WeWork Project Profile: Green and Decent Jobs for the Youth
Project Background:
WeWork: Green and Decent Jobs for the Youth is a two-year project implemented by MUCOBADI (lead applicant) and YMCA (co-applicant). It equips vulnerable youth, women and girls, including refugees, with market-relevant skills in the renewable and solar energy sector and connects them to work-based learning and employment.
The project responds to a shortage of vocational skills among vulnerable youth, gaps in the labour market, weak links between training and employers, and limited awareness of the careers on offer. It supports Uganda’s national priorities for youth employment and climate-resilient livelihoods.
- Lead applicant: MUCOBADI
- Co-applicant and training institution: YMCA
- Supported by: Enabel
- Duration: Two years, June 2025 to May 2027
- Budget: EUR 500,000
- Locations: Kampala (Kawempe Division, with coverage planned across all five KCCA divisions) and Mukono District (Nama, Kyampisi, Nakifuma, Goma, Mukono Central, Nakisunga, Namataba and Ntenjeru sub-counties)
- Target group: 500 young people aged 15 to 35, of whom 60% are women and girls, 40% are men and 20% are refugees. Persons with disabilities are included.
Project Focus Areas:
- Market-relevant skills in renewable energy:
- Training in solar installation and maintenance and energy-saving cookstove making
- Competency-based training aligned with UVTAB guidelines and private sector needs
- UVTAB assessment and certification
- Partnerships for work-based learning:
- Sustainable partnerships with 50 private sector actors
- Work-based learning placements in collaboration with the training institution
- Post-training employment support:
- Business plans, start-up kits, mentoring and coaching
- Links to jobs, business support services and financial institutions
Expected Results:
Progress to Date (September to November 2025):
Who enrolled, against target
Age of enrolled youth
What youth said their communities need most
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Profiled 482 young people across Mukono District, of whom 447 (93%) were eligible to enrol. Those not eligible had mostly completed tertiary education and are being linked to Enabel’s Work Readiness Programme.
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Reached 158 refugee youth (35% of enrolled youth), thanks to Sudanese and Congolese refugee community leaders who supported mobilisation and follow-up.
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Used door-to-door mobilisation and women peers to raise the share of young women, and reached the youth with the greatest need.
Strengthening Instructors:
MUCOBADI, working with the UVTAB curriculum development and technical team, held a five-day training of instructors from 27 to 31 October 2025. It covered the competency-based approach to training, updated curricula aligned with private sector needs, practical demonstrations in solar installation, maintenance and cookstove making, soft skills, occupational safety and health, and the assessment of practical competences. Complete curricula for solar technicians and energy cookstoves are now ready for use.
Partnerships:
Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA). At an inception meeting on 24 November 2025 at City Hall, 46 participants (22 women and 24 men) from all five KCCA divisions agreed to cover all five divisions, with each taking up to 50 youth. They also agreed to hold division-level inception meetings, coordinate with KCCA’s renewable energy programmes and work with refugee-led organisations.
Private sector. MUCOBADI mapped 22 renewable energy actors across Mukono and neighbouring districts, mostly local enterprises in clean cooking and solar installation, distribution and repair. A first memorandum of understanding has been signed with Marvel Energy, and agreements with the remaining partners are being pursued.
Refugee communities. MUCOBADI works with the Sudanese refugee community in Bajjo, Seeta in Mukono District and a grassroots organisation of Congolese refugees in Kampala to reach and support refugee youth.
YMCA and Enabel. YMCA is the co-applicant and training institution, and Enabel provides technical guidance and monitoring support.
