Vocational Training Programs

In the rural areas of Rwanda and Uganda where Africa Development Promise works, 70% of women are engaged in subsistence farming – the entry point of Arica Development’s work – but many aspire to acquire technical and vocational skills training for greater livelihood options.

Working with women over the past eight years, Africa Development Promise has learned that women often start individual micro-businesses that they run alongside the cooperative enterprise. They understand that to empower themselves and earn a sustainable income they must create self-employment activities.

ADP’s Vocational Training Program was launched in Uganda in February 2019 to build a range of skills and support women with the opportunity to branch out into new enterprises that expand their livelihood options and future resilience.

Technical and vocational education and training, focusing on the development of technical and vocational skills training for employment, decent jobs, and entrepreneurship, have an important role to play in promoting young people’s, especially young women, integration into the labor market and in combating poverty.

Africa Development Promise’s vocational training offers cooperative members, middle and high school students, and community members access to computer literacy, sewing, and entrepreneurship courses.

• Computer Literacy – a six-week training program that introduces participants to computers, Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Annually, ADP trains three cohorts of ten students.

• Sewing – a six-month training program that teaches sewing skills and covers areas such as file work, garment construction, threading, machine handling, and maintenance. ADP trains two cohorts of ten participants annually and facilitates graduates’ opportunities to sit for a national sewing exam.

• Micro-Business Development Training – a six-month training program that imparts entrepreneurship skills using the award-winning Street Business School curriculum, which encompasses eight modules. Annually, ADP’s certified coaches train two cohorts of twenty participants in Rwanda and Uganda, respectively. This program also provides graduates seed funding to start or grow existing micro-businesses. In addition, Africa Development Promise also works to connect participants to markets, credit, management tools, and other resources.