Uncategorized – ETC of PWD

Disablity, Pilot Phase, Uncategorized, Vocational Training

Next Steps: ETC@GDPU in September

Spectators at the 2017 National Disability Sports Gala in Gulu

Highlights of the month

Gulu PWDs Electronic and other members of Gulu Wheelchair Basketball Team took part in a National Sport Gala for Persons with Disabilities organized by Uganda Paralympic Committee and won! See this earlier post.
Members taking part in ETC@GDPU report significant increase in income as a result of their training
An in-depth Reflection Meeting will really help us all evaluate what has worked in the pilot project, and what has not, and where to go from here.

Skills Training Report

The ETC@GDPU project officer followed up recent trainings in Omoro and Gulu, to ensure that the pilot business enterprises are building their capacities in areas such as:

Business plan development,
Skills training
Conflict management and resolution.

The youth are now actively participating in the training programme and 75% are reporting that their levels of income are increasing because:

Their area of coverage has increased
They can now repair more things compared to when they started project.

The training program is running up to the end of October and the GDPU project officer is following up to ensure that they are getting the required skills and that relevant knowledge is imparted

Hairdressing at Acet

Five members of Nyeko Rac Hairdressing and Salon at Acet Centre are trained in areas they need. These are:

pencil plaiting
styling and twisting hair
dread locks
free hand.

Savings are being made among members of Nyeko Rach hairdressing,

Conflicts are being resolved among members

Challenges

Some materials for hairdressing are now available at Nyeko Rac Hair Beauty Salon at Acet, although lack of material for weaves, chemicals etc

Gulu Pwds Electronic

The ETC@GDPU project officer has reported before about difficulties with Gulu PWDs, their lack of cohesion as a group, their disinterest in saving money and in training for anything but phone repair.

Training is going on for two months from 11^th September to 19^th November 2017, aimed at addressing problems areas where they feel they face difficulties:

Discovered the use of charcoal stove for soldering gargets such as Radio, TV, phones etc
Changing/repair of mouth piece, charging system and screens
Discovered the alternative for Blower Machine by using candle when there is no electricity

Challenges

The training program was affected by the National Sports Gala which took place from 25^th to 30^th September 2017.
Village savings and loan association (VSLA) is not active among Gulu PWDS electronics members although they attended training for VSLA
Business location for PWD electronic is neither favourable or easily accessible, it is hard for them to keep customers appliances because they operate their business in a corridor.
Some phones are complicated to repair, spare parts are not available for most bought in the area, especially Chinese phones.
Unlike their business competitors they lack software to unlock phones
Business is not growing for electronics
Limited knowledge and skills on other electronic appliances such TV, Radio, DVD players, Smart Phones and Amplifiers
Customer demand lower prices than are viable

Akera Roberts

Radio repair is doing well for Akera Robert, Rubanga Na Electronics business plan was successfully developed and completed by Akera Robert and GDPU project officer

Challenge

Security for his place of work is still an issue, Akera Robert still operates under the veranda

Akello Catherine and Florence are being trained in making V necked sweaters

Knitting and Sweater Weaving

Sweater weaving is doing well, they get contracts from schools and local community members. Support training is aimed at improving their quality of work and building customers trust, training area for knitting is:

joining using sewing machine
making V shape sweater
designing sweaters.

Learning to Make V Necked Sweaters, A customer checking on his newly made garment

Challenge

High-level absenteeism from the instructor for knitting and sweater weaving might be affecting the positive development of the programme.
Customers take long to pick their items
Customer demand lower prices than are viable

Reflection Meeting

Conducted by GDPU project officer and ETC and Project Coordinator GDPU to check on the impact of ETC project in Gulu and Omoro District.

What has worked?

The local community attitude towards PWDs is that they are best known for leather work. Yet as this and the YDP proved, they are able to do other income generating activities such hairdressing, motorcycle repair, electronic repair and maintenance.

Skills training has improved the ‘offer’ of all the business groups
Active in repair of electronic gadgets, hairdressing and sweater weaving, i.e. businesses are growing although some are slower than others.
Record keeping is now observed in all enterprises, learnt how to balance books of account because of financial literacy received during the ETC project.
Learnt to communicate effectively with customers, most of the youth enterprise members had bad communication skills that made them lose customers but the capacity building trainings offered by the ETC@GDPU project has improved this aspect.
Learnt how to deal with large number of customers, greatly improved customer services by use of first come first serve.

Challenges: Solutions and the Way Forward

The reported rise in members incomes is very welcome, how can we continue this increase? Which parts of the programme are working and what do we need to do to improve them as part of the pilot programme and for future programme planning? Diversification and widening the ‘offer’ of each group, further investigation into sources of investment and increasing the self-confidence of members could all play a part. As could:

Linking the enterprise to other service providers available in their location
Having a by law on mandatory savings
Inclusion saving for disabled and non-disabled
Continuous follow-up and support from GDPU project staff
Further tailor-made refresher training in specific areas e.g. Repair of modern phones, TV radio etc
More advertising using posters
Enterprise members to carry out market survey to check on the prices of commodities and services to be comparable with other enterprises and avoid over pricing.
GDPU Co-ordinator Conducting the Reflection Meeting

Apologies

Apologies for the late posting of this months news, also we (the UK founders of ETC@GDPU) had hoped to be flying out to Gulu at the end of this month to discuss and evaluate the pilot phase and how to move on to the full project. Sadly, Mark was involved in a motorbike accident in the UK just weeks before departure. Although he will be OK his mobility is restricted for a few months. Ironically Mark clocked up 12,000 kilometres on a motorbike around Gulu and district with only a few bumps and scrapes, riding in the UK is far more dangerous. If you are a car driver, please look properly before you pull out of a side road! However we hope to carry on the project development by Skype in the next few months and return to Gulu in February.

Disablity, Pilot Phase, Uncategorized, Vocational Training

Gulu PWDs Electronic win again

The Triumphant Gulu Wheelchair Basketball Team

Wheelchair basketball has long been a feature at GDPU. From 25^th to 30^th September 2017 Gulu PWDs Electronic, one of the three pilot groups on the ETC@GDPU project, along with other members of Gulu Wheelchair Basketball Team took part in a National Sport Gala for Persons with Disabilities.

The Gala was organized by The Uganda Paralympic Committee and hosted by Gulu district. They took part in wheelchair race, wheelchair basketball and sitting volley ball.

Gulu Wheelchair Basketball Team in Action at Kaunda Ground, Gulu.

Gulu Wheelchair Basketball Club kept their national trophy by defeating arch-rivals Kampala Wheelchair Basketball Club 26-17. The exciting final of the Uganda National Paralympic Games in Wheelchair Basketball, held at Kaunda Grounds in Gulu, was witnessed by chief guest Kameda Kazuaki, the Japanese ambassador to Uganda.

The Japanese Ambassador at National Sports Gala, Gulu.

The Ugandan national paper, the Daily Monitor appears to believe that Japan might have a future role in training Ugandan Paralympic athletes, GDPU are following this up; you never know!

Awarding the medals at 2017 National Disability Sports Gala in Gulu

Gulu Pwds Electronics members of that winning team were: Ojara Charles, Ocira Richard, Okwonga Charles, Akera Robert, Oloya Kenneth and Omony Patrick, congratulations to them and everyone else who took part.

Pilot Phase, Uncategorized

Still Pushing On: three key questions for ETC @ GDPU

Camera 360 — The Nyeko Rac Business group signboard at Acet (note that they are registered with the local authority, very important)

Still Pushing On: three key questions for ECT @ GDPU

What do you need to set up a small business and keep it going?
What do you need to run a sustainable small business in Gulu District, Northern Uganda, East Africa?
What do you need succeed in a small business in that district if you are a person with disabilities?

These are some of the questions that the ‘Enhancing the Capacity at Gulu Disabled Persons Union; (ETC @ GDPU) project is starting to look at.

Where are we up to?

GDPU have come back with the first assessment of the nine existing business groups that were set up by students with disabilities under the Youth Development Programme in 2015. There are 4 x electronics repairs groups. 2 x hairdressers. 2 x Sweater weavers. 1 x motorcycle and bicycle repairs. The electronics groups seem to be the most financially successful, partly because they are based in the centre of town, although that has significant mobility and security issues.

Group Strengths

Their businesses have been running for about two years, it seems that (most of) the groups share certain strengths:

Good customer relations
Viable businesses, in that there is a demand for their services in the area that they are working
Many are able to diversify. So, for example many are able to carry out some small-scale farming alongside hairdressing.
About half of the groups are able to make small savings from their earnings, typically about 200, 000 shillings a month per group (about £40). Having a financial cushion, however small, is vital to protect against ‘life events’. Average individual income is not easy to determine, given the lack of records (see below) but is somewhere around 66, 000 shillings a week or £14.50.

Group Challenges

But, from the GDPU report it seems that all the groups share similar weaknesses:

Keeping records is not built into their way of thinking, partly through poor literacy/ numeracy and self-confidence which…
Makes it difficult for members to plan ahead and to find out where they are at the moment
The planning methods they were taught under YDP are not suitable: too complex and text based for people who still struggle with reading and writing.
Core skills need updating to satisfy the needs of customers
Lack of suitable tools is holding back development, but there is no point members investing in tools until …
Security is much better
Group dynamics are stronger (in most cases these are poor), with theft and lack of trust between members holding back development.
Groups need considerable support (in literacy/ numeracy and self-confidence) to apply for grants/ loans to help them invest in their future.

What next?

Now that we know how these nine groups are getting on and what their challenges are, the next step for the steering committee at GDPU is to choose three groups for the pilot phase of the project. These pilot groups, together with the project team, will then put together their own tailored programme for skills training, literacy/ numeracy, pyscho-social support and so on; exciting days.