Globally, young leaders are central in driving civic action and change. Ms Dorcus Asiimwe the
MFAI Uganda Programs Manager addressed groups of young leaders at the United Persons with
Disabilities (UPDS) summit on deliberation and civic mission on youth led organizations. The
summit was organized by UPDS with funding from Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT), Emerging Talents,Naamal and Karam Foundation and hosted at the America Center in
Ggaba. Over 30 persons with special needs, women leaders from the Central and Eastern Uganda
regions, along with social entrepreneurs converged at the American center to carve out pathways
to disability empowerment in Africa.
Dorcus drew lessons from the MFAI Uganda successful implementation of the Diversity, Equity,
and Inclusion (D.E.I) project, PACE Academy and Ecourse4 projects to encourage the youth to
rise to the occasion and challenge existing stereotypes against Persons living with disabilities at
school, home and in the communities. “It behooves us to create a collective vision, strategy, and
tactics that build strong and resilient disability networks in Uganda, and also enhance the
capacity of people to self advocate for policy change and grassroots activism ensuring that
communities are aware and committed to disability inclusion” she noted.
As the world commemorated the disability pride month of July, Dorcus highlighted success
stories of young people making a positive difference having participated in the MFAI projects.
Projects like the PACE Academy have inspired young leaders like Favor Tumwine at Friends of
Academy International School in Western Uganda who mentors women and girls including
women with disabilities through her Fire side initiative, Another trailblazer, Hillary Nahurirwe,
who from the Agribusiness Apprenticeship Program (AgAP) has been able to grow his company
Hiliwos Agricultural products from a start up business to a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME)
company producing after shave creams and sanitizers across 6 districts in Uganda. Hillary
prioritizes recruitment and support for persons with disabilities at his company. Alex Ogwal, an
outstanding fellow in the Ecourse4 has inspired the first sign language training academy in
Uganda where he organizes periodic practicums for university students, staff, and young
professionals in sign language..
The main celebrant Mr Harunah Damba an alumna of the Ecourse4 and D&I in leadership and
training projects and CEO of UPDS thanked MFAI for the dedication towards capacity
development for youth living with disabilities. Denis Auma the CEO of Embellish Consults and
coach in the Ecourse4 project and also a facilitator at the summit noted that “deliberative civic
engagement is the act of selecting a small sample of community, carefully examine them, get
right expertise and experience so we can know the core issues in a community and devise means
of solving them.”
Posted by: Gatrude Nakanwagi
