TeamUp Uganda: How Integrated Youth Empowerment Improved Rural Livelihoods and Quality of Life

During a household visit, the TeamUp team met a woman who grows coffee, raises pigs, and helps manage her community’s water source. Her teenage daughter had missed school because she was unwell during her period.

“One household, multiple needs,” says Monica Basemera, Head of the Program Coordination Unit at TeamUp Uganda, emphasizing that a single intervention would only address part of the picture. The family’s needs are connected: Collecting water takes time away from school or work, while health, farming knowledge, and business skills shape the family’s opportunities.

TeamUp therefore brought partners together to support young people through a cross-sectoral approach connecting agriculture and livelihoods, water, sanitation and hygiene, and health.

• Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS) supported young people in developing agricultural and business skills and accessing resources and markets.
• Whave Solutions worked with communities and governments to keep rural water services running reliably.
• Action 4 Health Uganda provided sexual and reproductive health information and connected young people with youth-friendly care.

The partners moved from working separately to coordinating support for the same young people and households. They pooled resources, expertise, and networks to improve rural youth’s quality of life. Activities were sequenced and support layered over time to deepen the benefits.

Young people helped shape TeamUp from day one. “They even decided on the name and the logo,” says Basemera. The team worked alongside them, recognizing their knowledge of their communities and learning together from successes and setbacks. “TeamUp was never ours; it was theirs, and they felt that.” They became co-facilitators, and some later became service providers or field officers themselves.

The program ran from 2022 to 2026, following a four-year pilot. It focused on young people aged 15 to 30 in rural Uganda, particularly in Mityana and Kassanda, and was financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), HRNS, Siemens Stiftung, and Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung (DSW).

The endline findings show the value of this connected approach: 53.6% of participants improved or sustained their quality of life, rising to 62.4% among those reached by all three sectors. In addition, 72.4% reported gains in social relationships and 69.2% in psychological well-being.

Overall, TeamUp reached more than 14,000 young people, exceeding its target of 9,024, with 8,464 still active at the end of the program. It also established or strengthened 239 youth organizations, enabling young people to represent their interests in agriculture, health, and water, exchange knowledge, and provide services to their members.

Through 140 Youth Farmer Field Schools, young people learned agricultural, climate-smart, business, and financial skills. On 660 demonstration plots, they tested techniques before applying them on their own plots. Support included 60 community-based field school facilitators, seven tree nurseries, and 179 strengthened village savings and loan associations. Mentoring and links to finance, inputs, government services, and markets helped them turn learning into income.

By endline, access to productive resources and services had risen from about 16% to 88%, consistent income generation from 31% to 61%, and access to financial services from 16.8% to 64.2%. Diversification supported this approach, with seasonal crops offering earlier returns alongside longer-term enterprises such as coffee. “Diversification matters when it comes to young people and agriculture,” explains Felix Opio, HRNS Co-Country Manager in Uganda.

Whave worked with local technicians, water and sanitation committees, and the government to maintain water sources, funded through community user fees. Of 706 registered water points, 445 remained active in the service model at endline. In addition, 208 young people were trained in marketing handwashing stations, and 361 stations were sold – connecting hygiene with business opportunities.

Among program households, use of protected water sources increased from 85.3% to 92.6%, while the share collecting water within a 30-minute round trip rose from 68% to 86.6%. “People can now go back and do their productive work within a reasonable amount of time,” explains Doreen Anyumel, Monitoring and Evaluation Director at Whave. Breakdowns still occurred, but water service was restored faster at sources maintained by Whave than those without its maintenance service.

Action 4 Health Uganda used peer learning, youth clubs, and Youth Empowerment Centers to connect young people with sexual and reproductive health information and youth-friendly services. Referrals linked communities to health facilities, while the BEEs and Flying Nurses model brought counseling, contraception, testing, and other services closer to hard-to-reach communities. The program recorded 5,712 referrals to health services, of which 79% were completed. The BEE model reached 6,263 clients, including 257 who returned for repeat visits.

Endline results were mixed. Comprehensive sexual and reproductive health knowledge reached 12.8%, below the 50% target. “The strict knowledge measure, cultural sensitivities, and irregular attendance kept the scores well short of the target,” explains Sarah Kintu, CEO of Action 4 Health Uganda. However, 86.6% accessed services, substantially achieving the program’s service-access objective. Reported contraceptive use was 76.1% in the program group, compared with 56% in the comparison group.

The TeamUp Uganda endline findings offer six practical lessons for designing sustainable youth empowerment programs. Based on experience connecting agriculture, water, sanitation, and health services in rural Uganda, these lessons highlight how youth ownership, practical skills, cross-sector partnerships, and early sustainability planning can help development initiatives create opportunities beyond their funding period.

1. Combine Agriculture, Water, and Health Services to Improve Young People's Quality of Life

The quality-of-life findings highlight the value of coordinating support across sectors for the same young people and households. Menstrual health knowledge can support school attendance, reliable water frees up time for school and work, and marketing handwashing stations connects hygiene with business opportunities.

2. Give Young People Ownership and Leadership in Development Programs

“Including young people in decision-making and genuinely listen to them is key,” says Basemera. Taking their ideas seriously and trusting them to lead activities strengthened their commitment. Peer learning and mentoring helped them become role models, peer coaches, and leaders within their organizations – helping those organizations to continue beyond the project. In addition, inclusive recruitment and targeted support help more young women take on leadership roles.

3. Connect Agricultural Training with Practical Experience, Finance, and Markets

“Young people are more likely to sustain economic opportunities when they can see it, apply it and benefit from it,” explains Opio. Demonstration plots help them learn by doing, while access to finance and markets enables them to turn skills into income. HRNS also recommends expanding opportunities beyond production into processing, agricultural services, and marketing, including for youth without land.

4. Make Cross-Sector Collaboration Part of Program Planning and Implementation

Joint planning and regular exchange helped partners develop solutions together. “As TeamUp, we had a shared office space, which was a key lesson that we learned,” says Anyumel. Such cooperation also needs funding structures that support it: Few grants target cross-sector collaboration, and organizations often still develop proposals and implement activities separately. Donors should fund cross-sector partnerships, and implementers should strengthen joint proposals and delivery.

5. Build Public-Private Partnerships to Sustain Youth Development

Youth development requires contributions from many organizations, with public-private partnerships playing a key role. Government, financial institutions, businesses, and community organizations bring complementary resources, services, and networks that support opportunities beyond the project’s lifespan.

6. Plan for Long-Term Sustainability from the Start of a Development Program

From the very beginning, sustainability plans should identify the results to preserve, the systems behind them, and the actors responsible for keeping them running. “For us, sustainability is about leaving behind more than just project activity,” says Opio. TeamUp invested in youth organizations, practical skills, and connections with government, farmer organizations, and the private sector – foundations young people can build on to generate opportunities and support one another.

“Once young people trust that their abilities are recognized, they take over: They own their results, and they own their mistakes too, learning from them and growing stronger,” says Basemera. This ownership is an important foundation for sustaining what they helped build. Continued access to agricultural opportunities, reliable water, health care, and partner networks can help them carry that commitment beyond the program’s close.