Faraja Africa Foundation (FAF) is pleased to announce the call for applications for the 6th National Youth Parliament in Uganda. This unique opportunity aims to create a platform for young people to actively participate in policy-making and decision-making processes. We believe in the power of youth voices and their ability to shape a more inclusive and participatory society that addresses their needs and concerns.

Based on FAF’s experience in creating youth spaces like the annual National Youth Parliament for engagement since 2018, we have observed that most youth in Uganda are passionate about advancing social justice and ethnic equality issues to achieve equity and youth inclusion. Unfortunately, they often face challenges as they are perceived as threats and unqualified by those in authority.

This year, the 6th National Youth Parliament aims to address these challenges by providing a practical, reachable, and all-inclusive forum for youth to constructively engage with the legislature.  By actively involving the Parliament of Uganda, Youth MPs, and the youth themselves, we intend to ensure that youth issues are given the attention and consideration they deserve in the policymaking process.

Eligibility Criteria:

• Applicants must be between 18 and 35 years of age.
• Must be Ugandan citizens residing in Uganda.
• Should demonstrate a strong interest in social justice, ethnic equality, and youth inclusion.
• Must possess good communication and leadership skills.

Important Dates:

Application Deadline: 21st July 2023

Selection and Notification of Participants: 8^th August 2023

Note: Selected participants will be provided with necessary logistical support, including travel and accommodation arrangements during the Youth Parliament.

We look forward to receiving your applications and encourage all passionate and committed young Ugandans to seize this opportunity to be a part of the 6th National Youth Parliament. Together, we can create positive change and ensure that youth voices are heard and valued in the decision-making processes of our nation.

For further inquiries, please contact info@farajaafricafdn.org

Application Process:

• Interested individuals are invited to should fill in the form below and submit their applications by July 20^th 2023.
  Full Names *

  Email *

  Age *

  Gender *

  • Male
  • Female
  • Prefer not to say

  Region of Origin in Uganda *

  • Western Uganda
  • Northern Uganda
  • Eastern Uganda
  • Central Uganda

  District of Origin *

  Motivation for Attending the National Youth Parliament 2023 *

  Have you been part of any edition of the National Youth Parliament? *

  • Yes
  • No

  If yes, what recommendation do you have for future editions of the National Youth Parliament

  If No, What are your expectations of the National Youth Parliament 6th Edition?

  Leadership Positions held for the past three years beginning with current *

  Which of these categories would you put yourself in? *Uganda National Students AssociationNational Youth CouncilYouth in civil SocietyUniversity Guild Student LeaderYoung EntreprenuerPolitical Party Youth Leader

  What social media platforms are you on and how many followers do you have on each?

  Phone

  Submit

Uganda is a country with a vibrant youth population that has the potential to drive positive change in the society. Unfortunately, young people are often excluded from decision-making processes in civil society. In order to create a more equitable and inclusive society, it is crucial to increase youth involvement in decision making processes.

Creating Youth-Friendly Spaces

Creating safe and welcoming spaces for young people is essential in increasing their participation in civil society. These spaces can be both physical and virtual, providing young people with the opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas. This can be achieved through community centers, youth-led organizations, or online platforms.

Providing Training and Capacity Building

Many young people lack the necessary skills and knowledge to participate in decision-making processes. Providing them with training and capacity building opportunities can help to develop their skills and confidence. This can involve programs that focus on leadership, advocacy, public speaking, and organizational skills.

Engaging with Youth-led Organisations

There are many youth-led organisations in Uganda such as Faraja Africa Foundation that are already working on issues that are important to young people. Engaging with these organizations and supporting their work can help to build a stronger and more inclusive civil society that reflects the needs and priorities of young people.

Fostering Intergenerational Dialogue

In many cases, there is a disconnect between young people and older generations in civil society. Fostering intergenerational dialogue can help to bridge this gap and ensure that the perspectives and experiences of all generations are taken into account in decision-making processes.

Encouraging Youth Representation in Decision-making Bodies

One of the most effective ways to increase the inclusion of young people in decision-making processes in civil society is to ensure that they are represented in decision-making bodies. This can be done through the creation of youth advisory boards or by ensuring that young people are included in existing decision-making bodies. For-example; The European Union (EU) in Uganda is creating a European Union Youth Sounding Board coordinated by Faraja Africa Foundation in-order for the young people to be part of the decision making processes in the EU. This will be two year project that will entail building the capacity of young people to mobilise resources ,advocacy et al while using these skills while interacting with the EU on behalf  of the young people. (more details to follow..)

Empowering young people and increasing their involvement in decision-making processes in civil society is essential in creating a brighter future for Uganda. By creating youth-friendly spaces, providing training and capacity building, engaging with youth-led organizations, fostering intergenerational dialogue, and encouraging youth representation in decision-making bodies, we can ensure that young people have a voice and a stake in the future of Uganda. Together, we can build a more democratic, equitable, and effective society.

Compiled by Kanyesigye Edna- Advocacy Officer

The year was 2005, when 23-year-old Dorcus Inzikuru, the “Arua Gazelle” won a gold medal at the inaugural women’s 3,000 metres steeplechase event at the World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. Uganda had waited for over 33 years to get a gold medal from a competing athlete at the international level and such a huge milestone was worth celebrating. Praises and prizes were showered unto the smiling Inzikuru who inspired other young women athletes that they can also make it in the sports industry.

Inzikuru became an instant sports celebrity in Uganda and even the President gifted her with a house in Arua which she has been living in since 2007. It was all sunshine and rainbows for the long-distance runner until when she started receiving threats that the land on which her house stands is not hers and she needs to secure a land title which she has been chasing from the Ministry of Education and Sports, the Parliament and the Ministry of Lands and Urban Development until now and she’s still not yet successful. Even in her retirement, Inzikuru last got her monthly stipend of Ugx 5 million in 2017 which she had been promised to be getting every month each year.

Inzikuru’s story is a perfect example of how the government urges athletes to work hard but doesn’t fully appreciate and compensate them for all the hard work they invest in training and even after retiring from sports. Uganda has always shown peaks of sporting excellence and as staunch patriots, we have always shown love and support to our national teams that have competed on the international level and as Ugandans, we are very proud. Most of the athletes that represent Uganda are young people who are energetic and have a passion for what they do and they invest countless hours in training trying to make sure that they don’t disappoint their country.

However, the challenge comes in with the tokens of appreciation that these athletes are supposed to receive from the government which can be pending until when they’re forgotten. The next thing you hear is news headlines of sports personalities crying out to the government to build them a house or pay for medical bills and yet as citizens, we think these people are well-off which is not the case.

In the 2022/23 Uganda national budget, Ugx 47.81 billion was allocated to the sports industry meant to fund sports activities such as supporting national teams for international events like the Olympics, commonwealth games, continental championships and the East African community games. Despite all this sum of money invested in sports, you won’t be shocked to find out that sports teams still have inadequate funding, ramshackled training facilities, and poor administrative systems.

You ask yourself where all the money goes, seeing no signs of improvement in the sports sector but the major sports stakeholders will always claim that they’re supporting the sports industry and seeing a bright future of stars. The future is now and yet sports personalities are still earning peanuts as compared to how much time and effort they dedicate to representing their country.

The sports industry just like any other industry in Uganda is a profitable industry which sports personalities can earn an enormous amount of money from and also provide commercial investment opportunities for Uganda. With the right exposure as a result of better administrative systems, major sports personalities can even become brand ambassadors of various brands that support sports not only in Uganda but in other countries as well.

The major sports stakeholders should set policies in place that can lead to the self-sustainability of athletes even when they retire from sports. For instance, the one-off tokens of appreciation may not be sufficient enough but rather setting up high-performance athlete centres can be a great source of employment for retired athletes who can train and educate upcoming athletes while being paid handsomely for it.

It’s high time that sports personalities are recognized in Uganda because they are in a multi-billion industry known all over the world and the government can make it possible for them to reap fruits from it.

Faraja Africa Foundation will be hosting the 5^th National Youth Parliament on 5^th August 2022 with support from the Civil Society in Uganda Support Programme which is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH with funds from the European Union and German government under the Creative Youth Inclusive Policy Engagements and Legislation (CYIPEL) project. This National Youth parliament is a platform for young leaders to express their political, social, and economic views as representatives from the grassroots. This year’s seating is under the theme Intergenerational Solidarity: Creating a world for all Ages.

Faraja Africa Foundation is collaborating with other partners that include, the Parliament of Uganda, the East African Community, ActionAid, Centre for Policy Analysis, Uganda Parliamentary Forum for Youth Affairs, National Youth Council, the Rose Namayanja Foundation, Advance Afrika, Interparty Youth Platform, Uganda National Students Association, Westminster Foundation for Democracy and Restless Development Uganda among other partners.

Faraja Africa Foundation is calling upon the youth to engage themselves in advocating for their inclusion in national policy-making processes and the policy implementation under the National Youth Parliament. The motive behind this seating is to have the youth issues addressed like; poverty, unemployment, and social injustices. The resolutions that are discussed in the National Youth Parliament constitute a petition that is tabled for discussion in the Parliament of Uganda for action and policy implementation.

Therefore, we call upon youth leaders of the National Youth Councils, Student Guild Councils, District Youth Councils, and local councils across the four regions in Uganda to apply for participation in this year’s National Youth Parliament that will take place at the Parliament of Uganda as we use the top-bottom approach to have the voices of the youth echoed at the top.

Application Procedure

Check your eligibility – do you fulfill the following Prerequisite?

A young Ugandan (female or male) between the age of 18 – 30 years as of December 31st, 2022?

Then

1. Complete the application form.
2. Tweet or post on the National Youth Parliament on any of the social media platforms with hashtags #YouthParliamentUG
3. Follow National Youth Parliament and Faraja Africa Foundation; Twitter – @FarajaAfricaFdn | Facebook – Faraja Africa Foundation | Instagram – @farajaafricafdn

(Mention or tag National Youth Parliament and Faraja Africa Foundation in your post or tweet)

 

Deadline: 25th July 2022 at 11:59 pm EAT.

For more information, email info@farajaafricafdn.org

Click the link here to fill out the form: [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1jqpb9BTOMYKMh944uBKOFltS3UjppbmeaR4s9Uc5bRI/edit?usp=sharing]  and follow the instructions to be part of the National Youth Parliament 2022.

For more information, please email info@farajaafricafdn.org

 

We are proud to announce the opening of a youth digital broadcasting television; Access to information is increasingly becoming expensive for young people and so is media visibility in amplifying their voices. Keeping the young people more marginalised yet they have a lot to not only share but engage in but with fewer opportunities for expression. As traditional media houses continue to disregard young people’s creativity and relevance, the latter have turned to non-traditional media such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter to share their ideas and thoughts. Which has also given room for the mushrooming of FAKE NEWS.

Hence increasing the need for developing youth-centred and media-driven solutions in this digital age where timely communication is key. With a focus on creating a youth-centred space, Faraja has created a digital television and platform to amplify African young people’s voices and creativity. Faraja Television (also known as FarajaDTv / FDTv) is opened therefore for all young people in Eastern Africa and the rest of Africa.

Faraja Television’s programming module is to reach out to her audiences through the already existent digital platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp, satellite cable, website and other platforms. In so doing, creating a platform that can get young people’s voices amplified to the right audiences, in a timely and digital savvy medium; for civic awareness/engagement, promotion of the social entrepreneurial culture, African heritage among other youth developmental initiatives. It is a youth channel targeting not only a young audience but also that of key decision-makers (inter/governmental actors, civil society, private sector, etc.) and development practitioners. This will help aid in bridging the gap and developing youth-centred policies, programs and well facilitate the development process of young people.

Therefore, FarajaDTv seeks to create a platform for youth to inform, inspire, and empower each other through relevant, trustworthy, and regional-class quality television programs and services. Television is an open platform for all young people regardless in East Africa and not limited.

For more information, Follow us on Twitter @FarajaDTv for up-to-date news and for live shows please visit https://farajadtv.com \

Faraja Africa Foundation in partnership with Irise Institute East Africa has joined the Period Equality Network (TPEN) in digitalizing the access to menstrual hygiene management of young girls in Uganda amidst the covid-19 pandemic.

The project that will take a period of three months will be capturing stories of young girls, persons with disabilities, community leaders, persons in charge of children affairs from 5 different towns and districts including Kawempe, Mutungo-Biina, Kasese, Rubirizi and Buikwe. These will focus on the coping mechanisms of access to menstrual hygiene management amidst the pandemic, and the roles played to ensure young girls have access to sanitary towels, and information aligned with menstrual hygiene.

This project that aligns with Faraja Africa Foundation’s youth livelihood program will be implemented digitally on our social media platforms with support from platforms of our sister companies, Faraja Digital and Faraja Television. The goal with these will be to create awareness by holding tweet chats and Twitter spaces, live discussions on YouTube or Facebook to see to it that issues affecting young girls in line with menstrual hygiene are addressed and looked at.

Join us today as we digitalise issues in line with menstrual health and hygiene and come up with SMART resolutions in addressing such issues in Uganda.

By Patricia Maganda.

PRESS RELEASE: Friday 27^th August 2021, Arua, Uganda: EU, Faraja Africa Foundation flag off digital ambassadors in West Nile

The European Union in Uganda together with its implementing partners, Advance Afrika and Faraja Africa Foundation have today rewarded a group of digital ambassadors in the Arua district.

The event that took place on Friday 27^th, August 2021 at Heritage Courts saw 10 young people rewarded with tablets that would enable them to digitalize their businesses, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We believe in creating an accelerator system that can reboot businesses in the West Nile Region, during the pandemic. The project is targeting 350 young people in the districts of Arua and Zombo, as they were hit the most, because of businesses closing in the wake of the pandemic. The programme will also target 200 inmates from Arua, Nebbi and Paidha prison units in Zombo districts and 300 truck drivers from Vurra in Arua District and Alangi & Jangokoro in Zombo district. This initiative includes a business accelerator, entrepreneurship skills, capacity building, digital skilling, and psychosocial support (for the inmates). At Faraja Africa Foundation, our focus is on the social and entrepreneurship skilling,” Emmanuel Wabwire, the foundation’s founder explains.

The Improving Economic Resilience of West Nile(IERC)  project is a two-year intervention that is spearheaded by Advance Afrika and Faraja Africa Foundation and funded by the European Union.

“Advance Afrika is focusing on addressing the negative impacts of COVID 19 during the lockdown hence empowering the vulnerable youth whose businesses were greatly affected. We support rehabilitation programs in prisons for instance training in entrepreneurship and life skills as well as setting up in prison projects with guidance from Prisons officials for instance tailoring, bakery and other hands-on skills to enable the inmates to properly reintegrate back into their communities,” says Emma Wachal, a project officer at Advance Afrika.

By Faraja Africa Foundation -Admin

CLICK HERE TO APPLY (Link)

The National Youth Parliament is an important political and legislative space and creative advocacy vehicle that brings together the National Youth Council (NYC), the Uganda National Students Association – UNSA, an activist network, You Lead Network, Platform for Youth Inclusion in Politics and young people from civil society organizations, the private sector and cultural institutions among others. Since its inception in 2018, it has been held around the UN International Youth Day as part of the commemoration engagements that play a vital role in amplifying youth voices to legislators.

This year through the Platform for Youth Inclusion in Politics (PYIP), in partnership with the Parliament of Uganda, European Union, ActionAid Uganda, Restless Development, Westminster Foundation, Advance Afrika and PYIP members are organizing the fourth National Youth Parliament on 17th September 2021; under the theme “Transforming Food Systems: Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health,” adopted from the UN International Youth Day 2021 theme. PYIP is a special purpose vehicle to galvanize joint efforts and collaboration towards youth inclusion in politics.

The plenary is a special sitting of the Parliament of Uganda, made up of 200 young leaders (across all spheres) and people and will represent the young people at the National Youth Parliament Sitting on 17th September 2021, which will take place both physically and online in a bid to ensure the government’s guidelines on COVID 19 are followed.

This is a call for youth representation across all districts in Uganda.

Do you want to speak up for young people? Do you want your voice amplified? Do not miss out on this opportunity.

Click the link here to fill out the form: https://forms.gle/7GgEw5ZCLbMioTmP8 and follow instructions to be part of the National Youth Parliament 2021.

For more information please email info@farajaafricafdn.org

The 2021 election period was characterized by violence in the pre-election period with unlawful arrests of the young people, voter and candidate intimidation, extremely high voter bribery, and assassinations of the lives of young citizens. According to the media, over 70% of the victims and perpetrators of violence were young people. More than half of these young people often don’t know the reason behind these demonstrations but join because of the bandwagon. Faraja Africa Foundation conducted town hall meetings in northern, eastern, and western Uganda, and from the assessment, it was concluded that young people from these regions often take part in violent acts because of news about injustices that have circulated on online platforms. These youth are easily triggered to participate in the demonstration because the news finds them idle hence with a lot of time to participate. The poverty state of these youth also makes them susceptible to being coerced financially for an amount as low as 1000 UGX to distort peace in their communities. During the assessment, it was also captured that the unemployed young people also “utilize” the electoral period to make as much money as possible even if it means disorganizing the campaign of an opponent of the candidate that has paid them.

However, through these town hall meetings and radio talk shows Faraja Africa Foundation was also able to find out that whereas young people participate in these acts of violence. They are also aware of how unsustainable and destructive they can be to the community. Faraja Africa Foundation got some of these young people to commit to an 8-month district-level peace campaign both using local and digital means. Contrary to the common notion, young people from these districts are informed about digital platforms like social media as tools of advocacy. These young people and some stakeholders in Soroti, Mbale, Gulu, and Ntungamo districts vowed to take it upon themselves to engage other youths they influence, other stakeholders in the national and local governments in their respective capacities to pursue conversations around conservation peace, encouraging advocacy and round table discussions rather than violence in resolving conflict especially during the post-election period. In this respect, the “each one teach one” practice where the stakeholders who attended the training were encouraged to train about 100 young people in their areas of influence in both the formal and informal sector.

The participants and stakeholders of the town hall meetings and stakeholder’s meetings that took place in Eastern Uganda, Western Uganda, and Northern expressed their interest in being part of the campaigns channeled towards a peaceful post-election. Sincere gratitude to the International Republican Institute and Faraja Africa Foundation for giving young people the opportunity to be part of change and peacebuilding in the country during the post-election period. This will enable them to share knowledge and skills of conflict resolution with the communities from which they come.

The town hall meetings were engaging and opened their minds to procedures and discussions related to the significance of having a peaceful post-election period for sustainable development. The training in Conflict Resolution and Creative advocacy deepened their understanding and passion for conserving peace in their communities during the post-election period. Moreover, they learned the importance of perseverance in addressing the many challenges facing their inclusion of democratic spaces without resorting to violence.

Even though local communities living from which these stakeholders and young people may have not grasped the use of technology, they will share knowledge around peaceful conflict resolution at a community level and spreading the message that they are essential stakeholders in the conservation of peace in the communities. Young people are usually excluded in decision-making processes which is the highest cause of strikes and violence in their communities. Therefore, they proposed that State Parties and civil society organizations work with the already trained stakeholders and young people to raise awareness among youths in local communities through cross-generational conversations with the older persons and leaders,  training programs for more young people at the grassroots especially in the local languages, vigorous peace campaigns aimed that “leaving no one behind in bringing about peace in the post-election period, public policy workshops to educate more young people in their civic duties, internships and hands-on skills to eradicate poverty and unemployment which makes young people susceptible to voter bribery, tailor-made district-level online and physical engagement and campaigns to foster advocacy at a community level and campaigns and workshops to increase their capacity to advocate for the conservation of peace and sustainable management. We believe that peace-sensitive youths from local communities should be given priority in decision-making processes and employment. This will not only empower them but can also contribute to combatting voter bribery and monetization of politics that brings leaders who will not serve the interests of the young people in pushing their agenda.

Youth engagement in Uganda can also be enhanced by creating youth local committees both at national and community levels. They shall be responsible for developing a National Youth for Peace Committee as well as creating and monitoring peace awareness projects and activities in all the districts. Such committees will contribute to sustainable peace conservation as well as providing adequate information on young engagement and creating innovative local community-based activities that engage young people.

The young people were also concerned that in Uganda civic education for the young people is not emphasized in the school curriculum. They, therefore, recommend that the government introduce and/or emphasize civic education from basic to secondary levels. Education is paramount to building awareness and developing a passion for a civically educated society. The youth believe that civic education is a vital tool for involving youths proactively in civic-related issues. Furthermore, integration of political and civic education at institutions of higher learning is advised. This is to say that civic education should not be only limited to the role of the electoral commission within the country but should rather encompass stakeholders in the education sector to cover a wider range.

To fully reflect the ideas of all these young people in Uganda, they recommend that the outcomes of the project be combined with those of the next advocacy projects for sustainability.

By Edna Kanyesigye

Governance & Democracy Pillar

Entrepreneurship, it is a big deal today. Everyone seems to have a plan to start their own business, giving rise to a FOMO(Fear Of Missing Out).
As it is said, entrepreneurship is rather for risk-takers, in this case, enthusiasm with no grounding nor testing or clear research about your new business ideas could leave you with empty results rather an emptier wallet. For one to succeed and strive in the world of entrepreneurs today, there are a few tips and tactics you need to know. Development is in most cases is assumed with huge investments during field testing and research. I bring you a more realistic approach to entrepreneur start-up and field approach.

Research

Research, the reason for this is that you might be able to spot certain shortcomings or blind spots in your competitors, you don’t have to reinvent the idea but adding some different things to it can dramatically improve the basic concept. It is very important to conduct research before you invest time and money in your company, research the market to determine whether you have a chance to succeed. It is important to have research to study your sales potential and competition which is the simplest way for entrepreneurs to learn about market trends and sale opportunities.

Share Your Ideas

I know the feeling; you have thought of an amazing new business idea and you are reluctant on letting the big secret out. As much as you could use the feedback, the thought of someone stealing your idea is too painful to even consider. And so, you keep it all to yourself like attaining a website, logo, and all other startup essentials only to find that your idea flops hard. Believe it or not, sharing your idea further develops it and rather reduces the chances of idea theft. Sharing it is safe.

Pitch Your Idea to Fellow Entrepreneurs

A circle of entrepreneurs is always open to new ideas and always enthusiastic to help a fellow or start-up entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur, always try to pitch your idea to fellow entrepreneurs, as experts in the field, they can truly help you flash out the details and come to a clearer understanding of your business potential. With this engagement, you might be surprised how willing other business people are in a known on the latest and great trade secrets, after all, it’s what entrepreneurs do for a living. As ingenious as you think your idea is, you might be surprised to learn it already exists out there somewhere but don’t panic instead of using this as an excuse to give up, use it as an opportunity to remould your idea to greatness.

Use of Social Media:

Social media is forward-moving. It is one of the powerful marketing tools that most entrepreneurs are embracing and taking advantage of to move their business to the next level. Social media gives you an opportunity to hear from what your customer prospects are interested in; it can also help you find out if your potential competitors are delivering a better service than your planning on delivering. Social media groups, your target market is just a few clicks away in online groups. Join forums and social media groups or Facebooks and ask them about your intended offering. start joining a startup incubator or accelerator program is a great way to connect with other entrepreneurs and get access to their business resources.

With the four tips shared above, your new idea will turn to great success with less or zero investment as it looks on the outside.

 

Author: Ms Sharon Nantanda
Programs officer SELF