What happened to vocational training?

Aug 13, 2013

On the December 11, 2012, President Yoweri Museveni, on a visit to the home of Minister Ronald Kibule at Mbalala, said that Mukono North constituency was to be rewarded with a vocational training institute because it had been very supportive of the NRM and had attracted industries hence the need to

By Kaweesa Keefa

On the December 11, 2012, President Yoweri Museveni, on a visit to the home of Minister Ronald Kibule at Mbalala, said that Mukono North constituency was to be rewarded with a vocational training institute because it had been very supportive of the NRM and had attracted industries hence the need to train local youth for employment.

On July 9, the President was again at Nama sub county headquarters in Mukono North to meet Luwero war veterans and was reminded of his promise.   He stated that the Government had agreed on a policy to construct vocational training institutes in every constituency in Uganda. I am in pari passu with the President, however, at the International Youth day today, August 12, the President is expected to expound on this policy as it will be the right time and fora.

Macbeth a Technical Adviser to the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, sometime back in his report alluded to the issues attributed to the youth under the Programme for the Promotion of Children and Youth (PCY).He reported that the characteristics of youth un- and underemployment in Uganda are: Prevalence of subsistence farming among rural young people with no chance to work themselves out of poverty; lack of jobs in the formal sector and other alternative employment opportunities leading to an increasing disparity between the number of school leavers and available jobs.

PCY pursues an integrated, multi-dimensional approach to children and youth promotion in the areas of social work for and with young people, information and counseling, entrepreneurship and self-employment activities, and also local skills development at two levels:

(1) Consultancy and policy advice at the macro level, to the Ugandan Government, i.e. the ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, related to national youth policy, mitigation of youth unemployment and poverty, establishment of a labour market information system (LMIS) and interministerial cooperation (Departments of Labour and Children and Youth, and Ministry of Education). As a result of the International Conference on Youth Employment, held in Kampala in June 2005, the Ugandan Government became a member of the Youth Employment Network (YEN); consequently a National Action Plan on Youth Employment was drafted.

(2) Promotion of youth group activities at community level, based on peer education and with support from mobile services, comprising local skills development, promotion of non-formal education, that is, life skills, reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention.

Corresponding with these two levels of intervention, the impact of the programme was measured at two levels:

(1) Institutional impact such as improved capacity of governmental youth workers, labour officers, community development workers and other stakeholders regarding youth policy in general, as well as tools and methods of social work with young people in particular, strengthening of youth representations and NGOs, and

(2) Better income and employment opportunities for PCY participants. A first impact evaluation in 2003/04 showed a positive trend with regard to income increases, that is, the incomes of PCY participants were about 26% higher than those of other community members. Furthermore, the main sources of income of youth promoters/youth group members were from salaries (23%) and youth group activities (38.5%), while other community members are still mainly engaged in subsistence farming (76%).

What might be added to this report is the undocumented booming economic might of the boda boda. What used to be an urban transport is a village phenomenon, however dangerously skewed to only the male youth thus creating an economic imbalance which can be bridged with innovative programmes like ICT to specifically target women youth.

Finally, factoring and inculcating in the issue of patriotism to the youth. Whether a person is rich or poor must have a state pride which should form the basis of one to work for a better life. There will never be a stop gap to this effort. As the nation is celebrating the international youth day, the President, the minister of youth and children affairs and all State and none State actors, all stakeholders and the youth must be congratulated and supported in this concerted efforts to plan and execute for the youth of Uganda

Kaweesa Keefa is a lawyer in Mukono

Contact 0772455270. Kefasen@yahoo.com

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