No other continent on Earth shares Africa’s potential. No other continent shares its challenges.
Established in 2014, the Chrysalis Youth Empowerment Network exists to support young African people and train them as changemakers, providing recreational and educational activities to enable them to have a positive impact on their communities.
Our goals are:
To prevent poverty in Africa, by providing grants, items and services to those in need, particularly through indigenous African organisations.
To promote children's rights.
To promote sustainable development in Africa.
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The Gandhi Foundation Peace Award recognises achievements of charity pioneer
We aim to enable young people in Uganda to become changemakers; training them to become social entrepreneurs and leave a lasting impact on their community, country, continent and the world.
How?
The Chrysalis Youth Empowerment Network’s (CYEN) African operations are based at the Chrysalis Centre in Kireka, Kampala, Uganda, located on edge of the Acholi Quarter. It's a small place, but it has hosted two youth conferences and runs activities as diverse as taekwon-do and watercolour painting, acrobatics and intellectual boardgames, and athletics the first Slum Run!
The centre is colourful and is designed to stimulate young people to think of a better future for themselves and their community. Many of the activities are run by the youth themselves, and experts are brought in to teach specialist sports or activities.
The Acholi Quarter is a slum district in Kampala and children there are generally poorly nourished, lacking in investment and often unable to go to school due to the prohibitive cost of school fees, let alone the activities presented at the Chrysalis Centre.
The Chrysalis Centre is the headquarters of the Butterfly Project for young social entrepreneurs and it is here where some young people are trained up to become changemakers.
In 2020 after many years of fund-raising and planning by CYEN, the Chrysalis Secondary School opened in Lagwe Dola in the north of Uganda, providing a centre for regional transformation and social entrepreneurship in Northern Uganda, built to encourage its students to see themselves as architects of change. Learn more about the school here
The Chrysalis Youth Empowerment Network has had an enormous impact in Uganda and has trained young people from all over the country and many of these are running activities in their own local communities, having been trained at the Chrysalis Centre. So, please consider this cause and support it, if you can.
““To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there.”
— Kofi Annan, seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations
PRESS RELEASE
Press Release
Release Date: XX June 2024
The Gandhi Foundation Peace Award recognises achievements of charity pioneer
The Gandhi Foundation has bestowed its 2023 peace award on Ben Parkinson and Chrysalis Uganda. The prestigious annual prize from the UK-based voluntary organisation showcases recipients who espouse the values of selflessness and egalitarianism. At a presentation ceremony at Kingsley Hall, the HQ of the Foundation, Ben was recognised for his work in transforming disadvantaged young people into social entrepreneurs.
Ben founded the Chrysalis Youth Empowerment Network (CYEN), a charity dedicated to helping young Ugandans become social entrepreneurs and leave a lasting impact on their community, country, continent and the world. He is particularly renowned for his work on the Butterfly Project which since 2009 has been educating Ugandan children, nurturing changemakers and fostering altruistic characteristics. This work struck a chord with The Gandhi Foundation which strives to reinforce the continuing relevance of Gandhi’s insights and actions today.
Through The Butterfly Project Ben has trained young people from some of Uganda’s most remote villages and disadvantaged urban slum districts. They have since gone on to drive change on a local and national level across a range of careers, from NGOs to agri-tech businesses. Two years ago, Ben helped take that work to the next level by opening the Chrysalis School in Lakwana Sub-county, Northern Uganda.
The secondary school identifies children from isolated rural communities and equips them with the education, project-management and entrepreneurial skills they need to become architects of change. Students are given a holistic education, fostering talent in a range of areas from music tuition, sports training and computer programming to entrepreneurship. .Set in 10-acres of land, the school is situated in an area of rural Uganda which was severely impacted by the civil war and where there is limited support for talented children.
Ben Parkinson said: “It is a real honour to receive this award. Our work in Uganda is all about providing an environment that promotes peace and harmony. Through the Butterfly Project and the Chrysalis School we give children the confidence and skills they need to follow a life of selflessness and commitment to community.
He added: “Everything I’ve done has been about empowering young people and addressing the imbalance of opportunities available to them within the world’s richest and poorest countries. The Butterfly Project is designed to help children in Uganda fulfil their potential. Those are the kind of values Gandhi embodied and I am delighted that the foundation has recognised the importance of our work.”
The Gandhi Foundations’ ? said: “
CYEN relies entirely on the generosity of individuals to sponsor children through the Butterfly Project or fund their studies at Chrysalis School. To make a one-off donation please visit: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/cyen To enquire about sponsoring a child email socentafrica@gmail.com www.cyen.online/sponsorachangemaker Charity Registration Number:1158392.