POST TRAINING YOUTH EMPOWERMENT PROJECT (VPEP 2.0)

COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT PHASE (MAY 2026 – MAY 2027)

IMPLEMENTING ORGANIZATION: GULU DISABLED PERSONS UNION   (GDPU)

FUNDING PARTNER: ETC OF PWD UK

LOCATION: GULU CITY, GULU DISTRICT, NWOYA, OMORO, AND AMURU – NORTHERN UGANDA.

  1. BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION.

The Gulu Disabled Persons Union (GDPU) has been a cornerstone for supporting persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Gulu, Uganda since 1992. The peer mentorship system at GDPU has been instrumental in promoting self-advocacy, enhancing social inclusion, and improving access to education and employment opportunities for PWDs.

Persons with disabilities (PWDs) and vulnerable youth in Northern Uganda continue to face significant socio-economic challenges, including limited access to livelihood opportunities, exclusion from community decision-making, and persistent stigma. Despite previous interventions, many beneficiaries still require structured post-training support to sustain and scale their livelihoods.

The Post Training Youth Empowerment Project (VPEP 2.0) builds on earlier successes by focusing on community empowerment, group strengthening, and economic sustainability.

2. GOAL (IMPACT)

To improve the quality of life and socio-economic inclusion of persons with disabilities and vulnerable youth in five districts of Northern Uganda.

3. PROJECT OUTCOME (PURPOSE)

PWDs and youth demonstrate strengthened economic self-reliance, leadership capacity, and active community participation through functional groups and sustainable income-generating activities.

4. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

  1. Strengthen community awareness on disability inclusion
  2. Promote social accountability through dialogue
  3. Establish and strengthen functional groups for persons with disabilities.
  4. Enhance economic empowerment through IGAs (Income Generating Activities)
  5. Improve access to financial services, through financial literacy trainings, improved documentations of activities etc.
  6. Strengthen Disability Unions this are structures at the district levels for persons with disabilities to improve coordination of activities and accountabilities.
  7. Enhance peer mentor’s effectiveness, by building their capacity, strengthening implementation skills, reporting and, linking them to development networks within their communities.

5. KEY OUTPUTS AND ACTIVITIES.

Output 1: Community leaders trained on Disability Inclusion, through the new phase of the project we plan to develop the capacity of local leaders at the district level to better advocate for inclusion within their communities they come from. We plan to do the following through the Vpep 2.0 project.

  1. Train at least 150 community leaders (local Council leaders II, III, IV, V for both PWDs and mainstream across the five districts.
  2. Conduct 5-day training workshops and quarterly follow-ups.
  3. Develop and disseminate training materials to the trained structures through the District Unions.

Output 2: Community Dialogue and Stakeholder Engagement, community dialogue has been core in the past projects we have seen a number of youth and community members come in to solve the pressing needs in the community. Through these activities we plan to: –

  1. Conduct 10 community dialogue sessions (2 per district).
  2. Engage at least 2000 community members.
  3. Develop and follow up on action plans with local governments.

Output 3: Formation and Strengthening of Groups, we plan to create and form groups for persons with disabilities in the five districts the project plan to work in, the project plans to:

  1. Form/strengthen 25 PWD and youth groups across the 5 District.
  2. Support legal registration of at least 20 groups.
  3. Train groups on governance and record-keeping.

Output 4: Economic Empowerment through IGAs. The main objectives of the Vpep project was to enhance the capacity of youth, with disabilities to have better livelihoods in the community, most people with disabilities are stigmatized and discriminated from the society just because of their disability

  1. Train 10 groups in income-generating activities two from each Districts.  
  2. Support business plan development for the groups and other business enterprises started by beneficiaries of Vpep.
  3. Provide mentorship and follow-up support by Vpep team members.

Output 5: Revolving Loan Fund Strengthened, The revolving loan has been very core in strengthening businesses for youth with disabilities under the Vpep project with now 4500,000/= shillings available and over 2,800,000/= with our beneficiaries.

  1. Operationalize revolving loan fund across five districts with more emphasis on supporting existing savings and loan associations (boli Cup) in the communities Vpep is supporting directly.
  2. Maintain at least 80% loan repayment rate among the member groups.  

Output 6: Strengthened Disability Unions, District Unions are part of the structure created by NUDIPU to ensure that services reaches persons with disabilities at the District level, by strengthening these structures through capacity building trainings, facilitating the general assembly of these structures will help on improving the leadership and development of the organizations at the district levels.

  1. Train 100 leaders in governance, advocacy, and financial management.
  2. Support quarterly meetings and networking among district Union associations from the 5 Districts.

Output 7: Peer Mentor Capacity Enhanced- Peer mentors’ concept has been one of the most innovative approach towards the development and expansion of GDPU’s work across northern Uganda, peer mentors has greatly supported the implementation of project activities, to improve on their capacities we plan to

  1. Train 12 peer mentors in facilitation and monitoring.
  2. Ensure monthly reporting and regular field visits to areas of implementations.  
  3. Conduct quarterly performance reviews of planned activities.

6. IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY

The project will adopt a community-based participatory approach, working closely with community structures/assets to ensure easy implementations of

  1. Peer mentors embedded in each district
  2. District Local Governments and its structures from District upto the village levels.
  3. Community Development Officers (CDOs), Parish Chiefs and LC V etc.
  4. Disability unions and organizations for persons with disabilities (OPDs).

Implementation will emphasize:

  1. Inclusion and gender equality.
  2. Local ownership and sustainability.
  3. Continuous mentorship and follow-up.

7. MONITORING AND EVALUATION-

For a successful implementation of the project activities and monitoring, project activities will be fully monitored and supported to ensure easy tracking of success and challenges that will help to inform the Board of ETC of PWD on the progress of the project in Northern Uganda.

  1. Monthly monitoring visits.
  2. Peer mentor field reports.
  3. Group performance tracking tools- we shall develop a tool with support from Chris and Mark white to ensure we track progress of group activities.  
  4. Mid-term and end-of-project evaluations.

Key indicators include:

  1. % increase in household income among persons with disabilities.
  2. % of groups actively running IGAs (income generating activities)
  3. Loan repayment rates increased.
  4. Participation levels in community processes increases among persons with disabilities.

8. SUSTAINABILITY

The project will ensure sustainability through:

  1. Strengthened community groups and governance structures at the DU levels.
  2. Revolving loan fund model well managed.
  3. Capacity building of local leaders and DU members.
  4. Peer mentor system for continued support.

9. RISKS AND MITIGATION

RiskMitigation
Low group cohesionContinuous mentorship and monitoring
Economic shocksDiversified IGAs and financial literacy trainings.
Low participationStrong community mobilization and stakeholder engagement.
Policy changesEngagement with local government structures.

10. CONCLUSION

The VPEP 2.0 project represents a critical step in transitioning vulnerable youth and persons with disabilities from dependency to self-reliance and active citizenship. By combining economic empowerment, community engagement, and institutional strengthening, the project will create sustainable and inclusive development outcomes in Northern Uganda.

Want To Know More?

If you would like to know more about the ETC of PWD charity that manages the VPEP2  programme please go to our Home page

If you would like to give something, please go to our Donate page.

If you would like to know more about Gulu Disabled Persons Union (GDPU) please go to their website or Facebook page. 

Many Thanks.