There have been drastic reductions in poverty levels in Uganda over the past 30 years. The country surpassed the first target of the Millennium Development Goal of halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015. The Ugandan economy grew at an average of 5.25% between 2016 and 2020. However, the Uganda National Household Survey 2016/17 shows that the poverty levels have increased from 19.7% to 21.7% between 2012/13 to 2016/17. Similarly, the labor force employed in 2017/18 reduced to 56.8% from 75.4% in 2012/13 (Source: UBOS Statistical Abstract 2018).
However, unemployment rates for the youth in Uganda remain high. According to the ACODE Youth Employment and Job Creation in Uganda, the report indicates that youth unemployment stands at 64% and 70%, and about 400,000 youth are released annually into the job market to compete for approximately 9000 available jobs. About 30% of the institutionally qualified youth are unable to find jobs and this situation is even worse for the unskilled youth. Expectations from our beneficiaries for solutions are high, yet potential funding sources for Income Generating Activities are not consistent. A study by the Economic Policy Research Centre highlighted an estimated 3.8 million people lost their jobs by December 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.