Youth undertake agriculture projects under the Youth Livelihood Programme

Nov 03, 2015

Pius Bigirimana, the permanent secretary ministry of labour, gender and social development has expressed satisfaction with the The Youth Livelihood Programme (YLP) saying since it was launched, there has 71,866 beneficiaries of the program.

By John Odyek

Pius Bigirimana, the permanent secretary ministry of labour, gender and social development has expressed satisfaction with the The Youth Livelihood Programme (YLP) saying since it was launched, there has 71,866 beneficiaries of the program.

Of these 45% (32,113) are female and 55% (39,753) are male. They have received a total of sh38b and undertaken 5,507 projects.

"Many people thought the youth were not interested in agriculture but the projects show that the majority of projects are in agriculture. We also have university graduates getting the funds. Those who have received the funds have also stated paying back," Bigirimana said.

The Youth Livelihood Programme (YLP) is a rolling Government of Uganda Programme, targeting the poor and unemployed youth in all the districts in the country. The Programme is implemented under the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD).

It is financed initially from Government resources (with a possibility of development partners' support in the future). The initial budget estimate for the Rolling Programme is sh265b over the next 5 years. The programme covers all the 112 districts in Uganda. The implementation of the programme is being done in a phased manner. Phase I covers 27 districts that begun in February 2014 with disbursement of sh12b and Phase II covers 85 districts that commenced in July 2014 with disbursement of sh26b.

YLP is a community demand-driven Programme that is implemented with guidance from the Central Government and the Local Governments. The funds are advanced to the Youth Interest Groups (YIG) in form of a Revolving Fund in order to increase outreach and enhance sustainability of the Programme.

The youth receive support in the form of revolving funds that are interest free and advanced through Youth Interest Groups (YIGs). The programme was launched by President Yoweri Museveni in January 2014.

Financing by project type

In terms of projects, Bigirimana said agriculture took the biggest percentage of the funds 46.7%, followed by trade (25.7%), services (8.5%), vocational skills (7.5%), industry (5.8%), agroindustry (3.4%), ICT (1%), agroforestry (1%) and creative industry (0.2%).

Beneficiaries by categories

School drop outs (32,913 making up 45.8%), youth who completed secondary school (16,731 making up 23.3%), single parent youth (8,710-12.1%), youth with no formal education (7,1001-9.7%),  graduates of tertiary institutions (5,402-7.5%), youth with disability (2,151-3%), youth living with HIV/AIDS (1,659-2.3%), youth living in high risk areas/city streets (310-0.4%).

Programme justification

The high level of unemployment and poverty among the youth is a concern worldwide. Uganda Vision 2040 recognizes that Uganda has a labour force that is largely under or unemployed due to inappropriate skills and slow labour absorptive capacity of the economy.

High poverty and unemployment levels among the youth in the country have persisted over time and are increasingly leading to a feeling of marginalization and exclusion among the youth. Most youth subsist on the margins of the economy or have jobs that do not provide them with adequate means to ensure survival.

This situation is aggravated by the huge imbalance between the supply and the demand for labour, hence heightening the sense of risk. There is increasing evidence of distress migration from the rural to urban among the youth.

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