Home - Young Adult Empowerment Initiative

Our Story

Established in 2015 by a group of refugee youth in Uganda, the Young Adult Empowerment Initiatives (YAEI) is a non profit NGO that builds operational capabilities of refugees, youth and women for them to participate in sustainable communities socio-economic developments and peaceful co-existence. YAEI’s areas of focus include: community peace-building, skills development, (education and vocational services), and access to health care and nutritious food.

Our co-founders firmly believe that the economic empowerment of refugees and grassroots communities can potentially unlock opportunities for self-reliance and peaceful co-existence. When given real opportunities, refugees, youth and women can champion economic development and peace in their communities. Uganda hosts more than 1.4 million refugees, making it Africa’s biggest refugee destination. 65.6% of the refugees come from South Sudan following 2013 and 2016 civil wars.

What We Do

peace-building

Our peace-building efforts seek to rebuild social fabric, trust and forge a shared South Sudan’s identity through; community and inter-cultural dialogues, psycho-social support, sports for peace and advocacy. These activities are aimed at transforming and mitigating conflicts in communities devastated by protracted civil wars and violence.

Skills Development

Education and vocational skills development are rare opportunities that can unlock the economic potentials of young people and women in underserved communities such as the refugees. The Youth Empowerment Scholarship (YES) is aimed at creating these opportunities for unprivileged kids and youth. When given opportunities, young people can champion peace and development.

Health & Nutrition

With a specific focus on mother and child health (MCH), we build the capacity of the axillary health workers such as nurses, midwives, public health leaders, and Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA) through training who can carry out MCH education and awareness-raising in communities. This is to reduce the high maternal and under-5 mortality rates caused partly by a lack of adequate healthcare information.

Stories of Impact

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YEI is 2018 Peace Direct's Tomorrow Peace-builders' Award recipient:

The Young Adult Empowerment Initiatives (YEI) was one of the 3 recipients of 2018 Peace Direct's Tomorrow Peace-builders' Awards in the youth-led category for our grassroots peace-building in Uganda's refugee settlements. The cash prize helped and amplified our peace-building programs. We profoundly appreciate Peace Direct and partners for supporting grassroots peace-building initiatives such as YEI around the world to become peace champions in communities.