Gulu, Uganda, Netherlands

Finding Your Way in the Education-Work Transition: Mental Resilience and Social Entrepreneurship

Finding your way in the education-work transition can evoke a variety of doubts. Around the world, young people are confronted with questions like: How am I going to make a living? What kind of work would I like to do? What kind of education do I need? How can I gain meaningful experience? And on a more personal level: What am I good at? What kind of person do I want to be? What would I like to achieve? Entering the world of work is not only about possessing the right knowledge and skills, but also requires a certain attitude, self esteem and useful relationships.

In Uganda, many young people look to entrepreneurship for making a living. Some of them turn into social entrepreneurs, not only supporting themselves and their families, but also the surrounding communities. In Gulu city, northern Uganda, this asks for strong resilience as the violent conflicts of some decades ago are still part of the collective memory. The city with its large, lively market offers a valuable context for fieldwork to explore youth entrepreneurship in relation to mental resilience. The fieldwork, which is at the core of the summer school, will be prepared in interactive lectures and shared in interdisciplinary groupwork and presentations at Gulu University. The programme draws on the experiences and expertise of the UNESCO chair on Lifelong learning, youth and work. The insights gained will feed into the collective knowledge production and lead to the proposal of innovations in educational programmes.

Course leader

Josje van der Linden, UNESCO Chair holder Lifelong Learning, Youth and Work, Gulu University, Uganda, University of Groningen, the Netherlands

Target group

The summer school is designed for students trying to find their way into the working world and for practitioners interested in social entrepreneurship. Participants will acquire valuable tools for entrepreneurship and mental resilience.

It is expected that the participants have a sufficient command of the English language to actively participate in the discussions and to present their own work in English.

Course aim

After this course you will be able to:

Explain social and sustainable entrepreneurship.

Have tools for mental resilience.

Conduct fieldwork (participatory action research)

Develop career awareness

Upon successful completion of the programme, the Summer School offers a Certificate of Attendance.

Credits info

TBA

Fee info

EUR 480: For international participants, includes lunch, coffee, tea, local transportation
EUR 80: for Ugandan participants