REACH is a community-led initiative designed to tackle high unemployment rates among youth in Rhino Camp refugee settlement by connecting them to skills, digital tools, and employment opportunities. Through training, partnerships, and a career hub model, the prototype creates pathways for young refugees to gain confidence, grow professionally, and reclaim their future.
Creating Pathways for Youth in Rhino Camp
Pech Lim Gatluak – Rhino Camp, Uganda
Pech Lim Gatluak entered the Ubuntu.Lab Transformative Leadership Programme with a clear goal: to strengthen his leadership skills and build a solution for his community. He wanted to learn how to design a project that actually works, rooted in community needs. This desire was driven by his lived experience, . “Unemployment among youth in refugee settings like Rhino Camp is very high,” he shares, “…And I understand this reality firsthand.” One of the most transformative moments for him was learning the art of prototyping. “We explored the process of prototyping and learn how to test and adapt our ideas based on community feedback and real needs. His response to the experience? REACH — the Refugee Employment Accelerator and Career Hub.
The hub community played a key role in this evolution. “It helped me think more clearly, collaborate more openly, and feel supported as I shaped REACH into something tangible,” he says. With renewed focus, he took bold steps: securing an office space from a local organization, registering REACH with the local authorities, developing a digital platform, and engaging five potential partner organizations for sustainability.
“Ubuntu Lab gave me the mindset, tools, and the community I needed to take REACH from idea to reality,” he reflects. “I now see leadership not just as influence, but as service rooted in community.”
Looking ahead, Pech plans to complete the REACH digital platform, scale programming across Rhino Camp, and mobilize even more youth. “I feel empowered, focused, and ready,” he says simply. And that readiness is exactly what he hopes to inspire in the youth around him — a generation of refugees with pathways to purpose.
Pech Lim Gatluak
Pech Lim Gatluak is a visionary refugee leader empowering youth through REACH, a career hub tackling unemployment in Uganda’s Rhino Camp community.