Mr. Mondo Kyateka, Commissioner of Youth and Children Affairs at the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MoGLSD) in Uganda, stated “41% of Ugandan youth are not in employment, education, or any form of training”. This statement, made during a two-day workshop for youth skills development in March 2024, highlights the need for youth empowerment initiatives in Uganda.

The Life Skills Toolkit and Upshift, two UNICEF-supported youth empowerment initiatives in Uganda. Both initiatives implemented programs within local communities in Uganda to empower youth and adolescents with confidence and soft skills. The training offers learning opportunities to school-leavers as the educational content is sensitive toward different experiences with access to education.

Access to Education

UNICEF reports that Uganda has made progress in school attendance. However, it continues to face challenges in developing accessible education for children and adolescents. According to UNICEF, 40% of children aged 3-5 years old access early childhood education compared to 20% in 2011. Eighty percent of 6 to 12-year-olds attend primary school, while 25% of secondary school-aged attend secondary school. Ugandan Empowerment and Career Development (UECD) explains that children can attend primary school for free by four children per family however, families usually have to purchase essential materials i.e. books and uniforms.

Access to education correlates to monetary wealth, as the secondary school attendance of the wealthiest 20% in Uganda is five times higher than that of the poorest 20% of the population, according to UNICEF. UECD suggests that in most cases, the secondary school requires private financing, presenting a great difficulty for families. Additionally, factors that affect access to secondary education include child marriage, pregnancy and abusive environments, UNICEF reports.

The Life Skills Toolkit

In 2022, the government introduced the Life Skills toolkit as one of several youth empowerment initiatives in Uganda targeted at formal and informal educational institutions. The Republic of Uganda Ministry of Education and Sports recommends teaching the program across schools and clubs. The educational content aims to reach adolescents out of school, particularly young women (p.8).

The program is currently active in forty primary and secondary schools across the Kikuube district in West Uganda. Jane Afoyocan, a UNICEF Education Specialist expresses that her office intends to implement the Life Skills toolkit program to its full extent for each adolescent enrolled in education. UNICEF-trained volunteers deliver the program to youth out of school.

Inside the Toolkit

The toolkit’s content targets participants between 10 and 19 years old and is taught in sessions lasting up to an hour. Each session follows a structure of an opening circle, an introduction of the topic, an activity allowing the practice of a skill, time to reflect and a closing circle, according to a 2022 report.

The program works through seven modules teaching resilience-building competencies. One of these competencies is building self-esteem to encourage participants to reflect on their identity, strengths, weaknesses and responsibilities. The program teaches cooperative skills to build and maintain relationships in preparation for an active adult role within the community. It encourages critical thinking through identifying the causes and consequences of conflict, and to detect bias and prejudices, according to a 2022 report.

The competency of communication skills includes active listening, communication of ideas and perspectives, and the function of non-verbal communication. Participants learn strategies for managing emotions and stressful situations. The program also develops an appreciation for diversity in backgrounds and identities. Indeed, it highlighs that within diverse communities, more diverse contributions and solutions can be offered, according to a 2022 report.

The program provides lessons with a strong hope for the future as this positively affects psychosocial well-being. The toolkit helps set goals and develop action plans in personal and community contexts. It fosters creative thinking and expression through arts, innovative problem-solving and imagining new possibilities. Another important competency is leadership skills for which adolescents partake in local transformative projects reflective of their ideas and vision.

Impacts of the Life Skills Toolkit

The toolkit has proven successful in multiple ways. Student’s participation and performance in class has improved. Increased entrepreneurial activities among students have been reported. Early school leavers have been encouraged to re-attend school. Girls’ and boys’ awareness and conversations concerning menstruation has increased and self-confidence is higher among students who participated in a Life Skills Toolkit program, according to UNICEF.

The Upshift Programme

Upshift is another youth empowerment initiative in Uganda supporting entrepreneurial learning and social innovation skills in youth and adolescents. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) reports that Upshift has impacted 2.2 million adolescents across 42 countries through mentorship and workshops. The program teaches its participants a seed-financing model to raise money for their own business startups.

Kyangwali is a refugee settlement in the Kikuube district where 10 groups received mentorship from staff at community-based organizations trained to provide Upshift support. Pupils enrolled in the groups learn to identify challenges and create solutions, UNICEF reports.

Upshift’s Approach

Upshift’s model aims to adapt to local ecosystems and follows several principles. The first principle is experimental learning, linking educational content to real-life situations. The second principle is human-centred design which aims to provide practical tools and approaches that participants can implement across various aspects of life. The social purpose of the program aims to develop the local community, and global citizenship and address Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The program nourishes teamwork and cooperation skills and challenges participants take part in larger projects.

Impacts of the Upshift Programme

UNICEF exemplifies how business ideas developed from Upshift training sessions. In an interview, Shukuru Mugenyi, an Upshift participant, shares how Upshift sparked a discussion on the lack of preventative measures against malaria. A business idea to create rosemary-repellent soap to sell in Kyangwali was born. The soap’s mosquito-repellent nature was tested and determined to be effective, enabling entrepreneurs like Mugenyi to scale up their business ventures.

Conclusion

With only 25% of secondary school-aged youth attending education, there is a clear need for youth empowerment initiatives in Uganda to reduce dropout rates, increase access and improve the quality of education. UNICEF Uganda aims to empower young people by creating opportunities for active citizenship, employability and life skills. Mindful development of such programs with the inclusion of insights from local communities is important to respond to specific needs and situations. Initiatives such as the Life Skills toolkit and Upshift help improve the number of youth and adolescents engaging in employment, education or training.

– Tanisha Groeneveld

Tanisha is based in Leeds, UK and focuses on Good News, Global Health for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons