Uganda Leadership Development Program
Country: Uganda
City/Town: Soroti town and Teso Region
CarePoint: N/A
People Impacted: 40
Total Cost: $67,000 (or $1,675 per individual)
Estimated time to complete: 3 phases over 2 years
Areas of Transformation
Education
Economic Development
The Uganda Leadership Development Program (UGLDP) seeks to achieve the goal of equipping youth as emerging leaders with skills that promote sustainable community transformation, stewardship, and active community leadership in addition to spiritual impact and transformation.
Historical Background
For over 20 years, Uganda has been affected by insurgency, during which many people lost their lives and property and were physically abused. In some of the most impoverished regions in Uganda, there are many child-headed households and orphaned children who cannot afford education, food, medical care, and other physical needs. We believe that for the Uganda of tomorrow to become better, the country needs a new generation of leaders who fear God, love justice, and are committed to change. The arrival of Children’s HopeChest to the eastern region in Uganda was timely, according to Joseph, our Country Director.
In response to poor leadership within the communities, Children’s HopeChest’s UGLDP was designed in May 2016 to serve and train young people (ages 15-30) and community leaders from across areas where we work. We identify individuals who demonstrate community leadership and have a desire to serve others and create vibrant communities. Our objective is to provide participants with residential leadership training, facilitated 100% by Ugandan leaders from other institutions to empower young people and community leaders in the Teso sub-region.
The UGLDP of HopeChest Uganda bridges the leadership gap within community service through transformational leadership, as well as social and business entrepreneurship. Transformational leadership further develops a wide range of meaningful and effective practices, and cultivates powerful new identities, ready to challenge poor resource management between leaders, community leaders, and members. The training was designed to particularly address the attitudes, knowledge, and skills which empower individuals to effectively deal with the demands and challenges of everyday life.
Return on Investment Potential
Participants will go through three phases of the training.
- Phase One: “Face-to-Face,” this initial phase is a six to seven week in-person, residential training.
- Phase Two: “Field Placement” occurs in the second phase, when participants reside in the communities where HopeChest works and intern for HopeChest within our CarePoints and communities. This is an opportunity to practice what they learned in the initial training. This phase occurs in a minimum of four months (optimal time is six to nine months).
- Phase Three: The Second “Face-to-Face” is a 15-day in-person formal/final debrief and evaluation.
This program develops entrepreneurship among participants in their communities, which equips youth as emerging leaders with skills that promote community transformation, stewardship, and leadership.
Additional Impacts
- Promoting self-awareness, confidence, and personality strength among the trainees
- Providing leadership knowledge to older youth and community leaders and HopeChest Uganda CarePoint Staff
- Developing entrepreneurship among the participants in their communities
Volunteer and Travel Opportunities
Our Leadership Academy is only in session when there is funding for an entire class. Volunteers who want to travel and interact with our UGLDP students are encouraged to travel with one of our U.S. Leadership Team Members on a visit and will have the opportunity to meet some of our students either in session or after graduation and hear their stories.
Engagement Opportunities
If an individual with a strong leadership background and experience would like to engage with our leadership academy students, then we encourage that through a visit to Uganda. There is an opportunity to go and teach a session at our academy – under the approval and discretion of our Uganda Country Director. We encourage other leaders to visit our students, hear their stories, and encourage them in their leadership development and growth.
