Tracer Studies and Post Training Support

Vplus vocational training for young people with disabilities, at Gulu Disabled Persons Union, has been completed. This programme is supported by the UK based charity ETC of PWD and match funded by UK Aid. We are now fully into the Post Training Support programme.

Tracer studies are the backbone of post training support. As name suggests, it’s about tracing trainees; where are they now, what are they doing, what extra support do they need? And, of course it’s a vital form of feedback on that their earlier training programme: what worked and what didn’t what should be changed next time?

All of the information below comes from recent field reports by the Vplus team as they go about Post Training Support.

Aroma Elvis and his mother being supported on skill gaps

Tracer Studies: how do they work?

The main aim of these Tracer Studies is to find the 66 Vplus youth from Cohort 2 of the programme. Actually, given the nature of their locations and forms of activity, it also involves trainees from Cohort 1 and even those we supported during the etc@gdpu programme some years ago. Tracer Studies take three forms:  

• Home visit.
• Phone calls.
• Visits to workstations.

And cover the following Districts:

1. Gulu with 16 students,
2. Gulu City with 28 students,
3. Nwoya with 4 students,
4. Omoro with 9 students,
5. Kitgum with 2 students,
6. Amuru with 5 students and
7. Pader with 2 students.

Gulu and surrounding area

Objectives of the Tracer Studies.

Support session at Koch Goma

1. To help identify and locate where our beneficiaries are working from or staying.
2. To check on the different activities our students are directly involved in after completing their skills training.
3. To identify the success, gaps and challenges our beneficiaries are going through in regards to employment, and skills.
4. To support and guide our students in stages of their business plan development and implementation.
5. To check on any safeguarding issues our beneficiaries are facing and offer all forms of supports and referrals.

Statistics from the Tracer Studies

Bob Gumakiriza at Niange Ber Motorcycle Repair one of the workshop in Koch Goma

60 youth were followed up, through the different methods listed above.

In Cohort 2, 22 out of 66 beneficiaries are employed by others. The highest number of employed are from Motorcycle Repair and Maintenance and Hairdressing courses.

Akello Fiona working on the hair of a customer

In Cohort 2, 13 out of 66 beneficiaries are self-employed in three areas: Electronic Repair and Maintenance; Tailoring; and Decoration and Design.

25 out of 66 beneficiaries are still unemployed: 15 females and 10 males. Some are still in the process of job search. Others are planning to start their own businesses, mostly through parental support and the Revolving Capital Loan, especially for Sweater Weaving.

Sweater Weaving is a seasonal business that won’t start until schools go back after the Ebola outbreak shutdown (in February). We are also still in the peak period for farming and many trainees have to work on family concerns. Parents are waiting for money to come back from farming before they can support their child..

6 out of 66 students are not have not yet been traced but the team are working hard to reach out to them.

Some Examples and Case Studies from the Tailoring course:

Tailoring was a new addition to the Vplus programme, with a new instructor (an ex- graduate). After evaluation and discussion with past trainees we realised that Tailoring could be an employment route in some contexts. In the past Tailoring has been put down, certainly Gulu Town is overloaded with tailors, but as we have discovered, away from the town the picture is different.

11 students graduated from this course with a total of 4 employed and 4 self- employed and 3 only unemployed. As the Tracer Studies have shown, there is a high demand for tailoring in the rural communities.

A Case Study in Tailoring: Lakica Sharon

Lakica Sharon at work

Lakica Sharon lives in Odek sub-county and trained in tailoring at GDPU under Vplus.   She has strong support from her parents, they have done all they can to empower their daughter to earn a dignified life.

During the visit the Vplus team saw how she communicates well with customers bringing in clothes for repair; she has challenged the stereotypes people have about people with disabilities. Sharon has made UGX 20,000 from minor repair of clothes, usually costing UGX 500 to 1000/. You can now imagine how busy she is in the village, the next tailor within the village is about 5km away.

Lakica Sharon at work

A Case Study in Tailoring: Achiro Joyce

Achiro Joyce at work

Achiro Joyce, is a mother of one child and lives in Palara village, Odek, 6 km from Acet trading center. She rents her sewing machine from a neighbour for UGX 20,000 per month, although this is high she did not refuse because she wants to work. Her workplace is just under a tree, near the road side alongside her family home.

The Vplus team managed to meet her parents and they expressed interest in the Revolving Capital Loan scheme to get a machine for their daughter. Joyce is very happy with the change she has experienced in her life she managed to make UGX 35,000 within two weeks of her work.

Achiro Joyce at her work place

Successes registered:

•  8 graduates are employed directly in tailoring.
• Another good example: Lanyero Scovia from Omoro Omony Jubi village, her parent bought a second hand sewing machine at a cost of UGX 200,000 and she has started working at home.
• Students are learning new skills from the engagement they have with others and the work that they are doing, especially those employed by others.
• We have witnessed improved livelihood in the families of the youth who completed their training and are working.

Challenges:

Post Training Support visit with VPlus Programme Manager and GDPU Head Teacher: Musema Faruk

• Trainees still have gaps in skills and knowledge about maintenance and minor repairs of the sewing machine. For example Achiro from Odek, said she cannot mend  machines herself and only one person who can repair machines, and she has to move 6 km to Acet center to find him.
• Heavy rainfall affects a number of the youth in the rural centres, because they work under trees and in front of houses.
• It’s a farming season, people are planting and harvesting which cuts the number of customers they receive.
• Commitments at home, like farming and cooking, have prevented number of students from getting employment.
• High levels of poverty mean trainees cannot afford to buy equipment and materials.
• Trainees have Skill gaps in making other fashions, like Gomez, (the traditional dresses for formal occasions), shorts, etc
• Recording the transactions made in the record book is still a big gap.

Recommendations:

Opiyo Benson in his workshop in Koch-Goma

• Training on repair and maintenance skills.
• Trainees need more training on book keeping.
• To support youth who are interested in the Revolving Capital
• Support visit by GDPU instructors to selected youth who need support in identified gaps and demands from their communities.

Safeguarding

A Reflection Meeting at GDPU with VPlus Guidance Counsellor: Okello Emma

Although many graduates live with their families, they are still vulnerable, often from members of their extended family. Tracer Studies are also support visits, and will include Guidance Counsellors amongst the team. Sadly, these visits often uncover significant safeguarding issues.

Recent trips have included supporting parents and trainees in reporting abuse by other members of the family, helping to collect evidence and present it to the Police, providing sign language interpreters for deaf graduates in liaising with the Police and in court, and continuous follow up after official involvement.

Safeguarding in this context is a very difficult area needing highly skilled people. GDPU programme officers are used to dealing with the communities involved and through constant training have become very skilled and experienced in this field.

Members sharing their experience’s during the reflection meetings at Koch Goma

Some Conclusions

As Post Training Support rolls out on the Vplus training programme across a wide area of Gulu and surrounding districts, it is great to hear these reports. We can see how the lives of these young people are developing as a result of the training and support they have been given. It is so heartening to see Vplus trainees take up new opportunities and cope with the challenges that life throws at them.

Want to know more?

A Support Session for VPlus graduates at GDPU

If you would like to know more about the ETC of PWD charity please go to our Home page.

If you would like to give something, please go to our Donate page.

If you would like to know more about Gulu Disabled Persons Union (GDPU) please go to their website or Facebook page. 

Many Thanks.

This programme is match funded with aid from the British people

The Revolving Loan Scheme

The aim of vocational training is, of course, to get the trainee from training to lasting work; to a sustainable life. As the VPlus programme for youth with disabilities in Gulu, Northern Uganda has shown, core skills training is only a small part of that process. What happens for example, after training at the centre is equally important.

Electronics Repair trainees in a lesson at GDPU

Post Training

‘Post Training Support’ as it is called has always suffered from one major problem: capital. Graduates are keen to get their business working, to do what they have trained to do. But they haven’t earned money when training and rarely have capital of their own; start-up costs what they haven’t got. How to solve the first problem that derails so many before they have even begun?

Opiyo Benson in font of his new workplace in Koch Goma

Free Money?

In the past, donors gave out boxes of tools or cash to get things going. Perhaps surprisingly, free stuff didn’t help, far from it. These gifts distorted training before it even began. The first question would-be trainees asked was: what tools are you going to give me? how much money will I get? The gift became the goal, not the training or the aim of a sustainable life. That expectation ruined so many vocational training enterprises; no one values free money. And, anyway, most free tools were sold or stolen with days. Some cash also went to thieves or debts or parties, the vulnerable were preyed on by the powerful; very little went to the new business.

Bob Gumakiriza now working at Niange Ber Motorcycle Repair in Koch Goma

The Revolving Loan Scheme

The solution Gulu Disabled Persons Union (GDPU), who run the VPlus programme, has come up with is innovative: the Revolving Loan Scheme. It depends, as schemes in this context should if they are to last, on strong connections with family and the community. Learning from the first VPlus cohort, GDPU deliberately built good bonds with families in the second cohort.

Apiyo Miriam’s Sweater Weaving Group

How the Scheme Works

In essence, and all participants are told this right from the beginning, they will have to contribute themselves. The trainee or more likely, parents, the community or both will part fund their graduates’ start-up costs. The rest of the start-up money comes from a ring fenced fund set up by GDPU and financed by ETC of PWD.

Akello Fiona hairdresser working on a customers hair

The Importance of the Plan

For example, a group of graduates want to buy a knitting machine for a sweater weaving business. Those graduates will have costed their needs while drawing up a business plan during training. That plan will be the basis of their loan application. The amount to be borrowed, payback terms, the parental/ community contribution and involvement will have been discussed with all concerned, at some length and formally agreed. After the loan terms are agreed and the matching fund is in, GDPU will buy the right machine at a good discount from their suppliers in Kampala (guaranteeing quality and supply etc).

Sweater Weaving Group in Anaka

Tweaking the Scheme

At each subsequent Post Training Support visit, staff from GDPU will also look at the graduates record books (training in bookkeeping etc is of course part of the training). But, the actual financial process is now handled by the VPlus/ GDPU accountant, rather than PTS staff. It was found that graduates feared staff would demand money rather than give support, so graduates refused to be contacted. Separating out support from loans has now removed that problem. GDPU has also reformed repayment schedules, making them flexible according to income and circumstance as recorded by each graduate in their all important record books.

The VPlus Programme Manager, Musema Faruk, discussing a Revolving Loan application

Revolving?

What is also new, is that participants know from the start that the repaid loan is not returned to ETC or GDPU. This money goes into a separate account, used for the next graduate loan. It becomes a growing capital fund for the disability community. Parents and graduates are reminded that repaid loans help their community and the next person down the line; this seems to help repayment. Second cohort parents are far more keen to support and keep their children working, after all their income goes toward paying the loan. GDPU has even started training family members in core skills, so they can keep enterprises going when graduates health and disability makes work difficult.

VPlus Guidance Counsellor, Okello Emma, on a Post Training Support visit to graduates in Odek

Is it Working?

Early reports look good, the money is being returned. Already graduates from the earlier etc@gdpu programme are setting up their own access to the scheme, others we hope will follow if the scheme can be kept running.

A revolving loan indeed.

Want to Know More?

If you would like to know more about the ETC of PWD charity please go to our Home page.

If you would like to give something, please go to our Donate page.

If you would like to know more about Gulu Disabled Persons Union (GDPU) please go to their website or Facebook page. 

Many Thanks.

This project is match funded with UK aid from the British people

VPlus Programme: Cohort 2 Graduation

Running to get the graduation certificate

This graduation was the second joyous celebration of the achievements of youth with disability in Gulu and surrounding districts of Northern Uganda.

Waiting for the rain at GDPU

The rains had begun earlier in the week, but luckily, they held off for most of the occasion. Allowing the speeches, traditional dance and display of goods and skills to take place. Gulu Disabled Persons Union, our delivery partner, organised the day very well and many important local people were there.

Motorcycle repair graduate explaining his new skills. Note the Gulu City District Education Officer behind and the Sign Language Interpreter in front

Ability in Disability

The attendance by dignitaries, and the subsequent affirmation of people with disabilities, matters a great deal in this context. The theme for the day was ‘ability in disability’ and it was interesting to note how many of the speeches described the speakers own involvement with disability, through perhaps a child, a sibling or training. It was a day that highlighted the inclusivity that will be crucial for the future lives of those graduating.

GDPU Success

It was also the first time in over two and a half years that the ETC of PWD trustees could get to Gulu, it was wonderful to be back, and in time for such an important occasion. It was also important to have the chance to publicly applaud the success of GDPU, in particular the work of Ojok Patrick GDPU Centre Co Ordinator and Musema Faruk, VPlus programme manager (and now Head Teacher at GDPU). Their efforts have been boosted been by Ajok Emma, Guidance Counsellor and Mary Paul Lakot, Accounts Manager. It is their integrity, dedication and endless hours of work throughout Pandemics, Lockdowns and every other sort of challenge that has delivered the change to the disabled community in Gulu. Not forgetting of course the crucial role of the highly committed team of instructors and support staff.

Running to get the graduation certificate, with family and instructors

Parental Involvement

The first cohort of the VPlus programme was older than the second and parental/ community involvement had not been so strong. This gap was identified in Reflection Meetings and for the second cohort Faruk and the team tried hard to get greater involvement. Parental attendance at their graduation was much higher this time and support for trainees more noticeable. It is a pre-condition of the course that trainees come with at least some tools for their training, supplied by parents. To qualify for the VPlus Revolving Loan Scheme, that helps start up new businesses post training, parents also have to contribute. Faruk reports that parents have been far more willing to give something and much more involved in the training programme this time around; a big step forward.

Tradiitional Dance: the Acero

Joy

The usual bandwidth problems prevented us livestreaming the graduation, but I hope these images give some flavour of the joy with which parents, family and friends greeted the public recognition of the graduates (or graduands as they are called here).

Buying from the Design and Decoration graduates

Setting out their stall

The stalls with goods made by trainees were busy, selling clothes from the new tailoring course, jumpers, scarves from the sweater weavers, bags, jewelry and more from the new Design and Decoration course. The motorcycle repair graduates talked everyone through their new skills and the electronics graduates offered to mend everyone’s phones; there were many takers for that.

Tradiitional Dance: the Acero

Continued Support

The genuine interest and buying of goods was a great start to their new careers, but we know that continued support is vital to any long term success and sustainability. The next phase of the VPlus programme for Cohort 2 is six months post training support for all these new businesses. But, as the training part of this programme draws to an end, and as our field trips to Cohort 1 graduates showed, there are many questions to ask and answer about the future for ETC and GDPU. For those questions and some possible answers please see the next blog.

Want to Know More?

If you would like to know more about the ETC of PWD charity please go to our Home page. If you would like to give something, please go to our Donate page. If you would like to know more about Gulu Disabled Persons Union (GDPU) please go to their website or Facebook page. 

Many Thanks.

Field trips and the future: ETC of PWD trustees visit to Gulu and beyond

Buying from the Design and Decoration graduates at Graduation Day

Cohort 1 of the VPlus programme graduated in December 2021, they have been at work ever since. So, August 22 was a good time to visit past graduates, learn how they were getting on, what extra training and support they needed and how future programmes should be adapted.

Out To The Field

Developments

The growing quality of the training at Gulu Disabled Persons Union, (GDPU) and greater ambition amongst graduates, has expanded the range of Post Training Support. Extra training demands have moved far beyond the usual literacy, numeracy and record keeping. IT, getting involved with social media as part of the selling process or access to new information, featured heavily in our Post Training Support visits.

But, context matters. Contrast the ways in which three graduates work and sell their goods.

Apiyo Miriam

Apiyo Miriam and the Knitting group with Musema Faruk, outside their shop in Gulu

Apiyo Miriam works with Sweater Weaving groups in Gulu town: ‘Disabled Youth Living Enterprise Group Sweater Knitting’ and ‘Waneno Anyim Sweater Knitting’. They have a smart shop and a growing selection of knitting and sewing machines. Miriam’s record keeping and leadership, in this or any other context, is extraordinarily good.

Miriam with her book keeping records and graduation photo

She is very proactive, seeking out knitting contracts from local schools and individuals; the group is busy. But, as she says the future of selling is on the internet, and that was the training she needed. How to access and use, probably Facebook, to sell their goods across Uganda, certainly. But Miriam’s ambition is much wider, she realises that the West will pay much more for goods made by groups like hers and she wants to know how to do it.

Akello Brenda with Musema Faruk

Akello Brenda

Akello Brenda has sickle cell, and lives with her parents out beyond Unyama traiding centre, five kilometres north east of Gulu. Brenda trained on the Design and Decoration course and makes baskets and jewellery. Every month she takes her baskets etc on a boda (motorbike taxi) out to an auction, one of the large markets that visit outlying trading centres. She will set a blanket on the ground and sell what she can. Last months auction was disturbed by the rain and she sold nothing.

There is nowhere to set up shop around her family compound, although she sometimes sell to people who use the path leading to the centre. It was noticeable how proud her mother was of her child, and how much she wanted to help, buying materials for example. A shop in Unyama might be one possibility, although it is doubtful that returns would cover the rent. But, during Cohort 2, the GDPU Design and Decoration instructor dropped out and Brenda took over, successfully. Most instructors balance making and selling with teaching, it could be a model for her too. Past graduates have already become good instructors at GDPU, eg Aciro Brenda who helped set up the new tailoring course.

A range of Design and Decoration Goods on show at Graduation

Akello Brenda also asked for training in making more complex, and fashionable jewellery, which she knows will sell well. This is where the internet could help her; You Tube videos perhaps? Access to them is tricky without a smartphone, she would probably have to come into GDPU for that. Diversity will be the key for her, she is also a very good traditional dancer

Odong Haron Bob

Haroon Bob at work in Lira

We travelled to Lira, a town similar to Gulu, some 130 or so kilometres to the south east. Odong Haron Bob, an albino, trained in electronics and has a good placement with an extremely entrepreneurial man near the centre. Bob was being trained thoroughly, on more IT kit than I have seen outside Kampala.

Musema Faruk with a member of Gulu PWD Electronics in Gulu Main Market recently

The contrast between this set up and the Gulu PWD electronics group we have been visiting in Gulu Main Market since 2017 was significant. Gulu PWDs have not moved beyond basic feature phones, have little IT experience and after many years have still not put up a sign advertising their business. But, they are significant sportsmen, up to Olympic standard, have genuine political ambitions, likely to be realised and are great company.

Haroon Bob and other Cohort 1 trainees at GDPU

Meanwhile in Lira, all the relevant software was there: several laptops; basic coding; everything you need for modern IT work and Bob was learning it all. There is a well known saying here, “Lira is for business and Gulu is for party”, but there is more to it than that. Gulu PWDs trained in 2014-5 when aspirations were lower, less kit was available and community involvement less significant. For example, Bob’s family helped to place him with this business. The serious development of the ‘Plus’ element in the training that GDPU provides must be part of the solution too.

Back to GDPU

It was with thoughts like these that we returned to our meetings at GDPU. we would consider where the VPlus training programme had led and what should be the future path for training young people with disabilities in Gulu and surrounding districts. See the next blog for more.

Diversity and Music

Thinking of the diversity many VPlus graduates use to become self supporting. Odong Sunday and his group played some his traditional songs during the Cohort 2 graduation at GDPU, shows He has already recorded a more contemporary song that is getting attention, he has many more and appealed for funds to pay for more recording. The Deputy Mayor no less, put forward a significant sum, she knew real talent when she heard it. The role of music and music technology (performed, recorded and sold) in skills training became a significant talking point in our subsequent meeting at GDPU, see the next blog for more.

Want to Know More?

If you would like to know more about the ETC of PWD charity please go to our Home page. If you would like to give something, please go to our Donate page. If you would like to know more about Gulu Disabled Persons Union (GDPU) please go to their website or Facebook page. 

Many Thanks.

This programme is match funded with aid from the British people

How are things pushing on at GDPU: Cohort 2 reach a crucial stage

Three busy months have gone by very quickly and the second cohort of the Vplus programme for youth with disabilities in Gulu, Northern Uganda, have just completed the first part of their six month vocational training. They are now out for industrial placement; an apprenticeship process that builds on the first cohort ‘instant apprenticeships’. Instant apprenticeships were a quick solution to the Uganda wide Covid lockdowns that closed Gulu Disabled Persons Union (GDPU), but they have proved to be a great success and are now integral to the programme.

Design and Decoration Training

Disability, and behaviour towards people with disability, is a complex subject in any society. One of the fundamental aims of GDPU and subsequently, the Vplus programme is to “change the mindset of the community” as Musema Faruk, the Vplus programme manager puts it.

Training April 2022: Design and Decoration

Perhaps this change is best shown by a story he told us about the recent School Open Day, which marked the end of the first part of Cohort 2 training. GDPU opens up to parents, elders and VIPs from the District. Trainees show off their vocational skills, take part in sports, cultural activities and dance the traditional dances (Many trainees are from communities that do not allow them to participate in cultural life).

Motorcycle Repair and Maintenance Training

The programme gives them training so that they can participate with confidence. One father’s motorbike broke down on the way to the Open Day, the father pushed it into the centre expecting to phone for a mechanic. His Motorcycle Repair and Maintenance trainee son took the bike, gave it both a full service and a full repair. Musema reported that the parent was astonished and really proud, he said: “I didn’t know that he could learn so much in three months, I never believed that he could do such things”.

School Open Day: Traditional Dance, the Bwola

Equal pride was shown as parents queued for trainees to mend their phones or plait their hair, while stalls sold trainee design and decoration products and more. But apparently, the biggest source of enjoyment came from watching trainees dance two traditional Acholi Dances: the Ajero and the Bwola. Few members of the community expected young people with disabilities to be able to dance at all, let alone dance so well – they have been practising very hard.  As Musema Faruk said in his recent monthly report:

School Open Day: Design and Decoration and Hairdressing stalls

“All youth were encouraged to participate regardless of their disabilities, deaf learners for example were concentrating on the traditional dances. Many people wondered how the deaf could dance so perfectly to the tune of the drum, it was a mindset shift to many among their colleagues at school and in the community.”

School Open Day: Traditional Dance, the Ajero

“Nelson and Sunday are students with visual impairment, they were so perfect in the drumming that impressed many during practice and the School Open Day. Nelson specialized in drumming and Sunday concentrated in playing local guitar. Everyone was so impressed with what the two can do to beat the odds around visual impairment; many had thought blind people are not good in playing instruments.” Musema Faruk: VPlus programme manager.

School Open Day: Wheelchair Basketball match with past etc@gdpu graduates (PWD Electronics)

When the trainees return from internships next week, they will spend time discussing what they have learnt. Instructors will organise lessons to fill the gaps identified in trainee knowledge. Business plans are put together ,and applications are made to the ‘Revolving Loan’ scheme. This innovative scheme (more on the Revolving Loan in the next blog) helps finance the future businesses that trainees are planning to begin

Training April 2022: Hairdressing

As their training at the centre ends, trainees enter six months Post Training Support, when instructors and managers from GDPU go out into the field to work with workshop owners or trainees in their new businesses. Everything is aimed at making these determined young people fully self sufficient and active members of their community.

Things are pushing on well.

School Open Day: Traditional Dance, the Ajero

Want to Know More?

If you would like to know more about the ETC of PWD charity please go to our Home page. If you would like to give something, please go to our Donate page. If you would like to know more about Gulu Disabled Persons Union (GDPU) please go to their website or Facebook page. 

Many Thanks.

This project is match funded with UK aid from the British people’

Cohort 2: New Beginnings and Old Routines

Cohort 1

In December 2021, the first cohort of VPlus trainees at Gulu Disabled Persons Union (GDPU), Northern Uganda graduated. Those graduates have moved into their own businesses, or they are working in other workshops. The programme will now give them six months of Post Training Support.

Cohort 2

Cohort 2: Hairdressing Trainees

The next cohort of 65 trainees has also begun at the centre; a very busy time indeed for the team at GDPU. Immediately the ‘Plus’ aspects of the training programme have started too: training on hygiene and sanitation for example. Or, the Friday debates, building self-confidence and the ability to speak in public for the many who have never been listened to before. And, the crucial elections of student leaders who will work with, guide and set the tone for their peers.

Cohort 2: Hygiene and Sanitation talk

Age Range

There is a considerable age difference between trainees in this cohort, from 16-35. Therefore, a range of life experiences which the older trainees can use to support the younger. The oldest trainee is visually impaired, this is the first time in his life he has had any opportunities at all.

Cohort 2: Hairdressing

Staff Meetings and, Yes, the Dress Code!

Evaluation at the end of the last cohort identified poor communication between staff and programme managers. New weekly staff meetings have begun. Issues in the first minutes are familiar for any teacher anywhere: Schemes of Work and Lesson Plans; weak discipline; late arrivals; trainees not wearing the right uniform, girls showing too much of themselves, (many, many years as a sixth form girls tutor in the UK made this topic very familiar indeed).

A training visit for instructors, to Gulu Community College.

The fact that staff in a town in Northern Uganda, working with 65 disadvantaged trainees coping with a wide range of disabilities and experiences are struggling, like teachers across the world, with the mundane problems like the dress code; well, it’s reassuring somehow. It shows that GDPU has got the balance about right.

Student Leader Elections

Cohort 2: Leader Elections

The school has an electoral commission chaired by the school accountant. Leadership development for youth with disabilities is a significant part of the programme, so these elections are, deliberately, a formal process, The commission advertised the vacant leadership positions, trainees were given a week to campaign, some students even printed their election posters.

Twenty-one positions in all, in hard fought contests rigorously carried out in proper democratic process to give trainees their first sense of political involvement. It is noticeable how many past trainees from previous projects have subsequently become politically involved in their local community. And, of course Ojok Patrick, GDPU coordinator is now LC5 for Disability in Gulu and district; a very senior position indeed.

Cohort 2 leaders elections

Tailoring

Recruits for this second VPlus cohort made a clear distinction between wanting to learn Sweater Weaving and, mostly the visually impaired, wanting to learn Tailoring. Mama Cave who runs the Sweater Weaving is not a specialist tailor and has too many trainees to run another course. Rather than recruit outside the team, Musema Faruk the VPlus coordinator, suggested developing the skills of an existing member of the community.

Cohort 2: Tailoring with Mama Cave and Brenda

 It was always the intention of the Vplus programme to develop the capacity of GDPU; to support it in creating a self-sustaining disabled community. Brenda has been a mainstay of the Gulu Disabled Persons Knitting Workshop, set up after the VSO YDP programme back in 2015 and then supported by the subsequent etc@gdpu project funded by ETC of PWD. She is an innovative tailor, able to make styles that the market wants rather than just copy the templates she was taught.

Madam Brenda’s Tailoring Class

Brenda has all the core skills needed to teach new tailors, she was willing but lacked confidence. With suitable support, Faruk’s recent reports show that Brenda is doing well as the new Tailoring Instructor, her pupils are learning and she is finding the right ways to communicate with them. A successful development and a route to follow in future.

Covid Restrictions

Despite the Ugandan President relaxing all Covid restrictions recently, GDPU is very aware of the vulnerability of its staff and trainees. So, the Standard Operating Procedures are still in place there; which is good to hear, they have kept the centre largely Covid free so far. And, the Guidance Counsellor is pursuing ways in which to get all the trainees fully vaccinated.

Cohort 2: Youth Leaders Electioneering

Pushing on Well

It was so exciting to see the first cohort begin the next phase of their working lives and now the second cohort start that process. But it’s also great to know that the team at GDPU takes nothing for granted, they continue to innovate and explore ways to benefit the disabled community in Gulu and surrounding districts: pushing on well indeed.

Cohort 1 Graduation

Want to Know More?

If you would like to know more about the ETC of PWD charity please go to our Home page. If you would like to give something, please go to our Donate page. If you would like to know more about Gulu Disabled Persons Union (GDPU) please go to their website or Facebook page. Many Thanks.

This project is match funded with UK aid from the British people

The day we thought might never happen: VPlus Graduation Day

The Chairman of the GDPU Board (Geoffrey Allii) with VPlus Trainees and staff on VPlus Graduation Day

Gulu Disabled Persons Union (GDPU) re-opened, after Lockdown in Uganda, in November 2021. After a months intensive catch up on the premises in Gulu the 52 trainees on the first cohort graduated on the 10^th December. Congratulations to all for succeeding despite the many challenges. The next cohort for the VPlus programme has been recruited and will start next year; a busy time for all.

The Instant Apprenticeship Scheme

The VPlus Guidance Counsellor visiting an electronic repair trainee during his apprenticeship at a Gulu workshop

The instant apprenticeship scheme kept the VPlus programme going during the second Lockdown from June till November.  A potentially disastrous shutdown became a bonus offering some interesting opportunities for the future.

Closer contact with other working people and the wider community has begun to break down prejudice against people with disability. Participating workshop owners are now becoming part of the training process.  Examples from apprenticeships were used throughout the lessons on return and trainees had a real sense of purpose now they had experienced actual work.

The next cohort will benefit from a longer apprenticeship, greater connections to workshops and a growing market awareness in all the core skills. GDPU took the opportunity to try a new model, it was very successful and full of promise for the future.

VPlus Graduation Day: Traditional Dance

In the run up to graduation Trainees practiced their Music, Dance and Drama for the big day and got ready for their skills tests and Literacy and Numeracy exams. Those tests would provide their all-important certificates, showing that they had been trained and were fully competent to work. Education is so important in this context.

Community Engagement

Vplus trainees on community engagement at Gulu Main Market

Amongst other activities on their return, trainees also took part in general cleaning at Gulu Main Market. There has been very good feedback on this community activity, partly because the VPlus trainees went out early in the morning to get the work done before the day began. They worked with many people, e.g. security and market administrators, and changed many attitudes to show that PWDs could work hard.

Graduation Day

VPlus Graduation Day: GDPU coordinator, Ojok Patrick, opens the proceedings

The graduation of the first cohort was a joyous affair, workshop owners were invited, alongside many honoured guests from the Gulu community (the Mayor, MPs, District Education Officer and other dignitaries) and of course, the families of the trainees. A busy and important day that will build for the future and change attitudes.

VPlus Graduation Day: getting the certificate

The day was a celebration of the achievements of 52 determined young people, the majority of whom had little or no education. They face stigma in the community, viewed as unable to contribute economically or socially, in a place where community matters so much.

VPlus Graduation day: getting the certificate

Move forward to the day when that very community gathers to honour your achievements, when you can truly begin to make your own way with pride and you can begin to understand the joy on receiving that certificate. The families in these photographs show how much they believe this training will change lives, and give young people with disabilities in Gulu real hope for the future.  

VPlus Graduation day: getting the certificate

The next step for the first cohort is Post Training Support. They will set up their own businesses or join others, for the next six months GDPU will continue to support them with visits, targeted extra training and support. Meanwhile, Cohort Two take the first steps on their own route to self sufficiency; exciting times.

VPlus Graduation day: getting the certificate

Donations

If you would like to make a donation, please go to the Donations page.

This project is match funded with UK aid from the British people’

How have they been pushing on at GDPU? Instant Apprenticeship Scheme Part 2

Gulu Disabled Persons Union (GDPU) shut its doors after Covid 19 Lockdowns in Uganda were announced in June and July 2021. Lockdown is still there, easing a little, but when and how it will finish is still unclear.

Covid and GDPU

At the end of the last newsletter we had the devastating news that three of the senior GDPU team were diagnosed positive for Covid 19. It has been a tense and very worrying time since then. But, we are so pleased to discover today, that all three are on the way to recovery. The virus does not appear to have spread throughout their families or the centre. We can only praise them all for their precautions and be thankful that everyone at GDPU is returning to health

Hairdressing Apprenticeship

Lockdown and the VPlus programme

The last ETC of PWD newsletter showed the impact of Lockdown on our programme. In September/ October Vplus Trainees (youth with disabilities from Gulu and surrounding districts) were due to return from short internships in external workshops. They would complete training at Gulu Disabled Persons Union (GDPU) and start their own businesses with six months of post training support. If GDPU was still shut how would trainees keep their momentum? This has been the problem in education across the world during pandemic lockdowns. Learning needs to be used, memory is a muscle that wastes away without practice and skills can fade away.

Design and Decoration trainees

How can trainees be kept ‘match ready’?

Assuming that schools would open eventually, how could GDPU make sure that trainees would be ready? Ready for the next big step they had been training for: earning their own money; making their own lives; becoming a valued part of their community at last?

Traditional Dance Performance for the community at School Open Day

Instant Apprenticeships

Musema Faruk, the VPlus programme coordinator, had a proposal: extending the short internships into a full apprenticeship programme.

It was not easy to set up, but monthly reports show that his solution is working. After placing 49 out of the original 53 students in apprenticeships, GDPU have now followed them up. 42 are still at their workshops, quite a success given the conditions; there are many challenges on the ground.

Sweater Weaving

Challenges to the Apprenticeship scheme

Some trainees have severe disabilities, making placements difficult. 3 out of 5 of the VPlus instructors have workshops in Gulu.  Instructors identified those who needed support and these trainees stayed at their workshops. This seems to have worked well.

Prejudice

There has been prejudice, particularly against Albino trainees in far flung districts. The number of trainees with Albinism on the course was initially surprising; previous programmes had included few if any. But, as Ojok Patrick, GDPU co-ordinator explained, in the past they were hidden away, against prejudice and of course against the sun.  

Mechanics Class with Sign Language Interpreter

The nature of a trainee’s disability can cause challenges, equatorial sun is life threatening without skin pigment for example. An Albino hairdressing trainee has skin cancers on her hands, the pain means she can’t work. She is desperate to carry on her apprenticeship and the workshop owner wants to help, but the family cannot afford the relevant operations. GDPU is liaising with The National Union of Women with Disabilities in Uganda and others to find a solution for her.

Distance

Some trainees live far from their placement. Travelling with a disability in any country is always difficult, in rural Uganda it is doubly so, particularly if you use a wheelchair. The usual solution is to find somewhere to stay during the week. For a young, vulnerable person with disabilities who needs support, this is not always suitable.

A hairdressing salon

Work in the garden

It is the planting season, parents are pulling their children out to ‘work in the garden’, mostly planting G nuts (groundnuts or peanuts). This is often a problem with training programmes for young people. Parents rely on their produce to eat and surplus to sell, their children’s labour is crucial.

Skills

Some workshops do not have the full range of skills. E.g. in Opit a knitter cannot make open sweaters, so GDPU is involved in training the owners as well.

Literacy Class at GDPU

But what about Life Skills/ Literacy/ Numeracy/ Business skills etc?

Workshop owners, will share their own Life Skills, the Guidance Counsellor will also provide support. Some numeracy and business skills are part of any workshop and all these areas will be covered on trainees return to the centre.

How will workshop owners communicate with deaf trainees?

Sign Language interpreters are in the follow up programme. But, Musema Faruk made an interesting point and, incidentally, it shows why ETC of PWD depends on its partners ‘in country’. Self-reliance is an essential aim of the VPlus programme and as Faruk points out, deaf trainees are already finding ways to communicate without their interpreters. Sign Language support will be there but not intrusively, interpreters will talk mainly to the owner, so that trainees can steadily learn to socialise without them.

GDPU Staff Sign Language training

By the way, he also reports that one owner of a hairdressing salon has become so fond of her deaf trainees that she has been, voluntarily, to sign language training sessions at the centre.

Conclusions

We will not really know the full results of the apprenticeship scheme until trainees return to GDPU.  But, it is fair to say that the GDPU team have helped at least 42 out of the original 53 rise above these challenges.

Guidance Counselling reports have always shown that being with other people with disability brings confidence and self-esteem. Final training at the centre, the last Life Skills, Literacy, Numeracy and Business courses, a final exam and a full public Graduation should start to meet this. It is a difficult balance in the current situation, but we all hope the instant apprenticeship scheme has met this balance. As we all know, we learn better when we learn together.

Hairdressing Apprentice, Workshop Owner and VPlus Guidance Counsellor

Next newsletter

What about the future? See the next ETC of PWD newsletter for more.

Want to know more?

If you would like to know more about the ETC of PWD charity please go to our Home page. If you would like to give something, please go to our Donate page. If you would like to know more about Gulu Disabled Persons Union (GDPU) please go to their website or Facebook page. Many Thanks.

This project is match funded with UK aid from the British people

How are things pushing on at GDPU: Instant Apprenticeship Scheme Part 1

The Ugandan Covid 19 Lockdowns in June and July 2021, shut all schools and many commercial activities. Recent announcements allowed some easing, but the situation is still unclear.

Vplus Design and Decoration trainees

Lockdown and GDPU

Gulu Disabled Persons Union (GDPU) had to shut its doors. Training for the the VPlus programme (for youth with disabilities in Gulu and surrounding districts), stopped at the centre itself in July. Covid had challenged the programme from the start; originally due to begin in October 2020, it eventually opened in January 21. But, the ingenuity and flexibility of GDPU staff has kept training going somehow, when similar programmes have long since halted.

GDPU sign by a Design and Decoration trainee

The last Lockdown was the biggest challenge yet. The Delta variant significantly increased infection and trainees were at a tipping point; to stop now meant losing all they had learnt. Trainees were due to return from internship placements in external workshops. The last steps were to complete training at GDPU and start up businesses for six months of post training support. How could GDPU continue their upward curve? Their trainees had gained so much, but that all important self-esteem would be lost if the only option was ‘go home and sit’ as the local phrase has it. What to do?

Instant Apprenticeship

Musema Faruk, the VPlus programme coordinator, had a proposal: extending the short internships into a full apprenticeship programme. Payments to workshop owners would ensure full participation, with goals and expectations set, learning recorded and regular support visits from GDPU staff, either virtual or actual.

Electronics Repair Trainee at at his apprenticeship workshop

It was not easy to set up, but monthly reports show that his solution is working. Much praise should go to the GDPU team for getting it going under such circumstances. After placing 49 out of the original 53 students in apprenticeships, GDPU have now followed them up. 42 are still at their workshops, quite a success given the conditions; there are many challenges on the ground.

Not only that, 2 trainees have already set up on their own and are doing well, GDPU has given them aprons and overalls, they are very smart and customers appreciate that. GDPU are very proud of them and they will be good for other learners to see.

Hairdressing apprentices with a customer

Covid 19 and GDPU

We have just had the bad news that three senior GDPU staff have tested positive for Covid 19. So far they report that, apart from loss of sense of taste and smell, they are OK. But this is extremely worrying for them and of course for their families. Although the infection has been found in Gulu, trainees and staff had managed to avoid it in the past, but the Delta variant is making that impossible. The public health service barely exists and there is little in the private sector, even if anyone could afford it. Vaccines are few in Africa, the promised rollout of vaccines from the West to Africa has, of course, hardly begun. We can only send our best wishes and hopes for their safe and full recovery.

GDPU sign by a Design and Decoration trainee

Our best wishes too, to another senior member of the GDPU staff who also recently caught Covid. She was she says, very ill and feared for her life, but managed to stay out of hospital and is now recovered. We send her and her family all our very best wishes for a full recovery as well.

The Next Newsletter

There will be more on the challenges to Instant Apprenticeship Scheme in the next ETC of PWD newsletter.

Want to know more?

If you would like to know more about the ETC of PWD charity please go to our Home page. If you would like to give something, please go to our Donate page. If you would like to know more about Gulu Disabled Persons Union (GDPU) please go to their website or Facebook page. Many Thanks.

This project is match funded with UK aid from the British people’

How are things pushing on at Gulu Disabled Persons Union under the current Uganda Lockdown?

In response to the Delta variant raging through the country, on the 6^th of June the Ugandan President announced severe restrictions for 42 days: markets and businesses closed; most travel prohibited; schools closed; heavy curfew. This had profound implications for the country, for those on the margins and for our Vplus programme, as reported in the last blog. But, Lockdown is really the only weapon against Covid in a country with few vaccines and little public health infrastructure. Has it been working?

A Design and Decoration trainee on the Vplus programme receives training materials during Lockdown

Lockdown Easing

On July 30^th, the President subsequently announced some easing: greater freedom to travel; some forms of businesses to open; schools and colleges to stay closed. In Gulu, Northern Uganda our partners, GDPU are delivering VPlus@GPDU our current vocational training programme for young people with disabilities; the picture is mixed. The Lockdown has worked to some extent, case numbers are dropping apparently, although without much testing it is difficult to know. The Lockdown has been observed, but the effects on those who have so little and depend on small day to day earnings, restrictions are devasting. That in fact, explains any success the Lockdown might have. As Musema Faruk, the Vplus project coordinator explained: “they fear the Lockdown more than the disease, so they do what they are told to make sure the Lockdown can end”.

Internship Training: Hairdressing Workshop

Internships

When the July Lockdown was announced, after careful discussion, it was agreed that instructors on the VPlus programme should support trainees, by phone and by visit where possible. Trainees would be encouraged to return to their internship workshops. To begin with this was successful, some 21 out of the total of 52 trainees returned to internship. Sadly, as the restrictions began to bite that number has gone down to 12, as workshop owners lose work and opportunities to provide for an intern. Workshop owners are now asking for payment before they will host a trainee.

Internship Training: Electronics Workshop

Training Materials

Plans for providing training materials are developing. Initial thoughts had been to support instructors in making short training videos, distributed by phone, through Whats App, You Tube etc. But, under 40% of our trainees have a smart phone and with signal and electricity hard to come by in many areas, this not the complete solution. Paper based training materials have always suffered from the usual problems based around literacy. Diagrams, drawings and notes made during the course help, but more solutions are needed and will be worked on.    

Discussing training with the Design and Decoration Instructor

Apprenticeships

During our meeting this week, Musema Faruk explained that, far from the July 19th date originally proposed by the Government, it was unlikely that schools would reopen before September, possibly even October. The current plan he is putting together is for a full apprenticeship scheme. Our trainees, i.e. the VPlus programme, will pay a small amount to work and train in those workshops that can open now. Many of the instructors have their own workshops that can function in this way. Instructors will continue to support all their trainees, and the final certificated exam will be in the workshop under supervision. And, of course when circumstances allow, there will be a full graduation ceremony at GDPU. Local leaders, elders, families and member of the community will come together to celebrate the success of these determined young people.

Mr Onyango Patrick, Design and Decoration Instructor, handing over training materials

Case Study

However, there is more to learning and becoming self-sufficient than core content. Okello Emma, the VPlus Guidance Counsellor has been working on a fascinating case study with a young Design and Decoration trainee. Time spent at GDPU with the PWD (People with Disability) community made this trainee realise she was not alone, and this has radically changed her approach to life. With the support of her Guidance Counsellor, her brother and her instructor (who has been supplying her with training and materials), she is now making baskets to sell. She has a purpose and a place, is feeling more positive, constructive and rebuilding relations with her family and community.

Okello Emma, Guidance Counsellor supporting a trainee.

The Plus in Vplus

This case study reinforces the basis of the ETC programme; hence the Plus in Vplus. The Life Skills element is vital, it cannot be neglected despite current conditions. To an extent this can be remedied by a final ‘Reflections’ week before graduation, whenever that might be. But it is a difficult balance that all involved must try to keep and will work towards in the future. It is a simple, almost cliched lesson but nonetheless true: we learn better when we learn together.

Want to know more?

If you would like to know more about the ETC of PWD charity please go to our Home page. If you would like to give something, please go to our Donate page. If you would like to know more about Gulu Disabled Persons Union (GDPU) please go to their website or Facebook page. Many Thanks.

This project is match funded with UK aid from the British people’