Peace For Women – West Nile To Offer Skills Training For 60 Teenage Girls, Mothers In Arua City

ARUA. A total of 60 teenage girls and mothers in Arua City are set to acquire skills in tailoring from Peace for Women (PfW) – West Nile, a community-based organization (CBO) operating in the West Nile sub-region.  

At least the first lot of 30 teenage girls and mothers selected from the cells of Ariko A and Ariko B in Robu Ward, Ayivu East Division of Arua City, have started undergoing a 3-month training aimed at equipping the young girls with the necessary skills to support their families.

While launching the first set of training at PfW – West Nile head office in Arua city on Monday, April 21,2025, Peace Abaru, the Executive Director of PfW – West Nile, said the training has been organized under the ‘Girl Shine’ project.

“Girl Shine project is basically addressing issues affecting young girls in the communities and also when we help them, we make sure that we take them through skilling, which is now tailoring that we are offering to them. For the beginning, we are targeting 30 girls from each of the two cells of Ariko A and Ariko B. We have started by getting 15 girls from each of the cells and once they finish, we shall then get the remaining 15 to make it to 60 teenage girls and mothers we are targeting in Robu Ward,” Abaru explained.

“Out of the 30 girls in each cell, we expect change in them. We want to see them shining, we want to see them bringing change in the society, in the household, and at the end of the day, they should be able to afford sanitary pads for themselves. When you empower the girl-child, just know the entire community is changed.

So, we have picked these young teenage mothers specifically because they lack a lot of things and our target is to see that at the end of the month, they should be able to generate at least Shs150,000 out of the knowledge they have acquired to support their households,” Abaru added.

According to Abaru, the trainees are mostly young girls who were either impregnated while in school or dropped out of school due to lack of school fees.

She said as a result, the girls are unable to look after themselves including the babies they are carrying when it comes to affording basic needs such as food, shelter, medication and clothing, a reason PfW has organized the skills training for them.

Mercy Ikuba’driani, one of the trainers, said in the three months of the training, the trainees will acquire the skills of measuring clothes, cutting, strip-lining and sewing among others.

She noted that the focus is to train the young girls to become experts in making clothes for children, women and male adults so that they can go out there and start making their own money.

Ikuba’driani, also formerly a teenage mother, was trained in tailoring by War Child Canada in Omugo technical school, the knowledge she is now transferring to other teenage girls and mothers in Arua city.

Jane Amaniyo, 15, a resident of Ariko A cell, who dropped out of school in P.4 last year, thanked PfW – West Nile for giving her the opportunity to do tailoring.

Amaniyo remained optimistic that after the training, she will be able to afford clothes and sanitary pads for herself, which have been a problem for her.

Meanwhile Lillian Ocaru, 23, a resident of Ariko B, said she dropped out of school in 2021 after conceiving in S.3.

“My baby boy is now three years old, but ever since the father heard that I’m pregnant, he abandoned me. I have all along been suffering to look after my child. Life has been so difficult because I can’t afford things like milk, clothes and other necessities for my child and myself. Today, I’m very happy for the opportunity given to me by PfW – West Nile. After this training, I want to go out there and start making clothes to change my life and that of my child,” Ocaru remarked.

PfW – West Nile started in 2022 with the sole motive of empowering women and young girls as a crucial step in preventing gender-based violence, fostering a society where everyone can live with dignity, respect and equal opportunities.