Come, tell me your story: A youth reporter and TeamUp Uganda

We all know these typical project videos in international cooperation telling about approach, impact and showing happy beneficiaries. TeamUp Uganda aims to do something different. That is why the three-year program launches a Vlog-series with Shivan Kyakuhaire, a 20-year-old Ugandan and Youth Reporter. TeamUp Uganda asked Shivan to travel to Mityana, where TeamUp is implemented, to search for young men and women taking part in the program, she can accompany for the coming years in a series of Vlogs. Asking honest questions, showing life and concerns they have and how their life changes as part of TeamUp.

Shivan discovers first-hand how the young people live and develop; she listens to them, understands them and tells their stories and what the role of TeamUp is in all of this. Shivan will travel back to them to see whether they will have achieved their plans and how this has been done.

So, now it is time to meet Thaddeus (24), Jamida (22), Fatuma (26) and Razak (23). They are every day youth living in the rural parts of Mityana, at different levels of development, education and economic background. TeamUp unifies the expertise of Agriculture, Water and Health in a multi-sectoral program, implemented by Action 4 Health Uganda, Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung and Whave Solutions.

When Shivan met them for the first time, TeamUp was about one year into implementation. The youth told her, what already has happened in the first 12 months to them, their life’s and peers. With the global Coronavirus pandemic, she then needed to halt her visits, but now we finally can share her first Vlogs in the coming weeks.

Growing up in rural Uganda can be challenging. The rate of school dropouts is high, as many parents cannot afford to keep children in school after primary level, the ones that stay in school, are not able to access employment and so have to forge ahead on their own. Agriculture is the largest employer in the region, but many youth do not see it as a cool working opportunity. Access to health is limited and the knowledge about health related topics is low. Water is life, but access to water and maintenance of wells is poor. All of these issues are addressed by TeamUp Uganda.

TeamUp is a multi – sectoral approach to development cooperation initiated by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and managed as well as co-financed through the three foundations of Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung (DSW), Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS) and Siemens Stiftung. The program unites the expertise, networks and resources of three local organizations, namely; Action 4 Health Uganda (A4HU), Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung Africa (HRNS) and Whave Solutions implementing in the multi sectors of Health, Agriculture as well as Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).