Kukundakwe’s will to support young people to live productive lives 

It has become increasingly easy for the youth to lose themselves in non constructive activities, wasting away their most productive years of their lives. While at times the challenges are self-inflicted, others show up uninvited. On several occasions, those struggles leave a mark on people’s lives and they can either refine or define them.

Rebecca Kukundakwe wants to create a culture, where tough moments build the best of character in youth , something she relates well with in her life. A social worker by profession, who works as gender specialist at Private Sector Foundation Uganda, she has a passion for making a difference in people’s lives.

“I work with young people, women and special interest groups. I also have a lot of experience in designing programmes targeting vulnerable groups, she says.

She lives for the purpose of touching lives and helping people realise their own potential by taking them through the journey of self-discovery. That is how Kukundakwe describes herself.

She has managed to achieve her mentorship work through economic empowerment and social life skills. Her emphasis is on the soft skills such as communication, interpersonal and analytical skills, that most learning institutions underlook, yet everyoneneeds them to survive in a dynamic working environment. 

Kukundakwe does all this through her charity called Global Alternatives, which she founded in 2016. “There was a time  when the women movement was the talk on everyone’s lips. But there was a mismatch between women of different generations; older women issues and younger women issues,”she recalls.

She took the initiative to organise the first intergenerational dialogue on women issues in Uganda in 2017.  Issues such as land access, capital and inheritance rights dominated the 2015 national discourse. But she wanted to focus on young people to help them discover themselves.

Content creator

Every Thursdays 8am to 9pm and Saturdays from 10am to midday, she creates content on different topics to guide the youth on how to navigate the murky waters of life.The short clips air on her LinkedIn page and are shared on WhatsApp in different spaces and with individuals.

It has been a minute since making the last episode, as resource constraints have taken their toll, but she keeps in touch with different groups. During her series titled Let’s Talk, Kukundakwe received positive feedback and it got overwhelming the day she chose self-care as her topic of discussion.

“Young people should know how to take care of their personal inner being. One might look good outside, but dying internally. Mental health and self-care needs are essential for young people to survive,” Kukundakwe explains.

While supporting young people  to stay on the right track through skilling, she has gone ahead to create work opportunities for them through working with different companies to sign up for work. 

She highlights the importance of encouraging young people to get interested in different opportunities such as trade, agriculture, design and catering, among others.

She emphasises the need for persistence in the face of adversity, noting that there is no soft landing. Not even the handout culture gets a thumbs up from Kukundakwe, who insists that the youth should work, be informed, proactively apply for opportunities and get economically empowered.

On many occasions, people get frustrated and miss out on making the next step because of ignorance. Resource analysis is another element she is imparting into the youth.

“You have to know what is around you and maneuver to get results. You need to learn how to work with people and overcome challenges,” she says.

She says youth fail to get going because they think things are too hard. Kukundakwe gives an example of the many cries about lack of capital to start a business yet there are solutions.

Overcoming hurdles

Cultural stereotyping is another hurdle she has to deal with to break ground in some rigid and conservative minds. At one stage, she was championing a project supporting women ride bikes and it was a big task,  as culturally women are known not to ride bikes.

She is striving to push for a mindset shift in the youth to help them live meaningful and productive lives. Her efforts are limited by challenges such as financial constraints.

Not many people are willing to volunteer yet she depends on such individuals to skill her following. She also hopes for a day when Global Alternatives will have a home.

 For now, she gets help from friends and well-wishers to keep the project running. She also has to juggle between her full time job and the things she does for passion.Looking back, Kukundakwe has recorded some success stories, but has interest in two specific ones.

“There is a girl who we helped secure internship placement through our networks. She learnt a lot including how to communicate with her bosses and she is now in a good place.

Another story is of one woman, who has started making liquid soap after realising that sitting at home and waiting for handouts from her husband was not sustainable,” she recalls.

That is not enough to feel like her passion has been rewarded. A well-funded programme would feel different. Kukundakwe recalls applying for a grant for a mental health application called ‘Answer Yo’ to help people keep sane through the lockdown. It went through all the stages, but never made it even after pitching twice.

“There were better ideas and we did not get grants, but I am happy we made it to that stage,” she says.

Where does her soft spot for the youth come from?

As a young girl who hails from humble backgrounds, Kukundakwe has seen it all. Coming from a big family of 12; eight girls and four boys, resources were always going to be hard to come by.

“I have had to push through life,” she says. Her memories take her back to her time in school, when she was sent home on numerous occasions, for failure to clear school fees. One day,  while she was in the middle of her science examination as a primary three pupil at Rwatukwirwe Primary School in Bushenyi District, her name was read from a distance and asked to leave the room.

She was asked to collect the fees or else she would not finish writing her exam. Fortunately the teacher in charge, Lauben Bamwesigye, was empathetic and allowed her to finish the exam.

“That is an act of kindness I will never forget,” she says. It was the first seed of gratitude sowed in her. In Senior Three at Bushenyi Pionner High School, she had also defaulted on tuition,  but was never sent home because she was one of the best performing students.

She was always left to study and pay later. “When I look back, it is because someone rendered a helping hand that I kept moving,”says Kukundakwe.

Luck kept following her even when she had no hope of continuing with A- Level, after scoring 25 aggregate. But her family hang in there even when the father was bedridden with no money back home.

She later joined Valley College Bushenyi for A-Level and scored 21 points before joining Makerere University on government sponsorship for a Social Work and Social Administration course.

At Makerere University, she joined a programme called ‘Go Getters’ that  empowered girls to reach their full potential in life. She also met her first mentors in Assumpta Namusoke (R.I.P) and Twebesa Rukaddema Mugisha.

“These two came to speak to us about life as young women. They challenged us to have dreams, know what we want to become and also do something for ourselves early on during holidays. These sessions I had with my mentors changed my life. I have been shaped by my past and I know how speaking to someone can change life, “she says in an emotional tone.

Building inner capacities

She extends that motherly love to young persons with hope that they will help build inner capacities for them.  A supportive family has also been key in her struggles and initiatives.

She is of the belief that if people believe in themselves and understand the opportunities around them with the right mindset, then everything else can fall in line.

Kukundakwe is also challenging those in positions of decision-making especially when it comes to young people’s programmes, to get on ground and join her struggle. The need to support young people develop their inner abilities and potential is key.

The youth make up 16 percent of the world’s population. In Uganda, 78 percent of our country’s population is composed of the youth or those belonging to the age range of 15 to 35 years.

With such statistics, it is a no-brainer that the youth are important when it comes to shaping and developing the country. The youth need all the attention to keep hopes alive in pursuit of fitting livelihoods and better lives in future.