ENHANCING SELF-EMPLOYMENT AND FINANCIAL INCLUSION OF 200 VULNERABLE TEENAGE MOTHERS THROUGH VOCATIONAL, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT SKILLING & MARKET ACCESS

Nanziga Women Development Initiative (NAWODI) a Community Based Not-For-Profit making Organization is a training organization accredited by Directorate of Industrial training Certificate (DIT) from Ministry of Education and Sports Uganda. Through its quarterly community consultative meetings or engagements, NAWODI identified and enrolled 100 teenage mothers who gave birth to children during the Post-COVID 19 period and were abandoned by their spouses without financial support. The teenage mothers lack skills for self-employment and depend on begging for financial support from relatives, community churches and men of good will which further exposes them to more violence and sexual exploitation. To address the poverty and marginalization and lack of skills, the teenage mothers during a consultation meeting to gather their priorities proposed to be equipped with hands on skills plus start up tools in order to practice vocational skills acquired thus generation of income to cater for their own basic needs and that of their children. School books making was one of the handcrafts which was proposed by 60 teenage mothers given the several schools that are mushrooming everyday at Primary, secondary & tertiary levels all need black books, diaries, work books of quire 3 and quire 4 for students to write their work. The materials needed to train and make and cut books include: straw boards, padding leather, ruled papers, marble sheet covers, cobra threads, stitching needles, plain binding glue, assorted brushes, assorted art brushes, work tables, rulers, cutters, cutting machine, stapler, HP Printer, working tables and book making trainer’s incentive. Fifty (100) teenage mothers preferred to learn hairdressing/styling and cosmetology including dread making, the training materials needed to train include: Dummy Heads, Item Packets of pamoja Braids, Tins of hairconditioners, Pieces of handdriers, Packets of Winky, Tins of Hair relaxers, Tins of Blowout, Tins of Pink Oil, Tins of Leave-in treatment, Tins of Eco-Gel, Pieces of curl activator, Bottles of spirit, Movit Gel Tins, Packets of styling pins, Shower cap, Headburn, Gloves, Towels, Styling charts, Weave needles, setting Lotion, Packets of crotchets, Tins of hairfood, Buckets, A working table, medium dread making machine, 200-seater tent for trainees, trainers professional incentive. Twenty (40) teenage mothers preferred sanitary pad making since the re-usable pads are on demand in primary and secondary schools and materials to train in making these pads include; manual sewing machines, industrial brother and overlock electric machines, water poof materials, cloth, burton fixing machine, packets of burtons. Start up kits will be provided to the trainees upon graduation and receipt of a DIT certificate. The 100 teenage mothers will be equipped with enterprise or business development skills, organized into 3 Village saving scheme and linked to financial institutions with youth friendly financial services to grow their income. Market access will be enhanced through designing digital website participating in trade exhibition to showcase vocational products
• What are the objectives and expected results
Objective 1: To enhance capacity for self-employment among 200 teenage mothers through vocational skilling. Results: 200 teenage mothers self-employed and earning in preferred vocations as book makers, sanitary pad producers and saloon owners/beauticians
Objective 2: To increase capacity among teenage mothers to start, grow and sustain small scale businesses as book makers, sanitary pad makers and saloon owners. Results: 200 teenage mothers apply business skills to profit and sustain their small enterprises
Objective 3: Increase financial inclusion through formation of village savings and loans Association (VSLAs) and digital literacy to enable online transactions. Result: Capacity to save money and operate digital transactions increased.