Activation Policies for the Poor in OIC Member States
69
most affected by a lack of jobs, particularly university graduates who either cannot find jobs to
match their skill level or do not have the skills required by employers.
To support young people, the government initiated the above mentioned Youth Livelihood
Programme in 2013. The programme’s specific objectives are to:
1 Provide youth with marketable vocational skills and toolkits for self-employment and job
creation
2 Provide financial support to enable the young people to establish Income Generating Activities
(IGAs)
3 Provide youth with supporting entrepreneurial life skills
4 Provide young people with appropriate knowledge and information that supports a positive
mind set change
The programme targets beneficiaries aged 18 to 30 who have dropped out of school and training
institutions, are from vulnerable communities, are single parents, or have a disability. This indicates
that those most at risk of poverty are likely to be targeted. However, young people who have
completed secondary and tertiary education (including university) are also eligible for the scheme.
The YLP has three components:
1 Skills Development, as described above.
2 Livelihood Support, to which 70% of the fund is allocated. This component finances productive
assets for income generating activities as well as business and basic skills and follow on support
from expert mentors.
3 Institutional Support, to which 10% of the fund is allocated. This component aims to improve
the technical, administrative and managerial capacity of the programme implementers at
MGLSD, local and community level as well as promoting good governance at all levels of
implementation.
To receive funding to set up an enterprise, project beneficiaries must organise themselves in a Youth
Interest Group (YIG) for the implementation of their business plans. Each YIG is responsible for the
implementation of their own programme and democratically elects a Youth Project Management
Committee, Youth Procurement Committee and Social Accountability Committee to oversee
implementation. Sector experts at District and Local Government level support the projects
throughout the cycle. To encourage the repayment of loans, loans are interest free if repaid within
the first year. Repayments extending beyond the first year are charged 5% interest.
Early results of the project are encouraging. 1,563 projects have started with 11.53 billion UGX
allocated to 20,192 beneficiaries of whom 40% are female. The project is targeted to fund around
7,000 projects over the initial five years of the programme. Districts are being phased in and, as
anticipated, agricultural projects predominate because the projects are driven by community
demand. It is also interesting to note that by targeting youths who are more likely to be poor,
criticisms targeted at the Youth Venture Capital Fund for not supporting those most in need are
addressed.
Another job creation measure attempting to target the poor, and particularly the young poor, is the
Northern Ugandan Youth Enterprise Partnership (NUYEP), delivered by Enterprise Uganda. As
previously mentioned, the North of Uganda has some of the highest poverty rates.
NUYEP responds to a 2011 study by the Basic Needs Foundation that found that previous
interventions in Northern Uganda were largely ignoring the needs of the majority youth population.
In particular a focus was needed upon young women whose earnings were especially low at less
than US$1 per day. These women are particularly vulnerable to having young children, being