We believe that refugees and other migrants hold significant economic potential, and that young people in Africa have the ability to support our planet's needs for the coming generations.
Unlocking the abilities and potential of refugees and low-income people through a long term solution of advanced learning, leadership and entrepreneurship experience to create positive change.
In 2019, Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS Uganda) graduated several students in Kampala in a Computer Networking Course, and afterwards granted a few of them a scholarship to study more advanced Computer Courses at Netlabs/Makerere University. In March 2020, Uganda faced its first Covid-19 lockdown in which everybody was forced to stay home.
In June 2020, JRS started to respond to the covid-19 lockdown by providing food and medical assistance to refugees in Kampala, and the students who received a scholarship at Netlabs/Makerere University were randomly selected to help on Data Entry in the JRS Database Management System. That experience was when the idea of creating Up With Africa was conceived.
In September 2020, some educational institutions re-opened and the students went back to Netlabs/Makerere University to complete their program. JRS had been providing transport funds to these students, the news is that public transport fee went high because taxis were restricted to carry fewer passengers than before Covid. JRS was kind enough to increase the transport funds for their students to be able to attend classes.
From there Up With Africa members planned to contribute weekly savings of UGX 10,000 (approximately $2.70 per week) to help jump-start the registration of Up With Africa and pay for the document necessary to start operating.
