ABOUT iCON
Icon Women and Young People’s Leadership Academy (iCON) is a Ugandan civil society organization that was conceived to fully unleash the entrepreneurial leadership potential of women and young people (male and female) including women and young people who have been socially marginalized or affected and living with HIV/AIDS and/or gender based violence, to fully take the lead in developing innovative approaches to address poverty, violence, gender inequality and gender inequity in all areas of society. iCON’s focal geographical area of operation is national (policy advocacy) and also specifically focused on contributing to post conflict recovery in Northern Uganda. iCON is active nationally in policy advocacy for women, young people and children. We are also specifically based in Gulu town from where we coordinate our Northern Uganda activities. We reach out to the entire Northern region from there and are currently also working with the leading higher education institutions in the Acholi sub region. We also have an office in Kampala and reach other parts of the country and the East African region from
Kampala.
OUR GOAL
The main goal of iCON is to pilot a new approach to building a multi generational leadership cadre of children, women and young people who have the passion and commitment to rid society of the core causes of under development, conflict, gender inequalities and gender inequity.

VISION
iCON envisions “A totally transformed, progressive and violence free Uganda and Africa.”
MISSION
iCON’s mission is “to fully ignite the potential for entrepreneurial, visionary and transformational leadership in Ugandan and African women and young people.”
WHAT WE DO…..OUR PRODUCTS

The iCON Entrepreneurial and Transformational Leadership Fellowships
iCON develops a unique nurturing relationship with our target group through a Fellowship concept – the iCON Entrepreneurial and Transformational Leadership Fellowship Program – which is guided by the principles of self help and empowerment and is specifically designed to create space for individual self awareness, intergenerational mentorship, peer mentorship and entrepreneurship and leadership skills
building for women, children and young people of all ages, from diverse fields and socio-economic backgrounds. The curriculum sparks innovation, fosters national and global citizenship, improves skills and builds a vibrant leadership community of individual women , young people (male and female) and children who are participating in multi generational and cross gender leadership dialogue and leadership action.

The iCON Entrepreneurial and Transformational Leadership Fellowship concept facilitates 4 key phases of entrepreneurial and transformational leadership growth of women, young people and children in any field. These are:

1) Self discovery , social/gender analysis, personal goal setting and personal development;
2) Conceptualization/review and development of social or business innovations/models for social
transformation through coaching, apprenticeship, internship and exposure.
3) Mentoring, advocacy, enterprise development skills building in specific field
4) Scaling of innovations; replication and development of collaborations within and across fields; policy advocacy and mentoring others.

OUR STRATEGIES

Central to the iCON Fellowship concept and the programs are the following strategies:
1. Operational Research
2. Capacity Building using the Icon Self Help and Empowerment Leadership Approach(SHELA)
that utilizes skills building, intergenerational mentoring and coaching techniques
3. Information Sharing and Policy Advocacy
4. Coalition and Movement Building
iCON PROGRAMS
iCON works towards its vision and mission by providing Fellowship opportunities through 4 programs;
namely,
· Children’s Leadership Program (CLP)
· Young Leaders Network (YLN),
· Women Leaders Network (WLN)
· Communication and Advocacy Program (CAP).
By hosting the iCON Entrepreneurial and Transformational Leadership Fellowships, the above Programs address the needs of Icon’s target group (children, young people and women), respectively. The CAP is an over arching program that ensures that information is generated and used usefully across the programs, organization and by children, young people and women to influence leadership changes in society in
general.
iCON nurtures entrepreneurial transformational leaders of different generations who possess the strength of character to nurture others into a purpose driven life committed to transforming their communities, Uganda and Africa. iCON Fellows benefit from entrepreneurial and transformational leadership growth, peer inter generational mentorship and development of pioneering social and/or business innovations that
are designed to transform individuals and their societies.

OTHER iCON PRODUCTS

The Annual iCON Entrepreneurial and Transformational Leadership Award
Started in 2011, iCON hosts an annual award scheme for outstanding leadership exhibited in all areas of life. The aim of this scheme is to celebrate outstanding leadership qualities of women, men, young people and children that contribute to inspiring individual nominators and building Ugandan society in general.
The awards scheme further aims to provide the general public with an opportunity to benefit from iCON’s approach by learning from each year’s nominees. The 2011 pioneer Awards were in commemoration of the Centennial year of International Women’s Day and recognized Ugandan women who have been an inspiration for the last 100 years.

Advocacy & Inter generational Mentoring Networks
Icon has facilitated the formation of advocacy mentoring spaces for women and young people. These include;

• The Uganda Network of Women Entrepreneurs (UNWE)
  
• The Icon Network of Young Entrepreneurs (INYE)
  These inter generational mentoring platforms for women and young people bring together social and business entrepreneurs. A key goal of these spaces is to raise the social consciousness of the private/corporate sector so as to engage more meaningfully in social transformation and to help the social sector apply good business practices in their work.

• The Uganda Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) Working Group
  Here civil society and private sector actors are provided with the opportunity to review the annual CSW themes in relation to Uganda’s performance in implementing the Beijing Platform for Action and other major international instruments on the advancement of girls and women.

• “Men to Men” and “ Boyz to Men” against Gender Inequity and HIV/AIDS
  Central to our work, is the total integration of gender concerns. iCON is part of a sub-regional initiative that is developing positive male leadership attitudes, beliefs and values to address gender inequality and inequities. Our Masculinity Training series now forms a core component of our Fellowship Program when working with boys and young men.

CROSS CUTTING THEMATIC AREAS ADDRESSED BY ALL PROGRAMS

• Rights, Responsibility and Citizenship
• Gender, Environmental Sustainability and Leadership
• Gender Based Violence Prevention, HIV/AIDS and Leadership
• Peace Building, Post Conflict Recovery and Leadership
• Poverty Eradication, Economic Development and Education
• Organizational Development, Democratic Governance and Leadership
• Health, Science, Technology and Leadership
• Entrepreneurship and Financial Literacy
• Food Security and Agriculture