November | 2013 | Fontes FoundationFontes Foundation

Graduation Ceremony at Potentiam Youth Centre

by fontes on 24/11/2013 No comments

In a ceremonial act the students cut a cake before sharing it with their friends and family members.

On November 23rd Potentiam Youth Development Centre proudly graduated more than 60 students. They included the second round of the core course in applied business skills (8 graduates) as well as the 5th, 6th and 7th rounds of short courses in basic ICT (35 graduates) and English (19 graduates). The students celebrated their success together with their parents and friends, the PYC staff, their mentors, local authorities and other guests of honor during an entertaining and varied programme.

The certificates were handed over by Fontes program coordinator Apiyo Oweka-Laboke and the mayor of Makindye division Dr. Ian Clarke.

The audience was very happy to welcome Dr. Ian Clarke, mayor of Makindye division and Member of Parliament Hon. Simbwa, as guest speakers. Furthermore, Potentiam was very pleased to host its landlord John Lwalanda, the chairmen LC 1 of Sekindi Zone, the new OC of Bukasa police post as well as other dignitaries and neighbors.

Fontes Cultural Troupe entertained the audience with a performance of traditional Ugandan dance and music.

After an exciting performance of traditional Acholi arakaraka and Kiganda dance and an amusing role play by the Fontes Cultural Troupe, centre manager Surea Njuki and Fontes Foundation’s program coordinator Apiyo Oweka presented the certificates to the proud students. Special gifts were handed over to the best students of the different courses as well as to the core course students who performed the best in terms of time keeping, attendance and personal development.

Students of the English short course with their facilitator Emanuel Kyeyune.

Fontes Foundation is very happy to announce that all the core course students that participated in the course to its completion were able to successfully pass the final exams. In this full-time course of six month duration, the results were quite satisfying with no student scoring beneath 64 % for their final mark.

Fontes congratulates all of our students on their great achievements and wishes all the best for their professional future. Now the team of Potentiam Youth Centre is looking forward to welcoming the new students for the start of the next core and short courses in the beginning of January 2014.

Happy Toilet Day!!

by fontes on 19/11/2013 No comments

For the twelfth time now, the world is celebrating World Toilet Day to call attention to the still unsolved problem of inadequate access to sanitation for every third person in the world. The WHO estimates 2.6 billion people to lack access to adequate sanitation. The lowest sanitation-coverage rate can be found in sub-Saharan Africa with an average of 31 %. The world community is far off track to reach its ambitious goal of 75 % worldwide sanitation coverage by 2015, manifested in the Millennium Development Goals. Lack of sanitation is not only causing a serious threat to the health of those affected, but also to the security, education and of course dignity of the people.

Fontes Foundation is working in the sector of Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) for many years. One concept of sustainable sanitation is Ecosan (short for ecological sanitation) in which the material flows and nutrient cycles of the defaecation process are considered. Urine and faeces are separated and recycled by using them as organic fertilizers. Most ecosan-toilets don’t use water, what makes them environmentally friendly and an attractive alternative especially in arid regions. For the mentioned reasons, Fontes Foundation decided to provide the Potentiam Youth Development Centre with an ecosan-toilet in 2012 and is actively promoting the concept to its students through a special “ecosan-talk” during the courses. The excreta are stored in a shed near the compound where they covert into compost. Afterwards they are used as fertilizer for a vegetable growing project which recently kicked off at PYC (see post below).

Sowing and Growing your Future – Literally

by fontes on 18/11/2013 No comments

Last weekend, just after the presentation of his business plan about aerial vegetable growing, core course student Muhammed Moses Kinnene in cooperation with PYC-management assistant Denis Ssebugwawo made a first step to put his plan into practice.

You can easily tell the difference between treated and untreated soil by the high of grass and weed.

During the past months the two self-declared “agriculturalists” have treated a small piece of land on the compound with organic fertilizers which they obtained, sustainable and for free, from the ecosan-toilets of the centre.

The trenches are orientated in a 90° angle to the terrain’s gradient to prevent the soil from being washed away during heavy rain.

After turning the soil and preparing the seed beds, a variety of vegetable-seeds was spread out. Muhammed and Denis want to use their garden as a demonstration project for the students and visitors of the youth centre. In the near future they want to prepare another and bigger piece of land near the centre and grow enough vegetables to start selling to the local community. Over the time the business is expected to grow by using the technique of aerial farming. The first bigger investment will be a green house for maximizing the yield.

Numbers Proving Success

by Apiyo Oweka-Laboke on 09/11/2013 No comments

Our holistic approach with emphasis on service quality and long perspective mentor support changes attitudes and counters youth unemployment.

After 2 years of operation Potentiam Youth Centre can finally claim that the concept has been tried and tested with excellent results. Ignoring the road of least resistance the centre took the daunting task of changing attitudes and the mindset of disadvantaged youth to make them more employable. The initial assessment study suggested that part of the unemployment problem was the poor attitudes of the young people that discouraged a lot of employees.

The monthly salary 6 months after graduation of the students from the Core Course.

The Centre has to date graduated 147 youth that have undergone training in Basic ICT, English and Literacy and the Core Course in Applied Business Skills. There was a 92% graduation rate for the Core course and of those who graduated, 73% were able to find employment within the first 3 months of finishing the course and 82% were employed by the 6th month. These are impressive statistics that have not been registered by any youth development programme in Uganda so far.

Half of the students had more than doubled their income compared to what they earned before taking the course. 55% of the employment is in the informal sector, 18% in the formal sector, 18% in both formal and informal sectors combined and 9% are unemployed. The salary scale of these graduates ranges from USD 25 a month up to USD 365 per month. Out of the total graduated students from the first core course, 80% of the incomes are regular with only two students fluctuating depending on the number of jobs and season of a given month.

Months without employment after graduation from PYC.

The training we provide is not unique to the centre. There are several other youth development programmes providing the same sort of training. However, the centre’s success is rooted in its holistic approach and the quality of service provided. Albeit still small and growing, it allows the centre the flexibility to review the curriculum often with input from the students so there is constant improvement. The support system provided by the staff, the mentors and the community is unrivalled as supportive relationships are the back bone to the success of any community programme.

The activities at the centre are designed to enhance confidence and promote independent and analytical thinking. The personal development classes prepares the students for the employment market. In the core course of the class the students get to know themselves, gain value and worthiness and develops a sense of belonging to the centre and the community. This is important since most of the students come from troubled backgrounds. The students are followed up by mentors for six months during the course, and then for 18 months after graduation and into their professional lives. We are interested in knowing how the students fare in their carriers and to fix the problem if they are struggling.

The centre has invested highly in quality staff that is motivated and hired not just because they are skilled but also for their passion for the work they do. The staff undergoes constant capacity building to improve their teaching skills especially working with disadvantaged youth who need a little extra help. Investing in people for long term impact is our model of sustainability and as long as the centre continues to innovate and think outside the box, it will continue putting a dent in the youth unemployment statistics.

Welcome Back Michael!

by fontes on 07/11/2013 No comments

This week the Fontes team was very happy to meet again with its former volunteer Michael Pletscher who supported us for six month until September 2013. Everyone was glad to see him again, especially the staff and students of Potentiam Youth Centre and the associated football team. A highlight of Michael’s stay was the handing over of a brand new set of shirts and shorts to the football team on Wednesday. The jerseys were sponsored by a generous donor from Switzerland and suit the grateful team very well. In addition, Fontes Foundation handed out two new footballs so that the Potentiam Football Team is very well equipped for following training sessions.

Potentiam Core Course Students Attend a Youth Symposium

by Apiyo Oweka-Laboke on 02/11/2013 No comments

Potentiam Youth Center core course students attend an all day youth symposium organized by Uganda Youth Forum (UYF) and powered by Barclays Bank on Saturday November 2nd at the Uganda Museum Hall.

The theme of the symposium was to develop and support 5 million young futures in a 5 year time frame. Potentially, this would be achieved through providing training, mentorship and inspiring young people to unlock their potential and create jobs instead of looking out for jobs.

The Barclays Bank employee team facilitated the event as they engaged youth in various sessions on unlocking the mindset /attitude and nurture employability skills in which participants discussed the importance of having a resourceful mindset as it determines performance and results at work, how to prepare and write Cvs, how to impress and excel during interviews and what employability skills employers will consider during the recruitment process, getting the job and keeping it, etc

Facilitators of the event interactively discussed with the youth highlighting, work place ethics, expectations of employers from employees and how to nurture a resourceful mindset based to time management, financial literacy, innovation, managing start up businesses.

Some of the Speakers included James dokoria of Uganda industrial research institute (MTIC), Michael segwaya , finance director Barclays bank as well as various organizations and stakeholders like Global Health corps and Red cross MTIC.

During the event a bazaar/ fair was conducted offering a number of services including health services like blood donation, HIV testing, family planning and different concepts of industrialization for value addition on agricultural products. Students were also given free guide books on how to excel during interviews, mastering money matters , starting up and managing a business.

The symposium was closed by Barclays Bank Uganda’s Managing Director, who challenged youth to venture in areas where there are fewer risks. He singled out agriculture as being an important portal for Ugandans aspiring to achieve financial freedom and stressed Barclays Banks commitment to supporting entrepreneurs in Uganda.