The Office of the Prime Minister and UNHCR produce regular operational and funding updates on the refugee situation in the country. For more information please visit the Uganda Refugee Response Portal or the South Sudan Information Portal.
A national online hub for everything you wish to know on children in Uganda
KAMPALA, 21 June 2017– the Economic Policy Research Centre (ERPC) and UNICEF have today unveiled the Uganda Children’s Portal – a one stop shop on key information and knowledge related to children in Uganda.
The portal, the first of its kind represents a national online ‘one stop shop’ with information on the lives of Ugandan children in regard to their fundamental rights – the rights to health, education and development, protection, and participation. It is a unique online resource to share ideas, and draw on success stories to replicate and/or scale up relevant interventions.
There have been commendable efforts in Uganda on data collection, dissemination and advocacy for the benefit of Uganda’s population, especially its young citizens. It is crucial for stakeholders including government, UN agencies, donor community, research institutions, and universities to also invest resources in strengthening the utilization of knowledge and data for the monitoring of policies and programmes affecting children and to support policy implementation.
The new online hub offers a user-friendly experience and includes various features to help users quickly navigate and find what they are looking for. The website provides visitors with:
• Publications: A collection of child-related data, research materials, policy briefs and reports.
• News: An opportunity to stay up to date on the latest information and events, as well as live feeds to social media sites, including U-Report – a free SMS social monitoring tool for community participation, designed to address issues that people care about.
• E-Newsletter: Sign-up to read and receive Uganda Children’s Digest, a quarterly newsletter outlining progress on the efforts to safeguard the welfare of children in terms of policy, research and ongoing debates.
• Children’s Corner: Access to colouring pages, fun problems, child-friendly documents as well as an opportunity to send in drawings, paintings and stories.
In addition, visitors to the new site can engage with EPRC and UNICEF by sending in questions and comments on any child related issue. The visitors will also actively engage with numerous social media outlets including U-report, Twitter and Facebook to learn more about the situation of children in Uganda and appreciate the role different partners including the government of Uganda are playing to invest more in children.
During the breakfast launch of the Children’s Portal, participants were given a chance to discover the online hub as well as engage in a Q&A discussion.
According to Dr. Ibrahim Kasirye of EPRC, “there is an opportunity for Uganda to benefit from the demographic dividend, however this will only be possible with adequate and targeted focus and investments in children. EPRC is committed to supporting the use of the portal to provide evidence and share information that is critical for child sensitive policies and interventions. We welcome all stakeholders to effectively utilise and engage with this platform”. To echo Dr. Kasirye’s sentiment, Dr. Diego Angemi of UNICEF reaffirmed the importance of establishing systematic approaches to generate and, most importantly, utilize research to inform policy discussions and decisions.
For more information and to view the Portal please visit www.eprcug.org/children
Electronic Access: Free Full text (PDF file size is 1450 KB).Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this PDF file
Summary:
Economic growth has slowed. Secular and cyclical factors are at work. Private investment has plateaued in recent years and is skewed toward real estate. Credit to the private sector has stalled, driven by rising non-performing loans that partly reflect government arrears. Uganda has been affected by the drought in the Horn of Africa and regional conflicts.
Series: Country Report No. 17/206
Publication Date: July 12, 2017
ISBN/ISSN: 9781484309322/1934-7685
Stock No: 1UGAEA2017003
Price: $18.00 (Academic Rate:$18.00)
Format: Paper
Pages: 79
Please address any questions about this title to publications@imf.org
The Government of Ireland today completed the airlifting of essential relief items worth €500,000 (more than 2 billion UGX) to support South Sudanese refugees in Uganda. This critically needed assistance includes blankets, shelter construction materials, cooking sets and mosquito nets.
Irish Aid, the Irish Government’s programme for overseas development, covered the costs of two separate airlifts to Uganda – one from Dubai on the 11th of June and another one from Accra today. The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, received the supplies at Entebbe International Airport and will distribute them to South Sudanese refugees in Uganda’s districts of Arua and Lamwo.
This support comes at a critical time, with around 2,000 South Sudanese refugees arriving in Uganda daily since July 2016, when a new conflict erupted in Juba and quickly spread to other parts of the country. The fighting has continued to drive people from their homes across the border into Uganda, which now hosts more than 1.2 million refugees – 960,000 from South Sudan alone. Despite the pressure of this unprecedented influx, Uganda has maintained its refugee welcoming policy, keeping its borders open and continuing to provide refugees with land, shelter, freedom of movement and access to services.
The people of Ireland have continued to offer support to the South Sudanese refugees in Uganda, and have provided €3 million in lifesaving assistance in 2016, including €1,114,000 to UNHCR.
“We are so grateful to the Irish people for showing solidarity with refugees,” says Bornwell Kantande, UNHCR Representative in Uganda. “Such display of generosity clearly signals that Ireland stands with Uganda and the communities who have opened their doors and hearts to men, women and children fleeing conflict and violence in their home countries.”
In September 2016, the UN General Assembly adopted the New York Declaration, whereby 193 states pledged robust support to countries affected by large movements of refugees and migrants. “We hope more countries will follow the example of Ireland and will join forces to support Uganda’s progressive refugee model,” says Kantande.
On 04 July 2017, the Delegation of the European Union to Uganda held its bi-annual Structural Dialogue meeting with Civil Society Organisations. The dialogue focussed on the recent refugee crisis and ran under the title ‘The Civil Society Response to the Uganda Refugee and Migration Situation’.
The conference featured introductory remarks by EU Head of Delegation to Uganda, H.E Ambassador Kristian Schmidt and Mr. Godbar Tumushabe representing the Civil Society in Uganda.
“The European Union greatly values the relationship with the civil society. This is why, over the last two decades, the partnership between the EU Delegation and CSOs in Uganda has expanded on all fronts,” said Amb. Schmidt. “Over my last 3.5 years here in Uganda, I have seen the relevance and growing competence of an empowered civil society. It is crucial to any democratic system, but I believe it has never been more crucial than now. Uganda faces opportunities, but checks and balances are under pressure, whether in politics, economic life or environmental sustainability.”
Amb. Schmidt offered EU commitment and support to CSOs and said: “We will continue to provide support to CSOs, not only in service delivery but also in building civil society’s capacity for dialogue and advocacy work. Our commitment will be further strengthened through the 25million Euro ‘Civil Society Support Programme; implementation of which we expect to commence within the next couple of months.”
The dialogue was enriched with the presence of key note speaker (Dr. Busingye Kabumba, Makerere University) and three panellists Ms. Helen Kezie-Nwoha (Executive Director, Womens International Cross cultural exchange Uganda), Mr. Francis Iwa (Care & Assistance for Forced Migrants, a local CSO) and Mr. David Othieno (Safer World, an International organisation). The event was attended by representatives of over thirty CSOs, four EU Member States and members of the academia.
Dr. Busingye Kabumba gave a key note address, setting the scene for the panel discussion. In his address he dwelt heavily on the newly adopted EU Consensus document and highlighted themes relevant for the discussion. The interlinkage between the themes of forced migration and human dignity were well underlined.
The discussion had several important conclusions including the following; a shift to addressing the root causes of the conflict, the inclusion of South Sudanese CSOs in the process, role of women in conflict resolution and the need to adopt a more sustainable approach in dealing with the influx of refugees in Uganda among others.
“The European Union has stood beside Uganda from the very onset of the refugee situation by providing financial support both for immediate humanitarian life-saving activities as well as for long-term development needs – for refugees as well as host communities,” said Amb. Schmidt. “ECHO, our humanitarian office has returned to Uganda, having left at the end of the LRA insurgency.”
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Kampala – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Uganda in partnership with the country’s Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development have launched YouthConnekt, a platform aimed at addressing issues of youth unemployment and inclusion in economic and political processes.
The programme which was started in Rwanda as a platform for bringing young people together and linking them to the public, private and civil society sectors is also is a convener and a catalyst for partnerships that taps into young peoples’ potential to lead development. It gives youth a seat at the table.
Speaking at the launch of the event, Mr. Pius Bigirimana Permanent Secretary for Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development said that Uganda’s problem is not the number of the youth per se, but what proportion of youth who are actively engaged economically.
He added that the youth in Uganda continue to share a disproportionate burden of poverty, unemployment and diseases, partially as a result of limited opportunities for practical skills acquisition and viable employment.
“The concept of YouthConnekt is therefore timely to enhance connectivity of existing youth innovations and building partnerships among all stakeholders in youth development. YouthConnekt should enable us adopt practices and approaches that work well within our legal frameworks, “Mr. Bigirimana said.
YouthConnekt Uganda is aimed at connecting youth to their role models, peers, resources, skills, economic opportunities. The YouthConnekt Uganda Initiative will build on and scale up already ongoing innovations in the country.
Some of these initiatives include the Youth Livelihood Program (YLP), Youth Venture Capital Fund (YEVCF), Skilling Uganda, Green Jobs and Fair Labour Markets, Youth Entrepreneurship Facility, Pakasa and Young Achievers’ Awards among others, all of which were designed to address youth unemployment.
The United Nations Agencies in Uganda have also promoted initiatives that encourage youth Innovation such as International Labour Organisation (ILO)’s Youth to Youth fund model which allows youth in Uganda to come up with up with innovative ideas and the UNDP led Adjumani design challenge which engaged youth from both refugee and host communities in Adjumani district to turn their challenges into opportunities using Human centred design. The innovative approach enabled the young people to identify their main challenges and work together to identify pragmatic solutions for them.
“Our hope is that YouthConnekt will give youth space to create novel innovations that will enable them to contribute to reducing the youth unemployment challenge in the country today, Ms. Rosa Malango, the UNDP Resident Representative and UN Resident Coordinator said while opening the event.
She added that UNDP has also partnered with Outbox, a youth innovation hub to develop an online youth innovators platform that will allow youth to share their innovative ideas as well as link them to role models and funding institutions which can help them develop their ideas further.
“At this time last week, the world came to Uganda for the first time ever for the Uganda Solidarity Summit on Refugees – which re-positioned Uganda as a place of innovations that respond to development and humanitarian issues. We therefore need to think about how Uganda can influence Africa’s development through initiatives such as YouthConnekt,” Ms. Malango said.
She also called on youth to use this platform to discuss what kind of solutions they can come up with to address the contemporary issues affecting the country such climate change, environment degradation and refugees among others.
Mr. Njoya Tikum, A Policy and Programme Advisor, at UNDP’s Regional Service Centre agreeing her called on the youth to innovate around the various development challenges that Uganda and Africa face and not just within the ICT sector.
He also encouraged them to look out for partnerships that would enable them to promote their innovations.
The UNDP and the entire UN family is great at supporting young innovators make this connection with the right partners,” Mr. Tikum said.
Uganda’s YouthConnekt will focus on three out of five components that make up the programme. These include the boot camp for innovators, a hangout to connect the youth to available opportunities and finally a champions’ event to those who excel in the boot camp but also recognise inspirational and innovative youth for their creativity and innovations as well as their ability to create employment and engage their fellow youth.
In July 2017, The YouthConnekt initiative will be launched as an Africa initiative in Rwanda during an event attended by Heads of State and Youth Ministers Summit from all over Africa. Uganda’s roadmap for the initiative will also be shared.
The governments of the Republic of Uganda and the Federal Republic of Germany signed one agreement on Technical and two agreements on Financial Cooperation with total project value of 114.6 m Euros on Tuesday 30th May 2017.
The governments were represented by the Minister of Finance, Hon. Matia Kasaija, and Ms. Petra Kochendörfer, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of the Embassy of Germany.
Following the government negotiations end of 2016 these agreements re-confirm commitments for new programs in the focus areas Energy, Water and Rural Development. These sectors were identified as priorities for the Uganda-German Cooperation. Further initiatives to strengthen Governance and Civil Society were included. All bilateral programs are implemented by GIZ and KfW –the German Development Bank. All initiatives aim to support Uganda to achieve its national targets within the Agenda 2030.
The new cooperation programs in the area of rural development emphasize on realizing the potential of Uganda’s agricultural sector. The agricultural sector provides huge potential for promotion of employment and income generation as well as to increase food security in Uganda. The initiatives in the water sector will be refocused on activities on water resources management and water for production, which should on one hand address the growing pressure on the water resources through increased use of water for production and on the other hand effects of climate change.
In addition to the Technical and Financial Cooperation Agreements both governments have signed an agreement on a low-interest loan of up to 40 m Euros to the Republic of Uganda for the financing of the Gulu – Agago transmission line. The transmission line will help to improve electricity supply in northern Uganda considerably. The transmission line will evacuate power from three hydro power plants with a total capacity of 106 MW and will serve the growing demand in Northern Uganda.
