Youth call for more funding as Uganda marks International Youth Day

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Youth leaders have called for increased government investment in employment, skills development, youth leadership and entrepreneurship.

During the virtual national celebrations of the International Youth Day 2026 on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, the youth leaders indicated that the country’s youthful population presents both a major opportunity and an urgent development challenge.

Uganda’s national celebrations were marked under the theme; “Empowering Young People for Inclusive Wealth Creation and Sustainable Development.”

L-R: Dr.Mercy Lakisa, Minister of State for Youth and Children Affairs, Gen Henry Tumukunde; Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development and Henry Musasizi; the Finance Minister.

The event at the Office of the President in Kampala was presided over by the Vice President, Jessica Alupo, on behalf of President Yoweri Museveni.

Other dignitaries included the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community Affairs, Rebecca Kadaga, Gender Minister, Gen. Henry Tukunde, Finance Minister, Henry Musasizi, United Nations (UN), and youth stakeholders, among others.

The State Minister for Youth and Children’s Affairs, Dr Mercy Lakiskis, said the International Youth Day activities included the National Youth Parliament held on August 7 and the National Youth Council annual sitting held on August 11.

“On August 7, we had a National Youth Parliament where young people across the country have the opportunity to be in Parliament and deliberate on behalf of the young people,” Lakiskis said.

She explained that the young people develop resolutions which will subsequently be presented to Parliament for further consideration.

Lakiski also welcomed the government’s decision to appoint young people to positions of leadership, saying the appointment of a young minister responsible for youth and children was an indication of greater inclusion of young people in decision-making.

Lakiskis described Uganda’s youthful population as a potential demographic advantage, but said the opportunity could only be realised if the government increased investment in programmes targeting young people.

The population of Uganda stands at 45.9 million people, and  73.2% of that population is below the age of 30 years.

Vice President Jessica Alupo interacting with some Executive Committee Members of the National Youth Council.

Lakiskis said unemployment remains one of the biggest challenges facing young Ugandans and warned that the country’s rapidly growing population is putting pressure on existing government programmes.

“When we talk about issues of unemployment, which is the biggest issue among the young people of Uganda, it means that even with these programmes in place, they are not enough to absorb these young people,” she said.

She said government programmes supporting young people in the informal sector needed greater financial backing because they could play a significant role in reducing unemployment.

“The programme for the youth who are in the informal sector focuses on making them formal and also supporting them to grow, but it hasn't attracted as much funding, yet it's one of actually the key programmes we are looking at in getting our people out of unemployment,” she said.

According to Lakiskis, about 5.2 million young people are not in employment, education or training.

“It means they are disconnected from everything that we are talking about. All these programmes they don't know. They are idle,” she said.

She linked youth unemployment and idleness to other social challenges, including drug and substance abuse, and called for stronger engagement of young people in productive activities.

The chairperson of the National Youth Council, Daniel Ongom, said young people want government interventions targeting them to be better coordinated so that they can be monitored and their impact assessed.

“The youth leadership of this country through the National Youth Council pledged that they will play a fundamental role in monitoring what the government is doing towards the young people and to follow up every detail and bit of the same,” Ongom said.

He added: “They want to follow every coin that Your Excellency invests in them to see that there is actual change in the livelihoods of the young people.”

Ongom said the youth were concerned that government interventions were spread across different programmes and institutions, making them difficult to monitor.

“The request of the youth was that, Your Excellency, there's many interventions by government towards youth, but they're scattered all over the place,” he said.

He called for the programmes to be brought together under one umbrella or consolidated youth-focused project to make monitoring and participation easier.

Calls for more funding

Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga,the first deputy prime minister with Vice President Jessica Alupo.

Ongom said the youth appreciated government interventions in areas including skilling, education and economic empowerment, but wanted greater investment.

“The young people have a huge population, and they request for greater government investment and funding on youth matters, investment which is proportionate to the demographic reality,” he said.

The youth leaders also called for stricter enforcement of the policy reserving a share of public procurement opportunities for youth, women and persons with disabilities.

According to Ongom, youth leaders said the policy was not being adequately implemented across ministries, departments, agencies and local governments.

“It is a good policy that the youth will come and appreciate. The only request is for stricter enforcement of this policy, because in all the MDAs and local governments, this is not being implemented,” he said.

Youth Council seeks sh10b

Ongom further reminded the government of previous commitments concerning the National Youth Council, including a proposed increase in its funding from sh4b to sh10b.

He said the additional funding would enable youth leaders to monitor government programmes and push for greater uptake of youth-focused interventions.

The youth leaders also renewed their call for the establishment of a National Youth Multi-Purpose Centre, which they said would provide a space where young people could gather, innovate and develop ideas for socio-economic transformation.

Ongom said the requests followed an earlier meeting between the National Executive Committee and President Yoweri Museveni at State Lodge in Mbale on December 2, 2025.

The National Youth Council also asked the government to fulfil a commitment to provide startup capital to youth leaders so they can move from seeking employment to creating wealth.

Ongom said the proposal was to provide sh5m each to nine district executive committee youth leaders and two youth councillors.

“You need the youth leaders to move from being job seekers to wealth creators,” Ongom quoted the President as saying.

He explained that the idea was for youth leaders to first demonstrate wealth creation before mobilising other young people to do the same.“One cannot preach what they are not practising,” Ongom said.