WIN ALREADY!

Do you think and expect defeat? Well, stop and consider! Thinking defeat only brings it up on you rather than take it. Talk positivity to yourself; re-educate yourself; get yourself out of the habit of negative thinking, believe nothing can defeat you. Be a winner at all times.

You are what you think and that is one of the most important facts about yourself. William James stated, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of the mind.” Get rid of your worn out, negative thoughts and become a positive thinker

Trust yourself for you cannot be successful or happy without confidence in your own powers and abilities. It is important to have a positive evaluation of yourself because it greatly determines how much you are to achieve. Thoughts have power. You can think yourself into or out of situations so always endeavor to think positively.

The Kyusa experience is about positivity, looking within oneself and excavating that passion that is deeply buried; it’s about building onto what already exists and affirming it.  Positivity is an aspect of Self management: this is a core aspect of the Kyusa curriculum covering self esteem, self evaluation, self confidence to mention but a few. Please join us on this journey to self discovery. We believe in you!

The Graduate Syndrome

It happens to be graduation week for the main university in Uganda.  Jubilation is in the air, joy in every corner, and traffic on every street as drivers hustle to find their way into the great Makerere University.  Celebrations will go on for a whole week only for most of the graduates to later get in touch with the reality that the market does not have as many slots to employ as many graduates as the universities produce.

With our universities continuing to produce thousands of graduates annually, Uganda whose 78% of the population is below the age of thirty continues to suffer high rates of youth unemployment ranging up to 62% according to Action Aid and 83% according to African Development Bank. Ironically, Uganda has the highest level of entrepreneurship in the world scoring as high as 28.1% according to lioness of Africa Magazine.

The competing unemployment rates raise a lot of questions given the high entrepreneurship rates in the country. Many have attributed it to the fact that most of the enterprises that are started are small and medium enterprises that have the capacity of employing only up to a maximum of three individuals and unfortunately not being able to live up to their third birth. These businesses fail due to many reasons some of which is the fact that most are started as a consequence of failure to attain employment and not out of undying passion.

This Implies an urge to encourage young people to develop passion driven careers and businesses in order to enable them live through the years.This failure has also greatly been attributed to the lack of knowledge on business development such as business planning, promotion basics, start up stimulation and many others. This calls for intervention of the government to amend the formal education curriculum or rather support institutions and organizations that are training young people with this knowledge.

Research by the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) shows that 63% of the employers in Uganda are dissatisfied with the graduates that are produced by the higher institutions of learning in Uganda because the graduates do not have the necessary hands on employable skills required to fit in their work environments. Furthermore, the research revealed that skills like professional etiquette, professional writing and many others are often ignored while at universities. It is therefore important to train young people in these soft and employable skills that will enable them strive in the market.

Kyusa looks to empower Out of school youth in urban slums and villages with these employable skills, life skills and entrepreneurship skills including business development in a bid to address lack of economic opportunity by reducing the rate of youth unemployment especially among the out of school youth who have for long been forgotten. We turn their mindsets of hopelessness to hope by encouraging them to take on passion driven careers that are able to earn them a living.

Nurturing Evolution

Affirmation is one of the best gifts that can be given to a girl; it is intangible but produces fruit. To affirm in The Oxford Advanced Learner`s Dictionary `` is to state formally or confidently that something is true or correct.’’

Annet like any other 18 year old desired to be affirmed by her loved ones but all she heard was how worthless and stupid she was and the fact that she will never amount to anything because she didn`t top her class. The family decided her fate by discontinuing her from joining high school after secondary because in their opinion she wasn`t worth the effort.

Her esteem was totally crushed when her mother decided to send her to Kampala to become a house help however an uncle in the city who had heard about Kyusa from a friend decided to give Annet one more chance and enrolled her into kyusa.

She has evolved like a caterpillar into an enthusiastic and confident girl through the 8 week Kyusa program. She has blossomed in her speech and can express herself to others and be heard as every girl`s right to expression in a manner that can be understood. During the 8 week Kyusa program affirmation and communication skills are emphasized to boost the confidence of the participants.

Annet is currently taking hair dressing classes and plans to establish a state of the art saloon back in her village; she intends to offer services to her home town where demand for the hair services is high. She will be one of the very few hairdressers that serve her community.

Finding self is work, yet we are convinced that a better version of Annet’s story is possible for more youths. We seek your partnership in making this exploratory experience possible and pleasant; we implore you to enlist with us in 2016 as we work with 200 youths on a journey of discovery.

We are always glad to hear from you, email us - connect.kyusa@gmail.com

Kyusa September Class Rolls Out

It has been an exciting year so far and as we wind it down, we launched our last class and intake for 2015. The September class rolled out on 10^th September with orientation and a week later the classes commenced. The class is running at the Bugolobi training center and has 15 students signed up for both the ICT and soft skills class.

The September class is dynamic in that it brings together ambitious and visionary young people from diverse walks of life. All the participants are ambitious about starting and growing their own businesses. They are passionate about becoming job creators and peer leaders in their communities. 

Kyusa is a life transforming experience for both the participants and the facilitators. We are constantly amazed at the unveiling of potential and dreams among participants with every new class.

Resilience and consistence are key factors to being able to successfully work through the Kyusa training. The two months training is intensive and requires serious commitment. Although the course is delivered in a practical and learner centered approach, it ignites the hidden and untapped potential of youth thus awakening them to the reality of their unexplored greatness.

At Kyusa we empower vulnerable youth to develop passion driven sustainable careers. It is our mission to empower youth to become employable in a way that is both sustainable and has a positive impact on their communities. This journey of eight weeks is one that turns ordinary youth into CEOs, peer leaders, entrepreneurs, employers and social entrepreneurs. It is highly recommended for any young person seeking to tap into their full potential.

Registration for the January 2016 class will open soon and be among the first ones to sign up. Your life will be drastically transformed and positively impacted in a way that will make you stand out among your peers. At Kyusa, we raise generations of change agents.

Kyusa celebrates Another Milestone

On 12^th September 2015, Kyusa celebrated yet another milestone by having 30 youth graduate from the program all at the same time. It was a great time of celebration and jubilation as we commissioned the youth to pursue their passions, dreams and make them a reality in a way that empowers them economically and positively impacts their communities.

This was a milestone for 90% of the graduates who were attending a formal graduation for the very first time. It was a land mark in their lives as they celebrated their success and accomplishments through the Kyusa program. The celebration was marked by shouts of happiness, dancing, eating, taking photos and reminiscing memorable moments.

The event was graced by three of the Kyusa Executive Board members. The Board Chairman commissioned the graduates and released them into their full potential. It was emphasized that the sky is just the foundation for one’s aspirations not the limit. Graduates were encouraged to dream big and keep pressing on towards their high goals.

Some of the parents present expressed gratitude for the transformation that they are witnessing in the lives of their children. They noted that their children are more responsible, focused and passion driven as a result of under taking the Kyusa training. This is also reflected in the way the alumni interact with each other, the staff and the wider community.

Kyusa empowers out of school youth to become employable by turning their passions into sustainable careers. This is aimed at reducing the rate of youth unemployment in Uganda among out of school youth. Graduates have ventured into different businesses including agriculture, food industry, events management, fashion and design, hair dressing and small scale businesses. 80% of the graduates have at least one regular source of income as they work towards achieving their bigger dreams.

We are grateful to all the partners and development partners that support us to make this difference in the lives of the vulnerable youth. Kyusa is raising a generation of change agents who are transforming lives and communities as they invest in sustainable development projects.

Kyusa Takes Part In ICT Subgroup Meeting

The Executive Director attended the meeting for the ICT4D under the theme “Tactics to get your content right and hook the right audience”. The ICT4D is a subgroup under the National youth working group that meets every two months. The August meeting was hosted at the KCCA employment service bureau.

The major highlight of the meeting was the new leadership and this could be seen by the excitement on the faces of the members as the new chairperson was giving her remarks. She urged the members of the subgroup to be as supportive and collaborative as possible so as to enable the group move forward. She further went on to acknowledge the challenge ahead of her and promised to do her very best.

The presentations kicked off with a presentation from David Auma Balikowa senior, media personnel and also one of the founders of the department of mass communications at Makerere University. He emphasized the need to understand the audience and rather not only focus on the content which he said was a major mistake made by most communicators. He enriched the group with a few tactics on hooking the right audience such as finding out what the audience already knows and using it as a baseline to identify what should be communicated and also finding common characteristics between different audiences.

Pamela from CDFU presented their experiences with radio dramas and how they have managed to get the right content and hook the right audience. She highlighted some of the successful radio drama programmes which include Rock point 256. She shared with the group members some of the tactics they use to get to their audiences and these include; focus group discussions, questionnaires and face to face interactions with the audiences.

Patricia Kahill from Kahill Insights crowned the presentations with a presentation on forming online communities. The energy filled bachelor’s degree holder in development studies equipped the members with knowledge of how to know who is talking about them on social media and also advised them to find out the pages their followers do follow so as to know which type of people they are dealing with and what information they need. She emphasized that the most important thing was being known on social media and it was on that note that she advised the members not to pay a lot of attention to the number of followers but rather to the number of post reaches.

The ICT4D meeting was a great learning and networking opportunity for Kyusa and we are proud to be part of this growing youth movement in Uganda. 

The Age Of Communication

We have gone from muscle power to mind power, from brute power to brainpower. We have evolved from a focus on making and moving things to a focus on the creation and dissemination of ideas and knowledge..- I found this statement very intriguing and mind opening. It gave me a much clearer picture of the age am living in and how best I can prepare myself to thrive in it.

For the rest of your life, the knowledge content of your work, and your ability to communicate it, is largely going to determine the value of what you do, the amount of money you earn and the overall quality of your life. We have moved into the Information Age so quickly, with knowledge as the primary source of value, that most of the major institutions of society have not yet caught on or caught up. This is one of the great challenges, and opportunities, of our time.