Uganda: Vocational Training and Tailoring Shop Program

Panyadoli Vocational Training Institute (PVTI)

Background

In 2011, Real Medicine Foundation opened the Panyadoli Vocational Training Institute (PVTI) to provide much needed skills training and facilitate income opportunities for refugees in Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement (particularly South Sudanese refugees), as well as the Ugandan host community. Since its initial opening, PVTI has provided vocational training for more than 650 young people, empowering both men and women to support themselves and help their friends and family.

Currently, PVTI offers training through 4 departments:

• Hairdressing and Beauty Therapy (HBT)
• Tailoring and Garment Cutting (TGC)
• Bricklaying and Concrete Practice (BCP)
• Carpentry and Joinery (CJ)

Success

Stories

Martha Aryemo

Tailoring and Garment Cutting

Martha Aryemo has been featured in most of our success stories, and as I shared with you, Martha is one of the most talented ladies who has benefited from Panyadoli Vocational Training Institute (PVTI). She has developed her tailoring business into a medium-sized shop that not only provides tailoring services, but also provides training for youth who come to her to acquire skills which can improve their way of life.
 
With the Christmas season approaching, Martha says it’s the moment where she expects to earn a lot, as orders for the season have started coming in. She says that she can work on around ten or more clients’ projects, earning roughly UGX 20,000/= per day from customers who bring their clothes for sewing and from making new designs for those who want tailored clothes.
 
Martha has bought a plot of land in Bweyale, where she hopes to construct a house. She applauds RMF for the support she received, which has empowered her to become who she is today. 

Aryemo Esther

Hairdressing and Beauty Therapy

After graduation, Aryemo Esther started working at her friend’s shop, where she managed to earn some money. She has used her earnings to start her own salon and be able to pay rent. Her salon is located in Bweyale Trading Centre. Aryemo Esther also managed to buy her startup materials that she could begin working with, and combined with the startup kit that was given to her, she has managed to expand her salon little by little as she gets customers around town. On a daily basis, Aryemo Esther says she can work on three clients with the help of a colleague that she employs in the salon.

With the skills she attained at PVTI, Aryemo Esther says her life has changed for the better in that she can provide for her basic needs. She is optimistic that she can make a difference in her life and also in the life of others as she continues to work in her salon. 

Santa Auma

Tailoring and Garment Cutting

Since Santa Auma began her venture in tailoring, she has achieved many things, whereby her shop in Bweyale is now among the biggest tailoring shops in the center. She is also offering training opportunities to her fellow youth who come to her seeking guidance so that they can also benefit from her knowledge. Santa has been able to achieve many things that she could do before because of the skills she learned at PVTI and the startup kit initiative that RMF put in place. With the increasing rate of growth in her business, Santa also ventured into farming, where she is very involved in growing maize and beans. Last season she managed to register a significant yield of about 20 bags of maize and 15 bags of beans.
 
Santa is looking forward to opening up another shop to serve her interests and the interests of those that are unemployed; they can have a place to work, and Santa can have employees. With her dream to open another shop, Santa says that she is optimistic that one day she can acquire what she wants in her life. 

Faida Florance

Tailoring and Garment Cutting

Faida is one of Santa’s friends, and has been working with Santa since finishing her skills training certificate at Panyadoli Vocational Training Institute (PVTI). Faida is optimistic, and has expanded her business through her savings; she is now able to buy materials on her own in order to tailor clothes for her clients. She is able to save around UGX 10,000/= per day, which she earns from sewing the clothes brought in by clients.
 
Faida thanks RMF for the opportunity that was given to her. As she grows her business, Faida hopes that one day she will be able to attain the big shop that she has always wanted to have.