What We Do
YSA helps young people to help themselves.
By assisting locally-based social workers, community leaders and peer educators our activities reach a wide audience. The strongly participatory “TWIGA” methods are designed to spread important knowledge and attitudes through a multiplier effect.
Our work inspires the formation of youth groups, which in turn contribute to the development of their communities. YSA also assists these groups to build youth networks, and we provide them with training in important fields for development, such as organisation, moderation, alternative livelihoods and income generation, basic health and peace education.
YSA established youth friendly centers, youth groups and provided livelihoods to young people to reduce their vulnerability through improved economic well being.and capacity building trainings. YSA also introduced mobile youth services with a fully equipped “Youth Van” to enhance the delivery of services.
YSA also supports the development of children and youth related policies at a national level. YSA is an increasingly powerful advocate both through its activities with the ministry, and through networking with other interested organisations.
Child protection services aimed at creating safe environments for children in and out of school. Activities carried out include sensitisation of pupils, teachers, school governing bodies and the community at large about child rights.
Livelihoods improvement services where YSA facilitates the formation of youth groups to engage in Income Generating Services (IGAs) to enable members achieve economic independence. A YSA produced Business Handbook is used in the identification and selection of suitable economic activities.
Life skills training – YSA engages in and conducts trainings in life skills using the TWIGA modules to encourage and teach group formation, conflict resolution, entrepreneurship and administration. HIV/Aids sensitisation is carried out alongside the TWIGA trainings.
Consultancies/Trainings – YSA provides consultancy and training services in the “Be A Man” campaign where men are actively engaged as advocates against domestic violence and HIV/AIDS transmission by encouraging responsible and accountable behaviour. YSA also provides training services to other agencies in training of youth social workers and staff in innovative approaches to social work and basic social work skills.
Youth friendly services – YSA, through the mobile youth van activities, provides guidance and counselling services in various locations of Northern Uganda. Film and drama shows are also held as part of the mobile youth van services to encourage dissemination of information in interactive and entertaining ways.
Services
TWIGA – Swahili for Giraffe – is the name given by the Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development to its modular training system. This system is at the heart of YSA’s activities. It is highly innovative and participatory, with activities that are attractive to young people and which have a strong multiplier effect through the work of networked youth groups. YSA collaborates with Froebel Academy International, a German consulting agency for education and social development, to provide certification for TWIGA trainees.
The TWIGA Modules
“The Animator” module covers group formation and management. Young people learn to facilitate their own lively, participatory training sessions and to impart skills for coping creatively with challenges of group dynamics. The module includes numerous interactive games, role-plays and problem solving exercises.
“The Mediator” introduces trainees to practical methods of non-violent conflict resolution and peace building. These methods address conflicts which occur within groups, but can also be applied to larger-scale problems arising at community or tribal level.
“The Advisor” module teaches the groups various entrepreneurial and business skills intended to help them launch their own income-generating activities and to make these positive activities profitable for all involved. Two sections of the module cover the topics of business development and business ideas respectively.
“The Organiser” includes administrative skills for peer educators, showing them and the groups they work with how to apply for funds, organise and regulate their activities events and how to conduct effective monitoring. This module also includes the PCYA (Participatory Children and Youth Appraisal), which is method for assessing the needs of the groups and their communities.
Beyond these core modules, YSA also frequently carries out additional workshops to sensitise young people and communities about various important issues such as HIV/AIDS, Child protection, Peace Building, Human rights and Environmental protection.
2) Technical support
YSA offers technical support for the organisations and individuals and facilitation of participatory and consultative workshops in the development field. Our staff are experienced leaders or such workshops and fora, and can provide a complete package of services down to the final reporting.
3) Youth exchange visits
A special component within YSA's programme of activities is the organisation of youth exchange visits.
YSA believes in "learning by doing". Therefore, we support the establishment of small-scale farming units by young people for demonstration purposes within their communities. Visits organised between these demonstration units enable those involved to share their ideas and experiences. The skills and information exchanged in this way help the young people to become more effective in using the resources in the community and to establish new income-generating activities, either individually or in groups. This exercise has helped many young people to establish small-scale agricultural activities. Working in groups has proved most effective for young people, as it enables them to pool resources and share ideas.
Because of the limited resources, the focus of this activity has so far been limited to livelihoods, but we hope to expand coverage to other aspects of income generation in future.
In collaboration with Jugendsozialwerk Nordhausen e.V, YSA organised a work camp for young people in July 2007. The work camp brought together disadvantaged Ugandan and German youth for a cultural exchange. These youth were be able to share and pass on their cultural values and knowledge.
4) Volunteers
The concept of volunteering is not new, though it is rarely practised in African countries. Young people usually leave school poorly qualified and with no experiences that could help them find employment. The result is enforced idleness which contributes to poverty and in extreme cases, may make youngsters susceptible to exploitation, prostitution, drug addiction and other social problems.
To play a small part in addressing this, YSA has initiated its own volunteer programme for young school leavers. Following an internship with our organisation, these young people are either retained by YSA or we arrange for them to join other organisations that express interest in them. We hope that allowing these youngsters to participate in our work will enable them to explore the world of employment while acquiring some skills and useful experiences and building their self-esteem.
Some of the sectors into which our young volunteers have progressed include business, agriculture, manufacturing, service industry, construction and NGOs. We are proud that most of them have found some later employment.
5) Professional services (consultancy)
Through our consultancy unit, we provide professional services that deliver superior results and create lasting value for our clients. Our competencies are in the following areas:
Capacity development (training, coaching and mentoring) in:
• Formation and management of small self help groups
• Management of income generating activities
• Project proposal writing
• Developing fund raising strategies
• Strategic planning
• Monitoring and evaluation
• Gender and HIV/AIDS mainstreaming
• Rights Based Approaches
• Child Rights Programming
• Organisational Assessments
• Curriculum development
• Community sensitisation drives using the mobile youth van and forum theatre approaches
Developing manuals and organizational policies
• Training manuals and materials
• Internal policies for management of physical, human and financial resources
• Terms of reference for NGO governance and management committees
Research
• Feasibility studies
• Baseline surveys
• Socio-economic research
• Legal and policy analysis
• Project/programme evaluations
Resource management
• Management of grants for small organizations
• Organizing and managing Summer Institutes for learning
• Organizing and managing conferences and seminars
• Placement and management of International Volunteers