The majority of young people envision a future that satisfies their passions, validates their abilities and realizes their dreams of making a difference in the world. But it all turns out to be a fairy tale, especially when they fail to make the right life decisions.
We established the Peer Educators Academy in 2014 to provide accurate sexual reproductive health and rights information to this generation of dreamers and achievers, giving them an advantage in dealing with the many challenges they face and allowing them to spread the word to their peers.
As we speak, about 1,755 empowered and enthusiastic young people have gone through the Academy, and these individuals have been influencing change and inspiring their fellow peers to make informed life choices both during and after their time of service.
This year, we selected 60 young people from over 400 applications and provided them with the necessary skills and information to address the SRHR issues that young people face today. We’ve given them a platform to use in order to affect the change they want to see in their respective communities.
We held the 7th Peer Educators Academy graduation ceremony on February 17, 2022, to honor and congratulate peer educators, cultural icons, and other key players for their dedicated service and invaluable contribution to youth empowerment and sustainable development, as well as to welcome the 2022 Peer Educators to the big fraternity.
According to Henry Mugenyi, an award-winning Health Journalist with NBS, it is through the academy that he got to understand the pertinent issues that young people go through.
“I didn’t have any connections before I joined the academy. I was this freshman from a poor background who didn’t have connections or knew prominent people. I got the opportunity to connect with different people through Reach A Hand Uganda’s Peer Educators Academy.” he said.
The country director, James Tumusiime, in his opening remarks, talked of the values we stand for as an entity. These include; equality, teamwork, professionalism, respect for persons and culture. He further emphasized that ‘’Reach A Hand Uganda aspires to build a breed of young people that not only cause a change within their communities but also do continuous personal reflection, accept positive criticism, value hard work, and recognize that it’s their responsibility to become better persons and citizens each day. He made it clear that anyone who goes against these values betrays the commitment for which Reach A Hand Uganda exists and should be supported to regain this track’’.
Humphrey Nabimanya, the founder and CEO of RAHU noted that the ‘’Peer Educators Academy stands on core values of accountability, inclusive diversity and grooms future CEOs. He also said that the academy has produced a great workforce with a unique spirit of volunteerism.’’
This colorful event was attended by a lot of key players who are very instrumental in the success of the Academy, and it was closed by performances from Nutty Neithan, and Naava grey, our cultural icons, who sang the “Gwe Asalawo song” that encourages young people to be more cautious of the life choices they make each and every day.
Written by James Ocen.
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