Empowering Former Abductees with Short-Term Work
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| Former abductees make desks for primary schools in Pabbo.
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Regaining its footing after a quarter century of conflict, northern Uganda is bustling with activity. Communities are working to restore local infrastructure and citizens are going about the business of rebuilding homes and lives.
While nearly everyone in the region has experienced loss and continues to face challenges, the process of reintegrating into society is particularly difficult for young people who were abducted and pressed into service by the Lord's Resistance Army. These former abductees, having missed many of the cultural and educational opportunities a normal childhood provides, tend to be far behind their peers.
Several international and community-based organizations have introduced vocational training programs in the region to provide former abductees with skills that will help them become self-reliant and reintegrate into their communities. Even so, these programs, and the youth they serve, will not be successful unless the trainees can find gainful employment.
USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) is working to address this gap by identifying trained, vulnerable youth and providing them with contractual employment. The majority of these young workers have come from the Youth Education Pack (YEP), a Norwegian Refugee Council project.
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| Classrooms at the Labala Primary School in Amuru received desks through the OTI-supported project.
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Under agreements with four YEP groups, trained workers were engaged to make furniture for primary schools in areas targeted for OTI grants. The groups have built 4,619 three-seat school desks that have been delivered to more than 50 primary schools in Alero, Attiak, and Pabbo Sub-Counties in Amuru District and to Kitgum Matidi, Agoro, and Namokora Sub-Counties in Kitgum District. To date, hundreds of young people have benefited from the project.
Providing former abductees with employment opportunities helps them cope with the pressures of life as they attempt to reconnect with their communities. The project has also improved the learning environment for current students by providing desks for their classrooms.
The effort to reintegrate former abductees into their communities is an irrefutable sign that peace has returned to northern Uganda, and OTI continues to work with local government on critical issues such as youth employment and education to support the recovery and reconciliation process.
For further information, please contact the USAID Africa Bureau.
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