BYDA

Engaging Buwasa youth in the construction and maintenance of water access points: a project that benefits everyone in the community  

Abbey Musaazi, congratulations on your award! You have been volunteering with the Buwasa Youth Development Association (BYDA) since 2016. Can you tell us about it?  

The Buwasa Youth Development Association (BYDA) is a youth-based organization located in the Gombe region of Central Uganda (Municipality of Nansana, Wakiso District). Many of the young people here are in very precarious situations. The BYDA positions itself as a group whose purpose is to defend their rights. We help on several fronts: offering opportunities for generating a steady income (farming activities, financial support for small business creation), helping them to develop marketable skills (hairdressing, tailoring, weaving, bookbinding and other artisan crafts) and raising their awareness of certain health and social issues (HIV prevention, reproductive health education, prevention of violence).  

Can you tell us what drove you to get involved with the association?  

Working in the service of your community is both a vocation and a blessing. I have always been involved in that sense. I really wanted to contribute to improving people’s lives, but I couldn’t do it alone, and so I looked for a dynamic and proactive association that I could join.   

Having seen many young people around me fall into drugs, prostitution or delinquency, I was particularly alive to BYDA’s mission, to the idea of transforming the futures of young people who have lost their way, of helping them to become useful citizens engaged in their communities.  
 

How do you plan to use this Institut Cerba prize?  

In practical terms, this prize from the Institut Cerba will contribute to supporting a BYDA project that aims to ensure that the people of the Gombe region have ready access to clean and safe drinking water. This is one of our community’s greatest health and social development challenges. Almost three quarters of households do not have running water and so must go out to fetch it every day. Because of the difficulties in accessing water points, it is often young people who are responsible for this task, which keeps them away from school.  

The project aims to build five wells to facilitate and to secure access to natural water sources. The Institut Cerba’s prize should largely finance the construction of two of these wells. It will also finance training for young people on how the wells are constructed and maintained, as well as some of the supervision costs for ensuring the smooth running of the project.  

From the announcement of the call for projects to the announcement of the prize, can you describe how you experienced this event?  

As the person in charge of fundraising for the association and an employee of the Cerba HealthCare Group, I felt like I was at the key junction when the call for projects was published. All the members of the association got involved in preparing our application. When the results were announced, we were both surprised and very excited to learn that our project, out of all those submitted, had been selected. We are extremely grateful to the Institut Cerba for giving us this opportunity to improve the living conditions in our community.  

Underlining the Group’s support, representatives from Lancet Laboratories Uganda attended the project launch day on 8 March. A real success!