A new programme dubbed ‘Feed the Future’ will see the training of more than 12,000 Ugandan school children aged between 10 and 14 in entrepreneurial skills as way of preparing them for future employment.
The programme is part of the US Government’s Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative, and according to a February 26 press release, the twenty weeks’ programme will focus on workforce readiness skills such as financial literacy, leadership, critical thinking, health literacy communication and entrepreneurship skills.
The program targets pupils in primary four, five and six and will cover 80 schools in districts of Mbale, Mubende, Masindi and Gulu.
The Feed the Future Uganda Youth Leadership for Agriculture Activity funded by USAID is to partner with the Private Education Development Network (PEDN) and Aflatoum International to provide the training.
“There is no better time than the early years of education to start developing human capital,” says Marcos Moreno, Chief of Party, Feed the Future Uganda Youth Leadership for Agriculture Activity. He says the program gives chance to break the cycle and socially prepare young people to connect to an “empowered future.”
The implementation of the program to promote entrepreneurship will have PEDN work with head teachers, teachers, districts while Aflatoum International will review the program materials and lesson plans as well as provide analysis and report on lessons learned to scale and benchmark future interventions.
Feed the Future supports partner countries in developing their agriculture sectors to spur economic growth and trade that increase incomes and reduce hunger, poverty and undernutrition.