Vancouverite’s campaign to support unemployed youth in Uganda gains international attention

More than 3,000 youth attended the Sawa World Day in Kampala, Uganda last year.

This spring, organizer Daphne Nederhorst hopes to draw 10,000 people to the event, which aims to help marginalized youth start their own businesses.

The Vancouverite and founder of the NGO Sawa World has even drawn the attention of Richard Branson and his non-profit foundation Virgin Unite, which promoted Nederhorst’s I Am the Solution campaign on its website.

Proceeds from the campaign, which seeks to raise $10,000, will fund the second Sawa World Day on March 21.

“The impact that we want to have is that we want to host 10,000 vulnerable and unemployed youth from Uganda and the East African region and empower them with local, simple skills that allow them to start a small business the next day,” Nederhorst told the Straight by phone.