EMPOWERING AND STRENGTHENING ECONOMIC LIVELIHOOD THROUGH POULTRY FARMING IN MIDIA SUB-COUNTY

MY STORY:
LEADING GENERATIONS THROUGH OPPORTUNITY:

My name is Hon. Asiku Maxwel, The Deputy Speaker and the Male Youth Councilor of Midia Sub-County, Koboko District, and the Vice President of the Uganda Young Democrats (UYD).
I am a youth leader who has chosen to move beyond speaking about the challenges young people face and begin creating practical opportunities for them.

My leadership journey has taken me from community mobilization and advocacy to national youth leadership, disability inclusion, mentorship and practical skills development. Through my work with youth initiatives, I have participated in training and mentorship program that have taught me a powerful lesson to livelihood empowerment. When young people are given practical skills, confidence and an opportunity to use those skills, they can change the direction of their lives.
Today, I want to bring that lesson home to Midia Sub-County.

THE PROBLEM I CANNOT IGNORE.
The 2024 Uganda Census recorded 30,977 people in Midia, 14,493 males and 16,484 females where in Koboko District. At national level, 50.9% of Ugandan youth aged 18–30 was neither in employment nor education/training, while the West Nile sub-region recorded 59.8%.
Most importantly 62.6% of the youths aged 18-30 in Midia were classified Not in Employment, Education or Training highlighting a significant livelihood and economic empowerment gap among the young people. These are not just statistics to me. They represent the young people I meet in our communities' young people with energy, ideas and dreams but without enough opportunities to turn those dreams into livelihoods.
Among them are teenage mothers, youths and youths with Disabilities whose education and economic opportunities have been interrupted, young men struggling to find meaningful livelihoods and youths with disabilities who continue to face barriers to skills, employment and economic participation.
I cannot represent young people and remain comfortable knowing that so many are being left behind.

WHY I AM RAISING FUNDS.
I am raising funds to establish a Demonstration Poultry Training Centre in Mindrabe Village, Asunga Parish, Midia Sub-County, and Koboko District; I am not simply raising money to buy chickens but raising resources to create a place where a young person can arrive with limited opportunities and leave with practical skills, business knowledge, confidence and a pathway towards income.
The Demonstration Centre will provide hands-on training in:
• Poultry production and management.
• Feeding, housing and disease prevention.
• Record keeping and financial management.
• Entrepreneurship and business planning.
• Marketing and market access.
• Enterprise development.
The project will primarily empower teenage mothers and vulnerable male youth, while deliberately ensuring that 40% of the beneficiaries are youths with disabilities.

The goal is to create a practical pathway from:
TRAINING → PRODUCING → MARKETING → EARNING → GROWING → CREATING JOBS
The project will also take advantage of markets within Koboko and neighboring districts, with potential opportunities for cross-border trade linked to the Democratic Republic of Congo, subject to applicable laws and regulations.

WHY POULTRY?
Poultry provides a practical entry point into agribusiness where young people can learn by doing. The Centre will not only demonstrate poultry production, but it will teach young people how to think like entrepreneurs, manage an enterprise, understand markets and build sustainable livelihoods.

My ambition is that a young person who completes the program should not simply say, “I attended poultry training.” but should be able to say, “I have a skill, I have a business idea, I know my market, I know how to manage my enterprise and I can build my future.”

I am bringing more than a political title to this initiative.
I bring experience in youth mobilization, leadership, advocacy, mentorship, disability inclusion and practical skills development.
Through my work with youths with disabilities, I have learned that inclusion means more than inviting people into a room. It means creating skills, resources and opportunities that allow people to participate meaningfully and become economically productive.

My national role as Vice President of the Uganda Young Democrats has strengthened my commitment to youth leadership, democratic participation and creating space for young people to influence their future.
Now, as Deputy Speaker and Male Youth councilor of Midia Sub-County, I want to translate that experience into a practical local investment. I have represented young people. Now I want to help create opportunities for them.
I want to help build a generation that does not only wait for government, donors or employers but:
I want young people to become skilled workers, entrepreneurs, producers and eventually employers of others.
I particularly want to create opportunities for teenage mothers who need a second chance, male youth seeking meaningful livelihoods, and youths with disabilities who deserve equal access to economic opportunities.

WHY YOUR SUPPORT MATTERS:
Your contribution can help establish the training Centre.
• It can help train a young person.
• It can help a teenage mother acquire a livelihood skill.
• It can help a youth with a disability access an opportunity that may otherwise remain out of reach.
• It can help turn knowledge into an enterprise and an enterprise into employment for others.
You are not just funding poultry BUT:
• You are investing in skills.
• You are investing in dignity.
• You are investing in inclusion.
• You are investing in enterprise.
• You are investing in a generation.
What I need now is partnership to turn this vision into a functioning Centre.
• Help me move youth leadership from speeches to solutions.
• Help me turn skills into livelihoods.
• Help me give teenage mothers a second chance, male youth a productive pathway, and youths with disabilities an equal opportunity to participate in the economy.
• Help me build a model that can grow beyond Mindrabe and inspire youth-led economic empowerment across Midia and Koboko.

I HAVE THE VISION. I HAVE THE LEADERSHIP PLATFORM. I HAVE THE COMMUNITY CONNECTION AND EXPERIENCE IN PROMOTING THIS PRACTICAL TRAINING.