Uganda rallies Africa on youth opportunities to address unemployment

______________

Balaam Barugahara, the minister of youth and children affairs, has told African authorities that real transformation requires coordinated and deliberate action that connects young people to economic systems.

To achieve this, the minister called for a facilitated shift from subsistence livelihoods to meaningful participation of the youth in the money economy.

In his statement during the ECOSOC Youth Forum 2026 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Wednesday (April 15, 2026), Barugahara indicated that the widening gap of youth unemployment, especially in Africa, is not merely an economic concern, but a pressing development and stability challenge.

“With a population of over 1.4 billion projected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050 and nearly 70% of its people under the age of 30, our continent holds immense potential. Yet each year, approximately 12 million young Africans enter the labour market, while only about 3 million formal jobs are created,” Barugahara said.

The ECOSOC Youth Forum 2026 took place between April 14-16 and was under the theme, "Innovate, Unite and Transform: Youth Shaping the Road to 2030".

The forum is convened by the President of ECOSOC and organised by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) in close collaboration with the UN Youth Office, the United Nations Inter Agency Network on Youth Development (IANYD) and co-convened by the Major Group for Children and Youth (MGCY) and the International Coordination Meeting of Youth Organizations (ICMYO), with technical input from youth organisations relevant to the theme of the forum.

Youth leaders from around the world engage with government representatives, youth delegates, policymakers, and stakeholders from civil society and the private sector to advance youth priorities and concerns.

The 2026 forum focused on transformative, equitable, innovative, and coordinated actions to advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

According to Barugahara, Uganda has taken practical steps to address key bottlenecks to emancipation.

“Through initiatives such as the Youth Livelihood Programme (YLP) and the Parish Development Model (PDM), the government is extending financial support and bringing services closer to communities to stimulate grassroots economic participation,” Barugahara said.

He added that the Emyooga Programme has further strengthened access to affordable finance by organising citizens into savings and enterprise groups, many of them youth-led.

“In addition, investments in skilling through Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), as well as digital innovation hubs, are equipping young people with competencies relevant to today’s evolving economy,” he said.

Barugahara emphasised investing in future-ready skills, including digital, green, and entrepreneurial capabilities.

“Then, second, we need to unlock financing for youth-led enterprises, leveraging frameworks such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). We also need to ensure young people are engaged as co-creators in policymaking, not merely beneficiaries,” Barugahara said.

Barugahara emphasised that Africa’s transformation must be integrated, youth-centred, and driven by strong partnerships.

“The time to act is now. The future of Africa is not ahead of us, it is already here,” Barugahara said.