Kyambogo University in partnership with Aghakan Foundation has set up an Inclusive Disability Entrepreneurship training centre, which will empower students with disabilities and their peers to gain Entrepreneurship and financial literacy skills to sustain their livelihood, especially during Covid 19 and thereafter.

In 2020 Aga Khan Foundation invited institutions/Organizations to apply for competitive grants under Covid -19 response project. The Faculty of Special Needs and Rehabilitation submitted an application to empower students with disabilities and their peers during and after Covid 19 pandemic and it was successfully considered. The project will run for a period of 11months.

This project will encourage persons with disabilities, personal assistants and peers in setting up and transform ideas into concrete new business. A student will be required to attend 80% of classes and be mentored in order to qualify for an award.

Students with Disabilities with the University Administrators after the meeting.

According to the Project Co-coordinator Mr. Wanume Hakim Kibedi, due to Covid -19, students with disabilities have had challenges to generate incomes, access to tailor-made information on Covid-19 disease in disability-friendly formats such as Braille, Audiovisual, sign language, large print, pictorial and graphical massages which have continuously affected their participation in business development initiatives. Mr. Wanune said that this Adapted mode of accessing information and skills will be necessary for advocating for the rights of disabled students and their personal assistants during the COVID-19 period and thereafter.

The Faculty of Special Needs and Rehabilitation is the coordinating centre for this project and has a long and rich tradition in providing entrepreneurship and life skills training to young people with disabilities and other students to gain entrepreneurship skills that are inclusive to enable them to transform ideas into concrete and sustainable businesses within the Covid 19 environment.

Over 700 students with Disabilities at Kyambogo University will benefit from this project.

Mr. Kisule William the Deputy University Bursar who represented the University Secretary at the meeting said that this project was timely and would help these students access life schools to help them in the future. He thanked Aga Khan Foundation for reaching out to the needs of the youth and closing the funding gap in the university.

One of the students with disabilities pursuing a Bachelor of Development and Social Justice, Awino Mary Hope said that this project would make Kyambogo University visible. She asked her fellow students with disabilities to be more active and make the project beneficial to them so that the legacy can flow and then attract more funds to benefit others who will follow them.

Awino Mary Hope, Bachelor of Development and Social Justice year 2