The Minister of Education and Sports, First Lady is upbeat about hosting the second virtual Youth Convention scheduled to take place on Thursday, 2nd December, 2021.
This year’s convention organized by the Uganda Youth Forum in partnership with Uganda Christian Lawyers Fraternity under the theme: “Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship: Emerging Critical Skills for the 21st Century Youth” is aimed at helping the youth to rediscover their potential in the COVID-10 era.
Uganda has one of the youngest populations in the world with about 78% under the age of 30 and this, according to the First Lady poses a challenge in terms of unemployment, high dependency, violence and crime.
“However, the young population has great potential for development; hence an opportunity for us as a country to harness the demographic dividends. This can be done through being intentional in human capital development through skilling, re-tooling, attitude and mindset change and promoting education that touches the Head, the Heart and the Hands,” Janet said in her weekly online engagement ahead of the virtual youth convention.
She said that the upcoming youth convention comes in handy to inspire and guide the youths in their career path and urged young people to register and participate at the virtual Youth Convention that will be live on Zoom.
“We also need to empower our young people to lead healthy, productive and focused lives. This convention is, therefore, timely especially given our COVID-19 situation and the impact it has had on young people, businesses and the economy,” Janet said.
Among the facilitators expected at the convention include Charles Ocici from Enterprise Uganda, Paul Wafula from Inspire Synergy, Prof. Patrick Ogwang from Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Pastor Wilson Bugembe and many young leaders with inspiring stories who will be participating in the interactive panel discussions.
“I am confident that it will add value in empowering our young people in the areas of entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, mindset change and equipping them with the requisite technical and soft skills for the 21st Century Youth,” she said.
Meanwhile, the First Lady is on Friday 3rd December 2021 also expected to launch a national campaign against girl child abuses such as defilement, illegal marriages, total abdication of parental responsibility and the resultant teenage pregnancies most of whom have been escalated by the adverse effects of COVID-19.
“Together with our friends from UNICEF and UNFPA, we are rolling out a one-year nationwide campaign under the slogan: “Save the Girl, Save the Nation”. It is my prayer that this campaign will reawaken all stakeholders to act responsibly and save our children,” she said.