The lives of thousands of Ugandan youth are marked by poverty, civil unrest, inadequate education and skills, diseases, gender discrimination and inadequate employment opportunities. The environment they live brings both new possibilities and new risks that undermine the traditional and social support that helps youth prepare for, negotiate and explore the opportunities and demands of their passage into adulthood.

Given this situation, investment in youth is not only a social obligation but also rewarding in the economic sense. This is because the youth are the country’s most valuable asset, are an integral component of the development process and they provide for and safeguard the future of the nation.

As gatekeepers of the youth, we call upon all stakeholders to make a concerted effort to plan, implement, monitor, evaluate and strengthen activities of the youth, with the youth.

UYAP’s policies have been developed as a step forward to invest in the youth. It provides an operational framework to all actors with a set of realistic guidelines from which action programs and services can be developed to facilitate the meaningful involvement of youth in national development efforts and respond to their various needs and problems.

The process of developing our policies is consultative, participatory and inclusive in terms of the involvement of key stakeholders, spearheaded by UYAP management team with diligent support from the District, Donors and the National Youth Council. Their special roles and efforts are recognized and appreciated.

The various sets of actions contained in this document gives me a strong conviction to await that moment when all Youth of Uganda are nurtured, protected, educated, equipped with skills and economically, politically and socially empowered. I long to see them gainfully employed and actively participating in the development of the country.

I therefore call on all stakeholders to constantly use and refer to our policies as a source of strength and inspiration for advancing the youth of Uganda in the 21st century.

Apwoyo matek! (Thank you very much in Acholi)

Mwaka Emmanuel Lutukumoi

Program Director, UYAP