Kiyoola Youth Development Co-operative
Name of Co-operative: Kiyoola Youth Development Co-operative
Date of Formation: August 2002
Membership: The group is for both male and female youth, aged from 12-35 years; we now have 112 youth members
Activity: The co-op brings together youth to undertake drama, HIV/AIDS sensitization, agriculture, and other activities.
Organization Form: Worker’s Producer Co-op
Area Served: Kiyoola sub-county, Eastern Uganda
Background
The paramount motives that led to the establishment of our co-operative were the desire to abolish unemployment among young people and to develop different talents in the youth.
Vision/Purpose/Goals
By the year 2009, Kiyoola Youth Development Co-operative will be in a position to provide services to all categories of young people in the areas of education, mobilization and employment, thereby boosting income-generating activities that will make the community a better place in which to live. This group meets the needs and aspirations of young people through hard work and being creative in income generating activities.
The benefits of organizing the co-operative to the local communities are that it helps to create income-generating activities among youth, encourages them to develop their talents, promotes agriculture in the wasted areas in our communities, and combats drug use among young people.
Starting the Co-op
The people involved in starting the co-operative were the board members and the community development officer of our sub-county, who gave us guidance. Some of the pioneer members of the co-op had formed a group for youth after being trained under the Promoting Children and Youth (PCY) of the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development. It was from within this PCY group that the co-op was built.
The resources that were available to begin with were hired land and study materials. More funding is needed so that the co-operative can buy its own land and develop it by cultivating crops. The co-op also needs to purchase instruments for the drama group, and to support co-op members with resources as they develop their talents. The co-op would like to support some of its pioneer members as they pursue studies in social work so they can further help the community.
The group has been supported in its development through both private and community resources. It is also part of the Youth Economic Empowerment through Co-operatives (YEECO) sponsored by the Uganda Co-operative Alliance. YEECO trainers and staff have assisted the group to develop, by helping to improve discipline among group members and bringing them some services like trainings about HIV/AIDS and agriculture.
Some of the obstacles that the co-operative is encountering in its development are:
- The lack of funds,
- the lack of good markets for the products,
- the lack of youth trained in development,
- the lack of members trained in how to run a co-operative, and
- a lack of trainers to develop drama activities and other talents.
Future Plans
We have a business plan in place and are working harder to find our dream. We have working sites where different activities are done in order to improve on the standard of living of our members. We also have a drama group, which has done great work in sensitizing and mobilizing about HIV/AIDS, healthy lifestyles, sanitation and social behaviours. All of these activities are sources of revenue for our co-operative.
In the near future, we need to offer different training programmes and seminars concerning savings and credit, social life, Health (HIV/AIDS), and business practice. We need to have more income generating activities to add to those we already have, and we need to improve on the quality and the quantity of the crop yield in the co-op. We hope to help fellow youth with HIV/AIDS if we earn good funds. To help our co-operative grow in the long term, we are hoping to extend to other areas and recruit more projects to earn more income. We can also get more resources by asking for donations and funds from different organisations.
Lessons Learned
To start, organize and run a co-operative is not simple work. It requires the following: participation, collaboration, creativity, active participants, assistance, tolerance, wit, and flexibility. The advice we could give to others is to be aware of the above-mentioned principles and to be aware of the challenges because the world isn’t straight.
Sarah Groot has been involved with co-operatives since she was a child. At fourteen, she attended the Co-operative Young Leaders Program which led her to take a more active role in the co-op sector. She has worked for St. Willibrord's Community Credit Union and worked with the Ontario Co-operative Association. Sarah graduated from the University of Guelph with a degree in International Development and is currently working as a CCA intern in Uganda. She was the recipient of Ontario Co-op's 2004 Youth Leadership Spirit Award.
Katende Billy is the Chairperson of the Kiyoola Youth Development Association. He is twenty-two years old and lives in Mukono District, Uganda.
