Young People Call for Reforms to East African Youth Policy
In April, young people from different parts of Uganda convened at ActionAid International Uganda to review the current EAC youth policy.
“The discussion was whether the East African Youth Policy is still relevant. The current policy was drafted in 2013,” said Reagan Muyinda,
Some of the key areas covered were education, unemployment, climate change, mental health, and funding of youth programs.
"We realise that climate change significantly affects Ugandan youth. From the range of food security, health, and education. We would like to see youth involved in environmental protection,” explained Hedwid Arinaitwe, the Founder of Climate Media Women Action
The goal was to see that the current youth policy speaks to the current needs and challenges faced by youth in Uganda.
Stephen Twesigye, Team Leader Nexus Initiative, noted that “78% of the enterprises in Uganda, owned by young people, do not celebrate their first birthday just because they have not got access to affordable financing. We call upon relevant stakeholders at the EAC level to establish a youth venture fund.”
The divide in the education sector stood out as one of the crucial areas that need to be addressed in the EAC policy,
“In the 2013 EAC policy, the goal was to ensure that education is accessible to all youth in Uganda. In today’s dialogue, we were looking at the inequality between the private and public schools. And there is a huge difference. That in itself is evidence of what we are not doing right as a nation, Rebeeca Mutesi, a lawyer.
