Interesting ourselves in current times and collective agency
Harriet Tyobo Yake had long been a witness to fleeting failures of systems and injustices in her community and beyond, something she references as having triggered her curiosity and urge to pursue change. She started as the Makerere University Guild Representative Councilor (GRC). When she got registered as the Minister for Students with Disabilities in the 90th student government in 2024, she realized that the students she led faced multiple challenges and brought them to the administration’s knowledge. Mobility was the most critical of these challenges as most of them struggled to board vans and navigate spaces that were not designed inclusively. She stepped up to ardently call for the dignifying of the existence of students with disabilities and brought the mobility challenges to light. This year, the university launched the Makerere Disability Support Unit with an inclusive officer who exclusively advocates for the students with disabilities who are faced with challenges in their academic journeys. Harriet feels proud to have been part of the community that saw the realization of the inclusion efforts.
She was an outspoken student leader fighting for student rights and was about to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering. Despite being christened at an early age, transitions are inevitably tough and not much really prepares one for the reality of trying to find footing in the professional space after school. The joy of job applications is almost immediately shot down by cold emails, ghost recruiters and rejections that can easily emblazon themselves on one’s sense of self-worth. You know things are bad when voluntary roles are equally swamped to the extent of hopping onto the public address with the rejection email broadcasts. “They would tell me that I should be in the hospital somewhere fixing machines, and I was going to do my internship and spring into the corporate 9-5 cycle.” She needed guidance, mentorship, and support to navigate impact development, and none was forthcoming. It drove her to the precipice of giving up on her leadership ambitions. She would then perceive leadership as an isolated professional space on its own and meant certain kinds of people; students focused on leadership majors.
“When I met Don and Phil (paNhari’s co-founders), I was particularly drawn to their personalities in relation to the work that they do. Having people who are open and relatable made me feel like paNhari would be a place for me to learn and grow.” She was leaving campus in January 2025 when she got invited to apply for the inaugural cohort of For Youth, By Youth movement, a global youth-led program co-designed with Mastercard foundation and the Talloires Network of Engaged Universities to empower young people and enable them to drive transformative change in their respective communities through skills building and mentorship. Being accepted into the program marked a revival of her dreams to actively participate in change-making. She describes paNhari as having been an endearing promise of a hub for young people’s creativity and growth. “paNhari reignited my ambition for leadership, and I met people who were supportive of my dreams. They got me a mentor who reminded me that I can also be a leader even within my professional journey on the premise of my passion for advocacy.” It is a journey that she says has reignited her curiosity and creativity as she now actively pursues innovation.
She had grown accustomed to top-down models of learning, from school lectures to trainings she had previously been part of. The For Youth, By Youth movement presented something different, she recalls. “I have never seen something quite like this where youth are just guided and then we take the wheel. When you are placed on the pedestal and are at the forefront, it keeps you on your toes.”
She is currently co-designing community solutions alongside young people from across the world. Over the past six months, they have held a series of webinars, working groups, and cohort clinics. Harriet has been part of the Youth Participatory Action Research working group with facilitators guiding their engagement and knowledge sharing. “I did not know there is a kind of research where communities are co-researchers rather than subjects. There are many projects being implemented in Uganda but are failing because communities do not see themselves in the solutions and naturally reject them.” Harriet believes Youth Participatory Action Research is a gamechanger because it makes communities co-designers and, in turn, own the solutions and front-run them. “I am more critical in solution design now, and I am constantly looking for solutions to daily challenges in my community. I am more present and connect more with communities.”
The virtue of co-existing within a diverse space has inherently broadened her worldview and perspectives. She insists that being different makes people unique and more interesting because everyone has so much knowledge to offer and learn from one another. “My greatest highlight is learning through the diversities of fellows in the cohort. It has opened my eyes to being more open to accepting people the way they are.”
The cohort clinics are led by fellow For Youth, By Youth members, and this is a space where, as she puts, they talk about personal life experiences and things they are passionate about. All these have really improved her understanding of diverse cultures and helped her stay connected. She says she has also learned how to communicate better with different people. “As you come up to speak and contribute, it builds your confidence, and it is good practice for public speaking.” They also have cohort clinics where they collectively hold space for one another. One of the wellness sessions addressed daily routines and having previously struggled with productivity, she references it as having helped her organize her days better. She says she feels more effective now. “I try to implement the things I learn and am lucky to have accountability partners from the group. They have helped keep me off the procrastination chart.”
Leadership for Harriet means servanthood, leading from the back and being inspirational enough to motivate others to board visionary ideas, a principle embodied in paNhari’s governing principles. She strongly believes leadership becomes truly transformative when it centers the community and has footprints of meaningful change and impact on people’s lives. “I knew about sympathy but learning about empathy has really transformed the way I see leadership. That people must have agency of how they want to be led.” She reckons that she is more empathetic now and employs more nuances to people’s experiences.
She wants to get into politics. In about 5 years, she will be vying for parliamentary office in Uganda. Through her upcoming community impact project, she is looking to address child labor in her village where she says many children currently face exploitation in sugarcane farms and consequently drop out of school. Some of the ways to address the literacy deficit and improve education access include policy and legislation. She wants to design solutions to enable children to stay in school, as a firm believer of systemic change that creates enabling ecosystems for all to thrive. “It starts with policies. Are they favoring young people to participate in civic spaces? If they do not, their participation is dimmed from the start. I want to get into parliament where policies are designed so I may be a voice of influence.” She wants to lay the foundation for young people to participate in nation-building.
Many young people, as Harriet notes, tend to be complacent with what is happening and may have gotten comfortable with the status quo. In as much as there is widespread acknowledgement of the challenges that bedevil our economic, social, and political advancement being structural and systemic, young people might not sufficiently be taking strides to evoke transformative change. She particularly implores young people to habitually interest themselves in current affairs, read, and engage expansively. This way, she says they can influence their spaces and create ripple effects that transcend barriers to achieve national and regional development and cohesion. She presents that our aspirations cannot be limited to self-improvement and invites young people to collectively agree on agendas. “I urge young people to self-reflect and improve themselves. Afterwards, let us have honest conversations and discussions to establish our common goals. Our burden as youth is to get our agenda and set out to achieve it. We must stand as one, realize ourselves and fight as one. We must know what we want to achieve and then fight for our spaces. If we do not fight, conditions are going to get worse. Let us take charge.”
Harriet was nominated to the Uganda National Students Association (UNSA) as the 34th Delegate for Students with Disabilities. Her life mission is to bring about transformative change to people she believes need it the most. In pursuit of her passion for innovation, Harriet also recently graduated from an AI Course in Data Science where she led HTPredict AI, a tool that helps health workers in early detection of hypertension risk and aimed at improving the treatment of pre-eclampsia. She is working on the frugal surgical fracture table to use in operations. “Orthopedic hospitals or clinics are supposed to have surgical fracture tables for the operations of people with fractures, but they are extremely costly. We designed a low-cost surgical fracture table which is ongoing testing.” The HTPredict AI tool just got approved by the Independent Regulatory Board (IRB) and is set to proceed to the clinical trials stage. It was named one of the best innovations as a project for Ugandan People by the Ugandan People and is proof that Africa is booming with talent.