“I almost got married during COVID-19 at the age of 16 had it not been for my mother who stood strongly against my father’s decision, the empowerment that I received from the power to youth program and UYAHF which enabled me to exercise my rights and speak up against this abuse,” narrated Yesugusa Emmelyn, a Power To Youth (PTY) Uganda youth advocate from Isingiro.

 

The 18-year-old senior four student at Nakivale Senior Secondary School, Isingiro was sharing her covid 19 experience during a panel discussion at the pre-international youth day youth dialogue held on August 16, 2023, in Kabale district. 

She explained that many youths within the community were depressed during the covid 19 pandemic thus resorting to drug abuse, which increased cases of sexual abuse, teenage pregnancies, child marriage, rape, and SGBV, particularly in the Nakivale refugee settlement in Isingiro where she lives. She also informed the participants that the rise in teenage pregnancies was attributed to the many misconceptions that people within communities have about contraception.

The Pre-international youth day youth dialogue was a build-up to the National Youth Day National commemoration and was organized by the National Youth Council (NYC) and supported by UNFPA through Naguru Teenage Health and Information Centre (NTHIC) and Uganda Youth and Adolescents Health Forum (UYAHF) under the national theme `Accelerating Recovery from COVID-19 and full implementation of the 2030 agenda: the role of youth.  This is benchmarked upon the international theme which was `Green skills for youth, towards a sustainable world.

 It was organized with the objectives; to defining the role of youth leaders in the achievement of sustainable development goals, while discussing issues affecting Youth leadership in the Kigezi region and how to address them and generate actionable recommendations towards recovering from COVID-19 and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.           

The one-day event brought together 112 participants who included youths from the Kigezi subregion, CSO representatives, UNFPA officials, Kabale district youth councilors, district officials, representatives from the National Youth Council, Power to Youth (UYAHF) youth advocates, and representatives from the Uganda National Students Association (UNSA) to explore the role that young people can play in impacting the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals.

The #preIYDUG23 dialogue was officially opened by Mr. Manzi Gordon, the Kabale district principal Assistant Secretary. In his remarks, he emphasized the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic such as increased school dropouts, increased poverty rates, domestic violence among the youth, and drug abuse among others. He stated that the district local government continues to work alongside the youth leaders to advocate for the government to bring back government programs that can support youth as the Youth Lively Hood program.

The Executive Director of Naguru Teenage Center, Dr. Rogers Ampwera Speaking on behalf of CSOs noted that CSOs continue to play a crucial role in supporting the government in developing programs that scale up performance towards the promotion of young people’s agenda, particularly in health.

Mr. Tadeo Taremwa, the National Youth Council (NYC) representative for the Kabale district during his address acknowledged the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic came with issues such as teenage pregnancies, school dropout, SGBV, and poverty among others.

“As youth leaders in NYC, we have advocated for the government to bring back the Youth Lively Hood program (YLP) to continue helping more youths. We continue to push for more financial opportunities for young people including gazetting 30% of the Parish Development Model (PDM) funds for the youth”, Mr. Taremwa said.

 Panel discussion:

The youth dialogue also had a panel discussion composed of panelists from the Ministry of Health, a Power To Youth Uganda Youth advocate from Isingiro, a representative from the Uganda National Students Association (UNSA), and a youth representative from Kabale district.

Dr. Nabwire Justine, a representative from the Ministry of Health (MOH) highlighted that one of the health aspects that young people can be helped with to recover from COVID-19 is through continuously advocating for their access to health care and addressing mental health challenges.

“We need to work with all youth structures to ensure that the voice of the youth is amplified, youth are central in the development of this country, and are the majority so they need to ensure that they utilize the numbers to be vocal in addressing child marriages.” She emphasized

Several youth leaders mentioned that among other key challenges affecting young people include negative attitudes towards government programs due to the significant corruption incidences especially of youth funds at the district level, shortage of land for them to engage in productive agriculture, among others. They suggested that the government should put waivers on youth loans that were acquired before COVID-19, there is a need for mindset change so that young people can embrace agriculture and government programs.

While giving her remarks as the UNFPA representative, Miss Ann Sizomu thanked the partners for supporting such a regional youth dialogue adding the dialogue has happened based on previous challenges young people in the region presented.

She encouraged youth to use their youthfulness for the betterment of the country and requested participants to challenge themselves on their contribution towards achieving the SDGs.

In his closing remarks the Kabale Deputy Resident District Commissioner Mr. Bakaki Ronald lauded the Ministry of Gender together with implementing partners for organizing a wonderful youth dialogue. He encouraged youth to have clearly set goals and that they should get involved in government programs such as PDM, Emyooga, and YLP which will drive them and the country into a money economy for a social economic transformation.

Key commitments

  • Youth leaders from Kigezi committed themselves to advocating for quality services in their districts to achieve SGDs.
  • The Ministry of Health representative Dr. Justine Nabwire committed that as the ministry, through District Committees on Adolescent Health, they will ensure that young people participate in all service delivery processes and continue advocating for their representation at different levels of engagements.
  • “As CSOs, we shall continue to ensure that the government programs and priorities are enhanced towards the 2030 agenda, especially on service delivery through partnerships at different levels” Dr. Rogers Ampwera.