Help youth protect nature in East Africa
Donation protected
The Youth Spaces program offers intensive training in entrepreneurship, leadership and environmental sustainability for talented young people from Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
They live in an area of the world with incredible biodiversity - where else can you find mountain gorillas? But also a land marked by a history of conflict where young people rarely have the chance to live up to their full potential.
Youth Spaces offers student entrepreneurs, who are full of initiative and ideas, the opportunity to explore their role in shaping the region’s future. Through workshops, experiential learning and site visits, they build the confidence, know-how and skills to support their aspirations.
World-class experts (from the region and across the globe) have donated their time to support young people’s growth. Each one has come away from their session incredibly inspired by the determination and the goodness they perceived in each of the participants.
We can see the transformational potential of this program. It is bringing people from across the region together in friendship to learn and build trust.
We are asking for your contribution to support this volunteer-driven initiative and help bring this opportunity to more young people. Our pilot session in Musanze, Rwanda has been going wonderfully, and we see the potential for holding the program in eastern Congo and Uganda as well.
Our hope over time is to have a network of entrepreneurial leaders who feel connected across borders, and also motivated to lift up the young people in their communities.
We make every contribution stretch to the maximum.
We would use the funds for the following:
- Covering travel costs for field trips, for instance to experience conservation programs, minority cultures, and exemplary community development and social entrepreneurship activities. These are incredible learning opportunities that broaden their field of experience and understanding.
- Holding an intensive summer leadership and entrepreneurship camp, bringing together youth from the three countries.
- Reimbursing travel costs for local experts.
- Contributions for the space to hold the sessions and supporting coordination.
We also hope to provide start-up funds for the most promising micro-projects that the youth initiate. These range from making banana juice to eco-friendly sanitary pads to upcycling plastics creating a library of environmental resources.
If you have a preference for how we use your donation, let us know, and we can respect that!
If you have any questions or suggestions, or once you get more involved, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Even the smallest contribution is for us a welcome and precious sign of your solidarity for the youngsters in this historically troubled, but very promising region.
The best thing we can do for our environment and for peace is to help create a generation of young people who know how to stand up for both. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
The Youth Spaces coordinators, Misigaro, Stephanie and Miha, and the rest of the Gorilla Highlands Experts
Organizer
Stephanie Brancaforte
Organizer
Arlington, VA