COBURWAS International Youth Organization to Transform Africa, or CIYOTA, is a community-based organization born in Kyangwali Refugee Settlement in Western Uganda. It was founded in 2005 by a group of Congolese refugees with a vision of uniting and transforming their own community as well as other communities throughout Africa.
CIYOTA's outstanding efforts have addressed multiple levels of refugee life. They've started livestock and farming projects, raised awareness about HIV/AIDS and malaria, given micro-finance loans, and increased access to education in both traditional and innovative ways. In addition, CIYOTA focuses on many of the issues at the root of the problems they face, including: tribal conflict, corruption, and the lack of responsible and enterprising leaders. One of the organization's guiding principles is unity; they recognized a need to unite the different nationalities in Kyangwali Refugee Settlement to achieve community development, and they are promoting a united Democratic Republic of the Congo to prevent the conditions that initially led them to become refugees.
Over the past six years, CIYOTA's diverse and far-reaching programs have all stemmed from the belief that education is the key to societal progress and long-term poverty eradication. Their initial efforts included a tutoring program at schools in the settlement as well as a campaign to raise awareness about the importance of education. In particular, they spoke to parents about the need to send their girls to school instead of keeping them home to help farm and cook. Below, I would like to highlight two CIYOTA initiatives in greater depth: the CIYOTA Learning Center and the Hoima Hostels.
The CIYOTA Learning Center, or CLC, is a nursery school in Kyangwali Refugee Settlement that primarily serves orphaned children. Orphans enroll for free at the CLC, where they receive a school uniform, two decent meals each day, and, most importantly, an education. In addition, the CLC admits other students for a fee, bringing the total enrollment to forty students each year. The success of the school and demand for more educational opportunities has led to an extension of the CLC into a primary school. CIYOTA has worked closely with the Settlement governance to acquire land for the schools, and they have fund-raised both in Uganda and through partner organizations in the U.S.
The Hoima Hostels were created to increase access to quality education. The primary and secondary schools within the Settlement are overcrowded and lack resources, and the fees to attend are more than many families can afford. There are superior schools in the town of Hoima, but the 80-mile trek poses a barrier to accessing them. CIYOTA's innovative solution: sponsor a hostel in Hoima where students from the Settlement can receive room and board while attending school. Payment is negotiated with each student; some stay for free while others offer what they can in crops. The hostel members all help with the upkeep and meal preparation, and they support each other in their studies. Furthermore, CIYOTA has formed a partnership with schools run by the Ugandan government to allow hostel members to attend for free under the Universal Secondary Education initiative, a program not otherwise open to non-nationals. The Hoima Hostels currently house eighty students, including many at the tops of their classes.
CIYOTA is also engaged in a microfinance initiative in collaboration with People Weaver (www.PeopleWeaver.com) and malaria prevention efforts in collaboration with Think Humanity (www.ThinkHumanity.org). They tend large farms and keep livestock in the Settlement, and they run an anti-violence group that helps women learn skills and become self-sufficient.
This is only a small insight into the programs of the original CIYOTA branch in Kyangwali Refugee Settlement, which has grown to include well over one-thousand members. The organization also strives to expand their vision and network by inspiring and assisting other communities to start branches. There are currently five branches of CIYOTA, three in Uganda (including the Kyangwali branch) and two in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, each with its own community development projects.
These many programs have independent impacts but derive their full strength from their interconnectedness and underlying ideology. The CLC, Hoima Hostels, and other initiatives were not created just to increase access to general education or develop Kyangwali as a community. Rather, they aim to provide a specific type of education and experience doing community work that promotes the values of love, peace, and unity and brings up a generation of leaders with the skills and experience to bring wide-scale change to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Africa at large. CIYOTA is empowering the next generation of visionary, entrepreneurial, and socially responsible leaders to effect change in their communities, countries, and continent.
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Youth Action.net.MOVby PK2G983 views
CIYOTA exemplifies unity and compassion. The organization is an extended family; every community issue is given the weight of something affecting an immediate family member.
CIYOTA 1 year ago