AGYA & TOMS Shoes Announce Long-Term Partnership

AGYA is pleased to inform all our supporters about a new long-term partnership with TOMS Shoes, a company based in Santa Monica, CA. TOMS Shoes has contributed a container of new shoes to AAH to support our youth education and outreach programs.  The AGYA youth leader team, led by Country Director Abraham Matovu, are in the process of distributing the shoes  to AGYA members as well as local partner schools and NGOs in Kampala and Masaka districts. Among the beneficiaries of the shoes will be children at Nabulagala Good Hope Primary School in Kampala and participants active with Uganda Rural Fund programs in Masaka as well as AGYA members. For many beneficiaries, their new pair of TOMS will be the first or only pair of closed-toe shoes they own.

Help AGYA Raise $4,000 by End of 2011

Vote for AGYA & Help Us Win a Share of Over $3 million From Chase Community Giving!

Just click on the link above to cast your vote for AGYA International! We want to secure 1,500 votes by Tuesday 22 November.

AGYA Presents "Where We Work" Video

The latest AGYA video features images of the community where we work. Much of the footage was shot by AGYA Youth Leader Happy Namutebi. Enjoy!

AGYA Selected as 2011 Grant Recipient by UN-Habitat Youth Fund

Following informal announcements on Facebook & Twitter last month, AGYA is excited to officially announce that we were selected as a recipient of a grant from the UN-Habitat Youth Fund. With the resources from the grant, AGYA will implement "Reel Talk: Confronting Global Gender Disparities Through Digital Media." Under the leadership of AGYA Executive Director Divinity Matovu and AGYA Girls Program Director Happy Namutebi, "Reel Talk" is a 12-month project that will train 48 teen girls to use film, digital media and photography as a platform to provide girls ages 15-20 with the training, artistic license and communication skills to transform attitudes and behaviors about critical gender issues among disadvantaged youth living in urban poverty in Kampala. After completing the training, the girls will film and edit their own short films that will educate 10,000 youth who will see the films in live screenings at select sites in Uganda and online via YouTube, Blogger, Facebook and Twitter.

AGYA To Collaborate with Justice by Uniting in Creative Energy (JUiCE) on International Artist Exchange

AGYA is proud to announce that we are partnering with Justice by Uniting in Creative Energy (JUiCE) on an international hip-hop artist exchange project that will bring Los Angeles-based MC and Hellfyre Club recording artist, Open Mike Eagle and Los Angeles-based beatmaker and Brainfeeder artist, Ras G, to work with Ugandan rapper Mon MC, youth artists, and other local musicians in Uganda for three weeks during summer 2012.

J.U.i.C.E. is a Los Angeles-based a non-profit hip-hop organization that encourages the creative expression and self-empowerment of all people through skill-building in the music, visual art, and dance of the hip-hop culture.

The project idea was born in 2010 when AGYA Executive Director, Divinity Matovu connected with JUiCE Co-Executive Director Daniel Rizik-Baer, who provided advice and guidance during the curriculum planning phase of "Recording Our Dreams," an AGYA project that is currently training youth on music production and recording with a focus on hip-hop. Learn more about "Recording Our Dreams" here.