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Project Hope was officially opened by the Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon

Project Hope was officially opened by the Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon

Centre for former child soldiers officially opened by the Commonwealth Secretary-General

11 December 2007

On Saturday 17 November 2007 Project Hope: The Northern Uganda Youth Development Centre in the Gulu district was officially opened by the Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon

Around 250 people including the Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Florence Mugasha, the Director of the Commonwealth Youth Programme Dr Fatiha Serour, local authorities and other members of the international community attended to witness the opening of the Centre which will provide resources, vocational skills, counselling and hope to young people who have been affected by the war.

The Northern Uganda Youth Development Centre (NUYDC) is a government of Uganda project located in Gulu District which is currently being supported with funding from the Commonwealth Secretariat.

The Centre targets former child soldiers as well as other victims of the 20 year civil war and aims to help them rebuild their lives, regain trust in adults and turn into agents for peace in their community.

The CYP-run Centre will train about 4,000 young people aged 15-25 years initially in Gulu District and will subsequently expand to cover the Acholi sub-region.

The longer term vision is for the Centre to become one of excellence in youth business and entrepreneurship, sustainable livelihoods, peace building and social reconstruction as a way for young people to reclaim their identity and contribute to community healing.


Henry Oryem-Okello, Uganda’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said, you can make physical peace, but peace in the hearts and minds of people will take time. NUYDC is part of that healing process. Just 12 months ago, the land was covered by bush. Now the Centre has an identity – a neat collection of offices and training rooms have been built in just six months. In turn, these will be used to help rebuild the lives of many young people living in the area.

The ceremony on Saturday included the graduation of 28 young women, many former child soldiers – and some young mothers who had been raped during the war. In formal black gowns, they received their certificates from the Secretary-General to officially acknowledge the end of their eight-month crafts training and the beginning of their reintegration into society.

They are the first graduates from the Centre. Joseph Okema, who is Programme Manager of the project, explained that this process of self respect was something that could never be quantified. He stated that four of the women had already found paid employment as crafts trainers elsewhere.

"I salute the gentle and intelligent people whom I met, those who are clearly committed in a real and positive way to healing their community. People like Joseph Okema. It is a long road to travel and it will be as potholed, risky and as unpredictable as the route we travelled from Kampala, but it’s the only way to move forward and young people living there deserve that chance," said Dr Fatiha Serour.

The Ugandan Government has invested 1 billion Ugandan shillings (about £280,000) as well as human resources towards the Centre. The Commonwealth Secretariat provided the initial start-up capital of £500,000 for three years for the establishment of the Centre. The project has received contributions from the World Food Programme, the Japanese Government and ARK, the international children’s charity. CYP is currently in the process of mobilising more resources to support the Centre.

For more information about the Centre and how to support this peace building initiative please contact Joseph Okema, Project Manager, at joseph_okema@yahoo.co.uk or call +256 (0) 772706615.

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