Kitojo Community Vocational Training School

Kitojo Community Vocational Training School is a non profit making organization dedicated to providing technical skills to students unable to continue their education into secondary school. Its aim is to promote girls’ education and take away poverty making a sustainable impact in the community.  

It’s located in Kengoma village, Bubaare sub-county, Rubanda district, just 15 km from Kabale in the mountains surrounding Lake Bunyonyi (South-West Uganda). The closest main village is called Kachwekano. The school was founded in 2016 as a private initiative from the Bakiga community in the Lake Bunyonyi area, due to the lack of public vocational schools in the region.

In Uganda primary school takes 7 years and the students usually finish it when are about 12 years old. After that, there are just few public secondary or vocational schools in each district, mainly in the cities, in this case in the city of Kabale located 15 km down the mountains by a dirt road. There are many people in the Bakiga community who cannot afford the costs of a secondary or vocational schools far from their area, so when they finish primary education they can't learn a profession and are forced to work in poorly-paid jobs. Most of them are women and a high percentage of them are single and double orphans, a collective with high risk of social exclusion.

When youth are unable to continue their education into secondary school due to economic constraint, they inevitably fall into A) an idle, passionless lifestyle or B) a hazardous, low-waged work environment. As the youth grow up and develop families a generational cycle of poverty is produced. Asiimwe Lucky noticed this trend in his community as he witnessed young women, unable to attend secondary school, resort to work in local rock quarries where they were exposed to hazardous work environments, low wages, and frequent rape. Mr. Lucky envisioned an alternative educational program that was both affordable and offered exceptional vocational skills that would offer youth the opportunity at a line of work they could both take pride in and make a decent standard of living. This dream culminated into the Kitojo Vocational Academy, where the mission is to provide students unable to attend secondary school with high-quality vocational skills by delivering an affordable learning environment with training from caring, experienced instructors.

 The school tries to provide vocational education to all these people regardless of their economic situation, in order to give them hope of a better live for them and their families. That's why in many cases no fees are charged to alumni other than the meals provided for lunch.

Vision & Mission

To end the cycle of poverty in the local region – specifically those who grow up and subsequently fall into the rock quarry industry.

To provide students unable to attend secondary school with high-quality vocational skills by delivering an affordable learning environment with training from caring, experienced instructors.

Goals & Objectives

·       To increase capacity beyond 30 students per semester

·       To incorporate a sweater business targeted at producing uniforms for local schools

·       To become completely self-sustained

·       To expand curriculum into areas including: agribusiness, husbandry (poultry, piggery), hotel management