Joseph Byadunia, a 34-year-old Congolese refugee living in Kyaka II Refugee Settlement, knows what it means to start from nothing. Like many refugees, he struggled to meet his family’s basic needs, his child was repeatedly sent home from school for unpaid fees, and household income was barely enough to survive.
That changed in February 2025, when Joseph was successfully selected to join the first cohort of the Institutional Strengthening Program, implemented by YIDA Youth Initiative (YIDA) in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation. Alongside 50 other participants, he underwent rigorous training in mushroom farming, financial literacy, bookkeeping, and mindset transformation equipping him not just with a skill, but with the confidence to use it.
Joseph didn’t wait. Even before receiving the Uganda Vocational and Technical Assessment Board (UVTAB) certification, he broke ground on his first mushroom garden. His very first harvest in the second week of his completion of the training harvested 8Kgs that earned him UGX 80,000, but life-changing. This enabled him to pay school fees and provide for his family. As capital grew, so did his ambition. He expanded into multiple gardens, steadily increasing his household income and proving that a refugee can be an entrepreneur.
But Joseph didn’t stop at personal success, he has since crossed settlement borders. Joseph has been invited to Nakivale Refugee Settlement to train other refugees in mushroom farming, demonstrating the powerful impact of this program.