Leadership workshop and youth camp to promote participatory community development

The URF mission of empowering orphans, underprivileged youth and women to fight poverty in rural communities, through educational and sustainable development opportunities, cannot be fulfilled without close collaboration with the people we serve. A platform ought to be established as a medium of dialogue to listen, welcome feedback on our programs, and collaboratively draw up strategies for addressing critical social and economic challenges of our communities.

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Authentic sustainable development must start from the bottom up, ignited and facilitated by grassroots efforts, by tapping into local resources and technical knowledge. The URF wishes to foster this model of community development to ensure efficiency in implementing small-scale high- impact programs, and create sustainability. It is our belief that without dedicated local ethical and visionary leaders we cannot achieve sustainable development.

The URF strives to raise awareness of the impact of leadership on community development, and to develop a platform for grooming strong visionary leaders at the grassroots level.

To this effect, a workshop was organized under the theme “2015 Community Leadership & Economic Empowerment for Sustainable Development Workshop: Ugandans Helping Ugandans” and was held on Friday April 17th – Sunday 19th at URF/Hope Academy, 35km on Masaka – Mbarara Road in Lwengo district.

The weekend will involve: a. Community Leadership Workshop: Saturday, April 18th from 9:00am – 6:00pm; b. Medical Camp: Saturday, April 18th from 9:00am – 6:00pm; and c. Youth Leadership Camp: Friday, April 17th from 3:00pm – Sunday, April 19th at 2:00pm

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Goals and Objectives included:

a) Inspire a spirit of collaborative community development reaching a target of 1,000 people
b) Enlighten community members and youth on the critical importance of good leadership and how it influences community development
c) Empower communities with practical knowledge on how to capitalize on their human potential, and mobilize tools and resources to implement solutions for local problems
d) Motivate young professionals to engage in community development and cultivate the spirit of volunteerism
e) Collect feedback from beneficiaries regarding the impact URF programs have made in their communities
f) Inspire youth in rural, underprivileged communities to cultivate positive thinking—to identify opportunities for leadership and community engagement, , thus fostering the development of practical skills to accelerate personal growth and strategic career planning.

The workshop was a great success. Thanks to our facilitators from URF Kampala Chapter and many other professionals and community members.

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