From Community Volunteer to Civic Leader: How Phiona is Shaping the Future of Mayuge Town leadership

At the heart of every strong community are individuals who step up to lead. But what happens when passionate volunteers are given the tools to turn their dedication into real political change? Phiona’s journey from community servant to political candidate provides a powerful answer.

Like many dedicated volunteers, Phiona spent years serving her community but felt a barrier to creating a larger, systemic impact. “I served my community, but I didn’t understand how budgets worked or how to hold leaders accountable,” she recalls. She had the heart for service but lacked the specific knowledge and confidence to engage with local governance structures.

This changed when Phiona joined the SLOGBAA project. Through its targeted training in public budgeting and civic accountability, coupled with hands-on mentorship from the Mentorship Action Program (MAP), Phiona gained more than just skills. She gained a new vision for her role.

“With these skills, I now see that I can make a larger impact,” Phiona says.
Empowered and inspired, Phiona is now taking her commitment to the next level: she is running for Woman District Councillor in the Mayuge Town Council.

Mayuge is a district in Eastern Uganda, an hour's drive from Jinja City - a home to the source of the River Nile and 2 hours' drive from Kampala, the capital City. It's home to slightly above half a million people, with the majority being women, hence a need for active women leadership who will put Gender issues on the district Agenda.

Phiona’s story is more than a personal triumph; it’s a blueprint for transforming community engagement. It demonstrates how locally grounded approaches such as the community Youth Parliaments and the Green Democratic Spaces, combined with other focused capacity-sharing—paired with practical knowledge and supportive mentorship—can unlock potential and channel grassroots passion into formal leadership.

One of the Connections Community Foundation (CCCF) models is to  “Bring local grassroots organizations and activists at the forefront of development planning.” This model has enabled Network for Active Citizens, a local organisation in Uganda, to “Provide communities with connections, capacity, motivation, and mentorship, using their network to bridge community needs and opportunities,” and the results are people like Phiona, whom we are reading about in this article.

In brief, SLOGBAA stands for Strengthening Local Governance, Budget Advocacy and Accountability-SLOGBAA. With funding from CISU in partnership with Civil Connections CCCF, we concluded a two-year project entitled SLOGBAA II: Consolidating a model for facilitating sustainable, all-inclusive, youth-active policy engagement at the lower local government (grassroots level) in Uganda.

This intervention is dedicated to catalysing transformative change by unleashing the power of grassroots youth in Uganda's local governance. Our multifaceted strategy encompasses: empowering individual youth through mobilisation, education, and empowerment, igniting their engagement in democratic processes and policy shaping and strengthening youth-led CSOs to serve as dynamic hubs for mobilisation and advocacy, uniting youth voices and driving meaningful participation.

Finally, we're committed to amplifying these voices by facilitating advocacy efforts through lobby meetings and community parliaments, and by creating spaces for closer connection between local youth, communities, and their government. Together, we'll bridge the gap and champion a more youth and grassroots-friendly local policy landscape.