressing, fashion and design, artisan and poultry farming were trained for a period of three months in different apprenticeship centers from June this year.

Denis Asiku, the project focal person for Arua City says, with a budget of 11,000 euros, the project aims at supporting 200 youths in the age bracket of 15-24yrs with different skills. He confirms that the progress is not bad.

“The private sector base in West Nile is not yet developed, where we could put all these numbers in these centers so we are trying to do a cohort kind of skilling. So far 40 have completed the training, we are left with 160 and we are progressing well,” Asiku noted.

The SUIDAC project is being co-implemented by partner organizations such as West Nile CARD, CEFTRA WN, RIAD Uganda and GRTR with ACAV as the technical implementing partner.

The City Principal Community Development Officer of Arua, Godfrey Edema urged that, “We still have many outside there, I would try request the partners to continue working with us so that we skill these youth because Uganda’s population is young and we are leaving on a time bomb and if we don’t skill many youth and if we don’t make them productive, we are going to produce irresponsible citizen.”

The city town clerk Vincent Okurut expressed gratitude for better management of the funds by the city and SUIDAC partners. He however cautioned the beneficiaries to transform their lives with the skills they have attained;

“My role as the accounting officer of the city is to see to it that the moneys which are sent to us are those that are spent on our behalf on different programs, utilized well. So today I came to witness whether actually this money has been put to good use and I am happy with the testimony you have given that the money has been put to good use.” Okurut expressed.

“But my role will not stop at this, I am also supposed to assess in the near future whether actually this money has led to some kind of transformation. Have you who were given these skills transformed in anyway? We shall be making a future follow up,” he cautioned.

Similarly, the Assistant RCC of Ayivu division, Polly Ongom advised the trainees not to relax, “Go and be active, put the skill into motion and then do not even stop there. Where necessary, as you get some little money keep advancing yourselves. Before you know, your business is advancing and you are also now employing others.”

His Worship Lawrence Alionzi, the Arua City mayor on his part noted that, “The measure of whether you are a good trainer or not is the quality of your trainee so if you cannot even accept your own product that reduces the quality of your training. Since we are sure that you are good trainers, please take some of the people back and let them work,” Alionzi urged the trainers.

“To our technical people, I am proud of what you have done until this very point but this also sends a bar for the next pass out. Now I want the pass outs to come out almost every month, let’s be passing them out,” he said.

Sharing her experience, Madalin David who trained hairdressing expressed that, “Today we can plait weave, natural hair, braids, natural hair and take care of our clients from start to the end but it was not easy, our hands were paining. We knew how to handle combs but we didn’t know how to plait. But today we are here confident that we can plait each style,” Madalin recounted.

Youth skilling in Uganda involves government, NGO, and private programs that provide practical, hands-on vocational and technical training to help young people overcome high unemployment and build self-reliant livelihoods.

Over 70% of Uganda’s population is under the age of 30, and youth unemployment remains exceptionally high. Skilling shifts youth from job seekers to job creators.

The SUIDAC project plays a vital role in youth skilling by providing market-driven vocational skills, practical training and apprenticeships to vulnerable young people.

Funded by the European Union and managed by Cities Alliance, the project operates across nine African secondary cities including Arua and Koboko municipality focusing heavily on integrating refugees, displaced persons, and host community youth into local economies.

Written by newsroom-radiopacis