GYPA History

GYPA emerged from Project Namuwongo Zone B (PNZB), a community-based organization legally registered in Uganda. PNZB was co-founded in October 2003 by an American (Jeremy M. Goldberg, then 22 years old) and a Ugandan (Joseph Bagambaki, then 31 years old) as a sustainable development and aid organization focused on education, health, and microfinance.

For over a year and a half, college students and volunteers from the United States, Germany, and Israel worked to build the local capacity of Namuwongo Zone B, an impoverished community of an estimated 6,000 people living near the capital city of Kampala. Eventually, local Ugandan leadership took ownership over the development programs and it became clear that the US and Uganda offices had specific expertise, making them independent, yet mutually responsible for one another.

PNZB US and Uganda staffs came together and discussed the lessons learned from the exchange programs and development projects. Some of these lessons include:

  1. American youth crave a non-traditional travel experience that engages them with youth from different cultures and backgrounds and empowers them as informed global leaders and partners in development.
  2. African youth seek to obtain the skills that will help build democracy, establish gender equality, promote economic opportunity, and develop businesses in their own countries.
  3. Change in Africa must come from within Africa — starting at the grassroots — but global youth play an important role as partners and advocates for their African counterparts.
  4. Global youth seek opportunities to make direct and lasting impacts on Africa at home through educational programs, advocacy, and fundraising efforts.
  5. The world has yet to fully realize the successes of the African continent and the opportunities that exist.

As a result of these valuable experiences and lessons, PNZB evolved into the Global Youth Partnership for Africa. Today, GYPA incorporates its mission of fostering the international vanguard of young leaders with PNZB's original goal to support and promote local capacity in order to achieve sustainable change in Africa.