Sh850m Pamoja project to equip communities with practical skills

Underprivileged communities in Uganda are set to get skills that will enable them establish small cottage industries to generate incomes and improve their livelihoods.

The development follows the launch of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Directorate of Industrial Training (DIT) and Umeme, under its sh850m Pamoja project that will see underprivileged Ugandans trained in various business skills.

Speaking during the launch in Kampala on Wednesday last week, the Umeme regional operations head, Andrew Mwesigye, said the project will empower communities with different skills to enable them use electricity in a productive manner, to drive employment and economic growth.

The beneficiaries will be equipped with different skills, ranging from domestic wiring, home appliance repair, phone and television repair, baking, hair dressing, fashion and design, crafts and food and juice processing, among others.

"If somebody can buy a small machine and put it in their home to produce spices or groundnut paste. The moment we achieve this, then we will see many cottage industries cropping up in different households and that will help improve the livelihoods of these people and, ultimately, drive economic growth," Mwesigye said.

He added that with about six million homes not yet connected to the power grid, the partnership will see people interested in being wiremen, technicians or engineers trained to enable them connect more households.

"If we are to continue with the current customer absorption rate, it will take us about 20 years to absorb or connect every household that needs electricity. So, we put more people on the electricity grid, we shall require more people to wire houses, we shall need more technicians and more engineers - so we need to ensure that we grow with the electricity sector," he said.

He added: "We are partnering with government and various funding partners to accelerate the connection of these household onto the grid and, therefore, we also need to make sure that our people are involved in this process in a beneficial manner."

Under the partnership, DIT will participate in identification, development and implementation of professional skills modules, trainings and certification and provide evidence of competence assessments for project beneficiaries.

It will also participate in lobbying and raising of co-funding for the project, along with various working groups to meet the project goals.

Increased productivity

The DIT director, Patrick Byakatonda, said the partnership is in line with the National Development Plan that seeks to produce appropriate knowledgeable, skilled and ethical labour force.

He added that this will help increase production and productivity as people will be equipped with skills to start small businesses.

DIT has had similar collaborations with the National Water and Sewerage Corporation, Private Sector Foundation Uganda, Uganda National Roads Authority, Electricity Regulatory Authority,

Uganda Manufacturers Association, Datamine Technical Business School, Kampala Capital City Authority and the National Environmental Management Authority, which Byakatonda said have had positive results.

Nakulabye

The Pamoja project manager, Peter Mwesigwa, said the project will be piloted in Nakulabye, a Kampala suburb, in the areas of Kiwuunya, Kiyaaye and Kiyindi, among others, which he said are characterised by low employable skills, high crime rates and high levels of unemployment.

"Our aim is to improve the living conditions and empower people within these communities and to facilitate new and safer connections for people in these communities," he said.

Umeme and DIT will work with community leaders to identify the required skills and beneficiaries to be trained. Mwesigwa added that they will also work with institutions that are already working in these communities, including Makerere University School of Engineering and Plan International, among others, to achieve the intended objectives.

He said if the project is successful, it will be rolled out across the country. The deputy director in charge of assessment and certification at DIT, Michael Okumu, said after identifying the communities' needs, DIT will then develop standards for each occupation and issue beneficiaries with certificates of competence in the respective occupations.

He added that they will also identify suitable and accredit workplaces in line with the project and use them for project assessment.