YES Leader: Mr. Semakula Daniel
Email : semakula@yesweb.org
Website : www.yesuganda.org

Vision : The vision for YES - Uganda is “A country in which all-young people especially young women, and those with disabilities facing poverty, have productive, decent and sustainable employment.”

Background : The war in Uganda displaced millions, with thousands of youth ending up with rebel forces. Sixty-five percent of Uganda’s population of 25 million is below 24 years old. Every year 390,000 young persons join the labour market out of which government employs 12%, private sector employs 33%, but a total of 250,000 youth are unemployed every year.

About the Network : The Uganda network has 227 members comprising of youth, government, civil society and private sector. The rich and broad base of members provides a pool of expertise in different areas. Members provide support in the implementation and out sourcing of resources to develop projects. Membership is open to all people, individuals and organizations that subscribe to the cause of youth employment creation.

Key Accomplishments :

• Debate to Action -Training youth on MDGS and how to achieve them at their local
  levels.
• Entrepreneurship Clubs - Promoting self employment, strengthening civil society, citizenship and democracy by supporting dialogue and communication through participation of young people.
• Kampala One Stop Youth Center- Youth friendly services under one roof; a place where youth meet, share ideas, access multiple services, develop capacity or form collaborations.
• The world starts with me - A project focused on giving reproductive health education for youth in secondary schools.
• Training Out of School Youth on small scale manufacturing skills
• Entrepreneurship development training - focused on identifying challenges that youth faces and generating potential solutions, teaching youth about starting and managing their own enterprise, and youth service providers to speak to them on the kind and type of service delivered.
• First African Bicycle Information Organization- The mission is to empower the youth by providing them with bicycles, quality information, skills and knowledge on issues of nonmotorized mobility. Focus is on advocating and lobbing with the government to recognize non-motorized mobility
• Develop a “corporate forest” whereby companies pay for forest management employing youth.
• Water processing and eco-tourism as possible projects.
• School as an incubation site where students can be trained for extended manufacturing – local soap, juice.

Major Partners:

• Partnerships formed with British Council – Uganda, World Up Austria, UN HABITAT & KCC,UNFPA,ACET, Schoolnet – Uganda, Ministry of Gender Labor and Social development, UN Habitat and KCC.
• A National Action Plan on youth employment was developed and has been finalized. YES played a pivotal role and will play a very crucial role in the implementation of this plan.