The youth innovation hub-YINNOH is aiming at transforming the lives of many refugees and marginalized youth from the host community in Uganda/Rwamwanja refugees settlement.

Benjamin Abunuasi

In 2017, Due to natural disasters and political insecurities in my country Dr-congo, I fled to Uganda where my life becomes worse than ever before, I looked for a job in the camp but I was not able to find any. I was frustrated and stressed. I resort to drugs as a way to release my mind. I realized that most refugees face the same situation because of the limited access to job opportunities, the lack of employable skills, skills that can enable them to develop their talents. I founded the YOUTH INNOVATION HUB-YINNOH aiming to empower marginalized youth and young refugees to become social entrepreneurs and job creators.

Students supporting Yinnoh within the framework of the SEIP University Cooperation Program:

My name is Blanka Kuti and I'm from Hungary. I'm currently a first-year stutent at Eötvös Lóránd University, Faculty of Special Needs Education. In the past 3 years, I have participated in multiple international pojects in different countries and I must say, I really fell in love with working with people from all around the globe. This is why I joined this university cooperation program to work with social entrepeneurs and contribute to something that will help many people. I'm looking forward to doing something great with Yinnoh and SEIP together.

My name is Csongor Körösztös. I’m a second-year student at the Special Needs Education Faculty of ELTE University, specialized to Education for Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties and Education for Intellectual Disability. In 2019, my first semester, I had the possibility to participate in the Disability Studies Conference as a voluntary organiser, thanks to my course about Feminist Disability Studies. From that time on, I’ve been trying to grab as many opportunities as I can, to gain my knowledge and experience in fields connected to social inequalities. I took part in a few workshops about gender inequalities at the Central European University, later I took courses in the area of empowerment, lobbying, innovation, and social and cultural diversity both in English and Hungarian language. Now, thanks to Disability/Studies/ and Social/ Innovation Lab and the Social Entrepreneurship Incubation Program, I can participate in a project, where I’m getting experience in these fields interculturally, focused on project management. This is especially important for me since I’d like to continue my studies and work in these areas. With this, I want to help to ensure and establish a more inclusive community. One of my aims is to raise social awareness and responsibility in people, so the inequalities which are connected to everyone will get in focus. Because I do think, this is the way to build up a diverse and inclusive society.

Supervisor:

Dr. Leendert de Bell is professor of sustainable labor participation of refugees at University of Applied Sciences Utrecht and is academic staff member at Utrecht University Centre for Entrepreneurship, where he teaches on (social) entrepreneurship in various Master's programs.