By Ritah Kemigisa
The United Nations has cited the skills gap among the youth as a major part of Uganda’s unemployment challenge.
This comes as Uganda joins the rest of the world to commemorate the 2021 World Youth Skills Day today.
The Day marked every 15th of July was designated by the UN General Assembly in 2014 to celebrate the strategic importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship.
In her commemorative message, Elsie Attafuah, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Resident Representative, says in order to have a skilled young workforce in Uganda, there is a need to address a combination of factors such as technological advancement.
She says the other factors are the type of education and training, as well as the absence of reskilling and upskilling programs to refocus labour on new opportunities for work.
Attafuah also commends the Uganda government for highlighting skills gaps that need to be filled in the country’s National Development Plan III for all the major productions.
She adds that with more than 700,000 youth entering Uganda’s job market each year, it is imperative that the quality of skills that youth get in their training improves and is adapting to the changing context of work and digital revolution, technological advancement and globalisation.
According to the ministry of gender, labour and social development, Uganda’s unemployment rate is 13.3%
