Into Your Hands Inc 1414 views

The mission of Into Your Hands Africa is to empower youth and families in rural Uganda through education and enterprise development. In turn, they become self-directed, resourceful and productive members of their communities. As model citizens, they work together to determine their own futures.For 19 years Into Your Hands-Africa has been working with students, families and communities in rural midwestern Uganda, supporting community empowerment and economic sustainability through education and enterprise development. Our foundational belief is that education and enterprise are intertwined. Through lessons learned, we have achieved successful and sustainable programs through the integration of both education and enterprise as a total solution.Activities to meet the overall mission of the organization include:

1. Providing 'hand-up' assistance to families to develop their own revenue streams through small- scale livestock and agricultural businesses.
2. Assisting youth and young adults in attaining a secondary or vocational education.
3. Empowering women with the tools to attain economic self-sufficiency and food security.
4. Creating opportunities for communities to develop stronger ties amongst themselves while shifting individual farming practices from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture.

The inception of Into Your Hands Africa began in 1999 through a relationship with St. Denis Secondary School in Makondo Uganda. The organization’s founding members kicked-off a fundraising project that supported the construction of an examination hall, thereby making St. Denis a nationally accredited secondary school. In 2007, IYHA became an official nonprofit organization and today the organization has reached over 30,000 people across 70 villages.IYHA has three offices (one in the USA and two in Uganda) and supports an average of 200 students per year at five partner schools; provides over 350+ new agricultural businesses to students and families annually; and works alongside communities through the Community Development Association program to help 3,500 people a year determine their own futures through best practices in business management and entrepreneurship. We focus on vocational training in areas such as animal husbandry, veterinary work, healthcare, tailoring, and primary and secondary education. These community investments not only help individuals and their families to become self-sustaining, but they invest in local youth who are able to gain relevant skills to bring back and lift up their local village.  When education and enterprise programming support are combined, leaders arise from within the community.