181 youths to benefit from pilot EACOP community restoration programme

The programme seeks to provide an opportunity for projected-affected persons to improve their livelihoods and income levels and restore their means capacity to generate income, their production levels and standards of living.

This comes after EACOP completed the land acquisition of its first main camp and pipe yard and began to hand over replacement houses to project-affected persons.

Programme phases

The EACOP deputy managing director John Bosco Habumugisha said the programme will be implemented in phases. He was speaking at the inauguration of vocational training programmes in institutions in Masaka and Hoima districts.

According to Habumugisha, the first phase seeks to support households to transition as part of the short-term measure to boost food security.

The second and third phases will focus on providing opportunities and support to restore livelihood in the areas to pre-project levels.

He said the programme will involve a combination of agricultural improvement activities and vocational training to upskill households to boost their capacity to restore and improve their livelihood and build their own enterprises.

The training programme will kick off with a total of 181 youth from project-affected households in the districts of Hoima, Kakumiro, Kikuube, Kyankwanzi, Mubende, Gomba, Sembabule, Rakai, and Lwengo among others.

Vocational courses

The short-term vocational courses include welding, plumbing, building and construction, electrical installation, video and photography, and computer and secretarial studies, fashion and design, catering, driving, motor vehicle and motorcycle mechanics, hairdressing, tailoring and garment design.

Habumugisha said two beneficiaries per project-affected household will benefit from courses.