Ma Ecora youth skills training centre empowers youth who live in abject poverty to be able to rise above their circumstance of hardship through the provision of technical and vocational education. First and foremost, the wars in DR Congo and Southern Sudan bordering Arua and the civil war that took place over a period of 25 years in Northern Uganda compounded the effects of HIV/AIDS, poverty and n
atural disasters. This, in turn, deprived many youths, orphans, disabled and other susceptible groups of people of a formal education due to situations of extreme scarcity and vulnerability. Considering that 69% of the population in Uganda is comprised of youth under the age of 25, an alternative to formal academic training in the form of vocational training is a much-needed resource for self-reliance, community development, economic enhancement and the security of employment opportunities for future generations. The primary grades educational system widely utilized in Uganda places high emphasis on theoretical approaches to learning which is not conducive to all graduates who are left with limited practical abilities in solving present day development problems. Many of the students who approach Ma Ecora for training have scarcely completed a primary level of education and are hindered by economic prospects for higher academic aspirations. This is a gap that Ma Ecora is successful in filling by offering hope through life skills and tertiary education through vocational occupational training. There are very few academic institutions in the region, and those that exist set very high academic standards and fees for admissions, making it very difficult to rise above circumstances of poverty. Taking this into account Ma Ecora Youth Centre established skills training as a viable alternative to traditional educational institutions. Ma Ecora takes into account the value of skills training as economic empowerment for youth who are either academically ineligible for enrolment at traditional academic institutions or economically hindered. The role of Ma Ecora Youth Centre is to empower youths through the provision of pragmatic employable vocational skills providing them opportunities to secure moderate means of human security. The effect on the community serves to increase human resource development and productivity of the work force, thus contributing to the modernization of the economy, reduce the dependency ratio and contributes to poverty alleviation. Ma Ecora marries the dexterity of the hand with the intelligence of the mind to empower youth in education, self-actualization and community development. Ma Ecora is a proponent of the Millennium Development goals in the recognition of women as the cornerstone of development. As per the UNFPA declaration: “Gender equality is, first and foremost, a human right. Women are entitled to live in dignity and in freedom from want and from fear. Empowering women is also an indispensable tool for advancing development and reducing poverty.”
Empowered women contribute to the health and productivity of whole families and communities and to improved prospects for the next generation. Ma Ecora is non-discriminatory in its enrolment of women to any of its programs. The majority of Ma Ecora students are women and girls from varying backgrounds of the most vulnerable in society. Many of our female graduates are working and thriving in catering, hotel management, tailoring, hairdressing and cosmetology fields and many have gone on to achieve higher education levels, and jobs within private and government sectors.
