Hellen Ziribagwa, 24
Kampala, Uganda

Uganda is currently facing many economic and social challenges. Girls, in particular, face further obstacles accessing education and finding well-paying jobs. This lack of opportunity is stifling and contributes to a large unemployment rate that continues to plague young people in Uganda. Hellen Ziribagwa wants to change this reality for girls. In her video submission to Let Girls Lead, Hellen highlights her work offering girls a way out. Her organization, National Youth Empowerment Network, empowers girls to become entrepreneurs. Their mission is to mentor young people in Uganda to become job creators and to find self-sustaining ways of supporting themselves. Her organization has also started a school that provides youth in the community direct and easy access to education. Simultaneously, Hellen’s organization is establishing a vocational school to provide girls with the opportunity to acquire the necessary skills to start their own businesses. With the help of Hellen’s leadership, girls in Uganda are realizing their full potentials.

Ziribagwa ‘s Story: My name is Ziribagwa, Hellen. I am 24 years from Uganda. l train young girls between ages of 14 to 30 years in the central and western part of Uganda under National Youth Empowerment Network, a youth-led organization mainly focusing on empowering the youths in entrepreneurship development. The challenges we have been able to address are high levels unemployment and education. We have been able to train young girls entrepreneurship under Wangari project which has enabled young girls to start up self-sustaining projects like craft making. We have also set up good hope primary school which enables the children in the community to access education, a training program where we have extended life skills and also we are in a process of establishing a vocational school which is a platform for the young girls to be able to acquire skills which will enable them to start up small-scale businesses.

Let Girls Lead empowers girls and their allies to lead social change through advocacy, education, economic empowerment, storytelling and strategic partnerships, contributing to improved health, education, and livelihoods for more than three million girls globally.

Let Girls Lead’s Global Girls’ Conversation video contest highlights girls’ power to create change by sharing their own solutions through short videos. The video contest is an exciting opportunity for girls, organizations working with girls and girls’ allies to submit one to two-minute videos capturing girls’ solutions and successes. In partnership with The Huffington Post, Let Girls Lead will feature these compelling videos on the Global Girls’ Conversation interactive platform and on Huffington Post’s Global Motherhood column, sharing girls’ power to lead change with a global audience. Contest winners will receive $10,000 in cash, equipment, and training to create their own short films. For more information, please visit here.