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Unemployment, health and innovations to headline 9th National Youth Festival
Youths display their innovations during one of the previous National Youths Festivals. Photo | Courtesy
What you need to know:
- During the festival, the young people, she said, will engage in numerous discussions pertaining to their involvement in commercial agriculture, proper management and accessibility of Sexual Reproductive Health and seizing opportunities brought by the ongoing innovations.
Discussions pertaining to finding lasting solutions to the increasing unemployment among youths will be among the major topics that will be discussed as over 1000 youths gather in Kampala for the 9th edition of the Annual National Youth Festival.
The festival will be organised by Open Space Centre between August 22 and 23, nine days after International Youth Day, in response to the escalating unemployment cases that are rising in the country.
The 2021 Uganda National Labour Survey by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics indicate that 9.3 million youths [aged 18-30] are unemployed.
It was conducted for the period ended 2021 and also found that unemployment had increased to 12 per cent from 9 per cent in 2019/20.
Speaking to journalists at their offices in Kampala on Monday, August 7, Ms Elizabeth Zipporah Akol, the communications officer of Open Space Centre said that festival will focus on youth (aged 15-30) that are exposed to unemployment, gender-based violence, sexual abuse, causing slow economic growth and informal labour markets.
“We have also targeted a young person who lack sufficient experience and skills, social networks among many, but are passionate about many things like music, sports and movies,” she said.
During the festival, the young people, she said, will engage in numerous discussions pertaining to their involvement in commercial agriculture, proper management and accessibility of Sexual Reproductive Health and seizing opportunities brought by the ongoing innovations.
"The festival aims at maintaining the focus on youth even after the initial Youth Day celebrations. Oftentimes, after the initial celebrations, the focus on the youth changes to other things yet this is their month," she said.
During the festival which is expected to be held at Akamwesi Gardens in Kampala, Ms Akol said that youths will be able to engage with politicians, diplomatic missions, academia, media, the private sector, and civil society through customized debates, speeches, exhibitions, and workshops.
