Changing the mindset through youth cooperatives

By Florence Nakiwala Kiyingi

In what is, ostensibly, low youth unemployment - about 2.6% for males and 3.2% for females, the reality is that the Government cannot walk alone in solving Uganda's youth unemployment.

Nonetheless, we know the following about Uganda's youth:

Urban youth are more likely to be unemployed (12%) than rural youth (3%). In this regard, research also notes that unemployment increases with the level of education attained: Unemployment is lower among persons with no education and primary education and we note that unemployment is even higher among those with secondary school education and above.

Therefore, although education is a significant factor in securing good employment over time, the more educated youth are biased towards wage-paying formal jobs, which are harder to find in Uganda.

Indeed, persons with education above the secondary level are more likely to be in wage employment (59.1%) compared to those with primary education (18%) and their earnings tend to be higher. Unfortunately, female youth are twice as likely to be unemployed compared to their male counterparts.

The International Labour Organisation tells us that when it comes to time, wages and skills, Ugandan youth are, (i) heavily underutilised; (ii) working in jobs that do not fully utilise their skills and competencies; (iii) earning low pay; (iv) do not work full time as desired, (v) have job insecurity.

Most Ugandan youth are engaged in subsistence agriculture with no wages and in 2011, about 95% of youth in non-farm enterprises were in low-quality informal employment.

Government interventions
Ever since Uganda started the civil service reform in 1992 - leading to a large reduction of the country's civil servants, focus has been placed on investment in infrastructure, promotion of foreign direct investment and support to local investors.

Most recently, although the Government efforts to create jobs have been commendable, challenges are still severe - including the fact that government efforts are yet to get to the grassroots in the rural areas, where the majority of the youth reside.

In FY 2011/2012, the Government focused on the youth - and as envisaged by the Enterprise Scheme of Uganda's 2011/2012 budget, there is a need to expand this scheme into four broad co-equal components of: (i) The Youth Venture Fund, (ii) Extensive Entrepreneurship Training, (iii) Business Development Services via Incubation] and (iv) Development of Youth Workspace Infrastructure and v) The ongoing upgrading of YLP beneficiary groups  into youth livelihood co-operatives.


In this regard, a Presidential Initiative on involving the Ugandan diaspora in promoting youth unemployment activities is currently underway.

The Government recognises that the Ugandan diaspora present physically outside Uganda's borders are best-positioned to provide market access opportunities for those products and services produced by youth currently within Uganda's territory.

Further, the Government realises that the Ugandan diaspora in both the United States and within the European Union can facilitate additional market access via the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the Everything But Arms (EBA) programmes respectively.

In this regard, we must leverage the above-mentioned natural dynamic that already exists between the Ugandan diaspora and the approximately 21.16% of Uganda's youth (between the ages of 15 - 24) are presently within Uganda's borders.  

To achieve an ideal environment for this Presidential Initiative,
Strategic focus must be placed on the Presidential Guidelines of 2016 that stipulate, among others, that  it is imperative that health, education, ideology, skills, livelihood, jobs, the arts and sports are central promoting a shift in ideology among the youth.

A pivot must be made towards homegrown solutions: Here, while donor agencies and foreigners have been effective at capacity building and various ventures, Ugandan diaspora professionals could provide a more holistic sense of development and ownership via first or second generation Ugandan expatriates providing the skills to Ugandan youth in their respective local languages.

Youth and entrepreneurship must be strategically positioned on both national and international plans such as Uganda's Vision 2040, African Union's Agenda 2063 and the United Nation's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Once aspects in (i), (ii) and (iii) are achieved, energies must be placed on establishing forward and backward linkages in trade, market access and entrepreneurship to ensure that Ugandan youth both in the urban and rural areas acquire the requisite skills, attitude, knowledge and support services, that would increase their chances of starting and sustaining businesses or at least, being employable through youth livelihood co-operatives right from the district level.

But because the Government cannot, like mentioned above, solve youth unemployment in a vacuum, we must seek strategic partnerships with corporate entities such as airlines, financial institutions and other specific attributes that will seek to facilitate the youth entrepreneurship; functioning with entities such as the Uganda Investment Authority, the Embassy of the Republic of Uganda in the United States, the High Commission in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Kenya, et al.

Action Plan: The Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development is currently in the process of initiating and later signing  an MoU with consultants to plan and implement this presidential initiative, starting with the Ugandan diaspora in North America.

Further still, to date, the following districts have opened up youth offices and some have fully operational youth cooperatives; Wakiso, Koboko, Lyantonde, Palisa, Mpigi, Masaka, Kampala, Kiboga , Gulu and many others . This stays has been achieved with the help of the local district administration as well as the ministry responsible for co-operatives and the ministry for micro finance.

Expected output in the first year year;
112 youth offices in Uganda at district level

112 youth livelihood cooperatives at the district level each with a minimum of 100 youth groups (cooperators) comprising of 15 members per group totaling to 168,000 members country wide.

500,000 YLP beneficiaries
Accreditation to value addition programmes such as the Presidential initiative on Banana Industrial development, Private Sector Foundation of Uganda, Natural Chemotherapeutic Research Institute etc

Building alliances with for marketing opportunities with bodies such as UMA, Export promotion Board, Agoa etc

Five permanent jobs per district office for the youth leaders

Increased production , use of natural resources and reduction in imports

Reduction in crime

Mindset change and increase in per capita income

Increase in government tax revenue

The writer is the Minister of state for Youth and Children