ABOUT US
VISION
Transformation and sustainable growth amongst poor, marginalized and vulnerable people
MISSION
To be a Local NGO that is committed to accessing opportunities to better the lives of the most poor, marginalised and vulnerable people
GOAL
To engage the communities in developing an empowered and socio-economic society
Our Core Values
Stewardship, Accountability and transparency, professionalism, Poverty Reduction, partnership, commitment and Non-discrimination
Aims and Objectives
- Improve the health of vulnerable communities by addressing issues that undermine their good health such as access to health services, counselling services, safe water, sanitation and management of preventable and treatable diseases.
- To promote formal education, vocational training, life skills and human rights awareness to vulnerable communities to help them cope with life challenges.
- To increase household incomes among vulnerable communities through programmes that ensure self-reliance and sustainability.
- To provide agricultural, value addition support and market linkage to vulnerable communities to ensure empowerment and development.
- To increase care, protection and preservation of the natural environment and/or biodiversity as a local effort to counter the already devastating effects of global warming
Our Story
we believe sustainable development and transformation are essential to ensuring the creation of well-founded initiatives that empower poor, marginalized and vulnerable people to change their lives and communities.
Innovative Youth with Action Uganda (IYAU) is a not-for-profit organization that promotes empowerment of poor, marginalized and vulnerable people for sustainable change through facilitating access to skills development, environmental sustainability, income generation and job creation, Education, HIV/AIDS services, Orphans and Vulnerable children care and support services, Basic Health care Services, Zero tolerance to Gender Based violence, Peace Building and sustainable agricultural practices. We have built experience in leadership and entrepreneurship, HIV/AIDs services, Orphans and Vulnerable Care and support, Environment and climate change, human rights advocacy, Enterprise development, innovative approaches to youth participation, thus creating opportunities for alternative sources of livelihood, HIV free generation, Job creation and entrepreneurship development, in order to contribute to social transformation in Uganda
IYAU was founded on the premise that it is critical to elevate poor, marginalized and vulnerable people’s needs and ambitions to take responsibility for their communities. All our work aims to contribute to a society that supports and embraces the self-assurance of the young people and their communities.
Our Management
IYAU is managed by a leadership team with expertise in HIV/AIDS, Designing Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation systems, Needs Assessment, Project proposal writing, Participatory Poverty Assessment, Financial management, Gender empowerment and development, Design thinking, Micro enterprise development, Management and leadership development, Human rights Interventions, Social accountability, entrepreneurship, research, lobbying and advocacy, and organisational development. Our Board of Directors provides expertise thematically and geographically. We are a learning organisation driven by our desire for positive social change, sustainable development and transformation of people’s lives.
Our Programs
We believe sustainable development and transformation are essential to ensuring the creation of justifiable initiatives that empower poor, marginalized and vulnerable people to change their lives and communities. Some of the programs that benefit IYAU’s beneficiaries are;
Education and training
- We work with peer educators to train different HIV groups in the community in literacy, writing and financial management skills.
- Provision of scholastic materials to OVC who are in school.
- We carryout educational promotion of the girl child sponsorship of selected beneficiaries in primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions in order to uplift the standards of education of women in society.
- We provide technical, material and psychosocial support to OVCs in and out of school (in terms of child sponsorship in good primary, post primary and tertiary institutions, training out of children on technical/vocational skills)
- Entrepreneurship and skills development
- Enhancing the participation of women in both rural and urban areas, in economic development in order to: contribute to job creation, improved household incomes; improved food security; promote value addition in agriculture.
- Promoting access to markets and financial services for women and youths.
- Promoting social-economic empowerment for the youth and women through creating income generating opportunities
- Transforming youth, particularly those who are unemployed and disadvantaged, into more creditworthy entrepreneurs and direct them to youth-friendly financial products
Public health and sanitation
- Promotion health education on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and HIV Prevention (SRHR/HIV) among young people in both schools and rural communities.
- Supporting early childhood development in coordination with Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) and other paediatric HIV programs, and integrating HIV care and treatment.
- Improve care and support to people affected and infected with HIV/AIDS in terms of providing home based care through provision of food, clothing, soap and encouraging or help them access Anti-retroviral drugs from government health centres/hospitals, including, encouraging people to go for HIV/AIDS voluntary Counselling and testing and participate in IGAs
- Offering risk reduction counselling and supplies through community-based outreach and peer outreach
- Home visits to people living with HIV/AIDS (PHAs) and orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) to provide counselling, nursing care, ART referral and promotion of hygiene and sanitation
- Providing HIV testing and counselling (HTC) that are accessible to Key Populations and vulnerable populations (i.e. mobile counselling and testing, drop-in centers, “hotspots,” and households)
- Enhancing youth friendly services for adolescent reproductive health and education for responsible sexual behaviour through links with our Life Planning Skills Project.
- Family planning education, awareness and referral.
- Addressing stigma and discrimination through Key Population peer networks
- Social mobilisation for pregnant women to attend antenatal care and deliver at the health facilities
- linking HIV-positive children, adolescents, and family members to healthcare facilities for care and treatment
- supporting a child-focused and family-centered approach to health and nutrition
- We promote HIV testing for OVC and OVC households
- We create supportive, child-friendly spaces for OVCs, particularly for adolescents at high risk (i.e. out-of-school girls).
- Partnering with community and facility based Key Population services to increase HIV service up-take
Human rights advocacy
- Advocacy for the rights of vulnerable groups like: PLHIV and OVC
- Legal representation (e.g. for cases of rape, child abuse, gender based violence)
- Awareness to access to justice, Promoting peace and reconciliation
- Capacity building and training in human rights, and democracy
- Contributing to positive changes to beliefs, attitudes, stereotypes and practices that exacerbate gender based violence and human rights violations.
- Advocacy for child rights and girls rights in health, education, against early marriage
- Focus on Alcohol, drug and substance abuse prevention mainly in children and youth; promotion of advocacy interventions; HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support; Child Protection ,combating commercial sexual exploitation of children; Prevention, rehabilitation and re-integration of children engaged in worst forms of child labour
- Prevention of Sexual Violence against women and girls
- Promoting human rights advocacy and good governance for improved service delivery in health and education
- Build the capacity of women to carryout advocacy for the policy changes so as to address women and other marginalized people’s concerns in development
Environment and sustainable Production
- Because of the unlimited dependence of people on the environment for subsistence livelihood and income generation, IYAU sees a need to improve and restore the environment so as to contribute to the sustainability of our economy through tree planting and maintenance of existing trees to be included in all interventions, provision of tree seedlings, encouraging people to get other forms of energy (training like on energy saving stoves, briquettes), advocate for protection of swamps and partner with environment organisations
- Increase care, protection and preservation of the natural environment and/or biodiversity as a local effort to counter the already devastating effects of global warming
- Awareness and sensitization on the use of energy saving technologies and possibility of using biogas technology
- Mitigate carbon dioxide emissions and reduce the pressure on local forests through the substitution of non-renewable charcoal with an efficient and renewable alternative and at the same time turning waste into organic manure for farmers
Livelihoods and economic empowerment program
- Increase economic sufficiency of the households through engagement in productive and sustainable agriculture and skills development for income generation through opening up income generating activities (IGAs), credit service for the rural poor and distributing emergency relief items.
- Promoting social-economic empowerment for the youth and women through creating income generating opportunities
- Enhancing sustainable agricultural production, value addition and marketing for small scale farmers
- Promotion of sustainable agriculture approaches for farming through proper resource management and ecological awareness
- Establishment of an environment for the sharing and exchange of sustainable agriculture/food security approaches and indigenous knowledge among project stakeholders and other development actors at district, national and international level.
- We raise awareness among farmers of the value of their local genetic resources, organic manures, indigenous knowledge and systems
- Promotion of the participation of women in commercial farming community level decision-making through empowering them to access and have control over income and other assets within the household
- We build on existing development initiatives by building viable partnerships that will create forward and backward market linkages that will increase opportunities for access farm inputs, technologies, and farm business development services (FBDS) and market that can offer premium or better farm gate prices
- We organize the smallholder farmer groups to engage in bulk marketing and collective bargaining so as to attract fair market prices
Volunteering
IYAU runs the International Volunteers Programme where young people around the world join the IYAU team not only to contribute to the work of the organisation but also use this opportunity to learn from the different communities in Uganda. The overall goal of the program is to create opportunities for young people around the world to learn and share their experiences and expertise while contributing to the development of social enterprises of young people in Uganda.
Volunteering with us gives you access to a wide variety of experiences from Ugandan communities where you will engage with young people who are contributing to society through social enterprises.
- Achieve personal satisfaction by helping others (especially Orphans and Vulnerable Children) by restoring their hope.
- Spend your leisure time constructively
- Develop a new relationship with an IYAU family and make new friends
- Learn new things while working as part of a team
- Gain self-confidence as you can make a difference by working for a cause and giving hope to the young people and OVCs.
- Develop various life skills and widen your horizons
- And have fun with us!
You will support the work of creating awareness on HIV/AIDS, spiritual counselling for OVCs, training of young people on entrepreneurship, distribution of scholastic materials to OVCs, Planting of trees for environmental conservation, and addressing issues of gender based violence. You will be part of the dynamic young team of IYAU, volunteers, mentors and Inspirators who are passionate about the work we do. By the end of your volunteer period, you will have learnt and contributed to social transformation of vulnerable children, young men and women in Uganda
Who Qualifies As A Volunteer?
- Student: This includes college students above 18years and university students undertaking a bachelor’s degree.
- Graduates: Already possessing a university degree, and pursuing a master’s degree or Ph.D.
- Young Professionals: Completed with your university degree i.e. bachelors, masters and Ph.D. and building a career.
Join the IYAU team to have a professional experience in a developing country, use your skills and knowledge in a different and more challenging cultural environment, and develop new skills.
Areas of Volunteering
Programs
This involves the training of young people on life skills, community outreach, HIV/AIDS prevention and care, OVCs Care and support, Entrepreneurship, Post-harvest handling techniques, Human rights, Environment and climate change, Gender issues, research and documentation, agri-business, and media production.
Organisation Administration.
This includes accounts and finance, human resource management, fundraising, Proposal development, information technology, photography and videography.
Monitoring and evaluation
IYAU serves society through implementation of different projects; the success of the projects is our success. Volunteers participate in establishing the monitoring and evaluation tools and guidelines.
Why Volunteer With IYAU
Your involvement, motivation, high quality works and commitment enable IYAU to reach out to many young people to make a difference. Moreover, volunteers do provide high quality work that positively influences the organisation and its beneficiaries. Your participation in this program will significantly compliment the work of our organisation and enrich the efforts to do more and realizing real results that are tangible and measurable.
How to Join As A Volunteer
Volunteers will be recruited using an equal opportunities approach and using a variety of different methods to make the broadest possible range of people aware of the volunteering opportunities offered by our organization.
Interested persons will be required to fill in the online form on Givingway with a link provided below and attach a copy of their curriculum vitae.
Link: http://www.givingway.com/organization/innovative-youth-with-action-uganda
Expenses
Please note, we do not charge any fees for this program. The IYAU volunteer programme is FREE
Our organisation will only cover office/work based expenses incurred by volunteers during their work. The volunteers will be responsible for their travels to and from Uganda, local travel costs, meals and accommodation (IYAU will help volunteers find affordable, safe and accessible places for accommodation.)
Duration of Stay
The programme is task oriented within a stipulated period of 1 to 6 months and might be renewable upon as need arises.
Certification
On completion of the volunteer program, a certificate of Merit will be awarded for exceptional work.
