The Skills Agenda is a flagship programme of One Direction Institute designed to equip youth and women in Gulu City with practical, income-generating skills. In a context where unemployment is high and formal job opportunities are scarce, the Skills Agenda provides a pathway to self-employment and financial independence.

What Makes Skills Agenda Unique?

Unlike long-term vocational training programmes, the Skills Agenda focuses on short, practical, and easy-to-start skills that require minimal capital investment but generate quick and sustainable income. This makes it ideal for young people and women who want to start small businesses or side hustles to support their families.

Training Areas

Skills Agenda provides hands-on training in areas that are affordable, marketable, and sustainable, such as:

• Cottage Manufacturing – Soap making, candle production, briquette making, and other home-based manufacturing skills.
• Crafts and Artisanal Work – Beadwork, tailoring, weaving, basketry, and other creative industries with high local and tourist demand.
• Food Processing – Juice making, baking, fruit drying, dairy processing, and packaging of local foods.
• Agribusiness Skills – Poultry rearing, vegetable growing, mushroom farming, and small-scale agribusiness enterprises.
• Entrepreneurship Skills – Business management, financial literacy, marketing, and customer relations for micro and small enterprises.

Why These Skills Matter

• Quick to Learn – Most trainings take only a few days or weeks.
• Low Startup Cost – Trainees can begin with little capital using locally available resources.
• High Market Demand – Products such as soap, food items, crafts, and fresh produce are always in demand.
• Sustainable Income – Skills empower participants to create businesses, support families, and improve livelihoods.

Impact

The Skills Agenda is transforming lives in Gulu City by:

• Reducing unemployment among youth and women.
• Creating micro-enterprises that contribute to the local economy.
• Empowering vulnerable groups, including single mothers and school dropouts, to become self-reliant.
• Building a community of entrepreneurial youth and women who can inspire others.

Vision

To create a skills-driven local economy in Gulu City where young people and women are empowered with practical knowledge to become job creators instead of job seekers.