What Does Employment Really Look Like for Young People in Uganda?
For many young Ugandans, the transition from school to work isn’t a smooth highway, it’s more like a winding maze filled with detours, dead ends, and far too few clear signs pointing the way forward.
We often hear that Uganda is one of the youngest countries in the world, with over 75% of its population under the age of 30. On paper, this sounds like a tremendous asset, a nation brimming with energy, creativity, and potential. But beneath that optimism lies a deeper, more sobering question: At what cost does this promise come?
According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS, 2023), 4 in every 10 young people between the ages of 18 and 30 are not in school, not employed, and not enrolled in any training. These youth are classified as NEET Not in Employment, Education, or Training. That’s nearly 40% of Uganda’s youth left in limbo, uncertain, unsupported, and often invisible in national development conversations.
So, when does the school-to-work transition truly begin? After O’Level? After a vocational course? Or after university? For many, there is no clear milestone. The journey is often delayed, unstructured, and in many cases, disheartening. While some are fortunate to land meaningful jobs soon after school, many more are left to hustle, survive, or settle for roles that don’t reflect their training or ambitions.
This challenge is even more pronounced for young women, who are almost twice as likely to be out of school, out of work, or out of training as their male counterparts, which isn’t just a gender statistic but a national alarm bell.
A Timely Dialogue Ahead of NDP IV
On April 1st, Open Space Centre, in partnership with the National Planning Authority (NPA) and the National Youth Council (NYC), convened a national high level dialogue focused on youth employment and the transition from school to work, a crucial discussion as Uganda prepares to implement the National Development Plan IV.
A representative from the National Planning Authority shared that the implementation strategies among more will consider regional targeting for development, aiming to decentralize economic opportunities rather than concentrating growth solely in Kampala. This shift intends to create more balanced and inclusive development across Uganda’s diverse regions.
The event also marked the launch of a comprehensive Issues and Options Paper, co-authored by Dr. Richard Ssewakiryanga, Executive Director at the Centre for Basic Research. Far more than a policy document, the paper amplifies the lived realities of Uganda’s youth, identifies the cracks in our education-to-employment systems, and lays out concrete policy options to bridge the gap.
A clear message emerged from the discussions that young people in Uganda are not lazy or unmotivated, they are systemically unsupported. And for this reason, they don’t just need inspiration, they need intentional, well-designed systems that support their development and employment journeys.
The paper highlights several critical challenges that include a persistent skills mismatch between what’s taught in school and what the job market demands, fragmented pathways that fail to effectively bridge education and employment, and existing government interventions that, while promising in design, suffer from implementation gaps and limited reach.
Where Do We Go From Here?
One of the paper’s standout recommendations is the establishment of a Youth Transition-to-Work Program, anchored in Uganda’s education and local economic development frameworks. The program would focus on, skills development, apprenticeships, rural enterprise incubation, formal sector linkages
By implementing this structured and targeted approach, Uganda has a real opportunity to ensure that its youth are not left behind but are instead empowered to drive the country’s economic transformation.
The full Issues and Options Paper is now available here.https://openspaceyouth.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/28-March-2025_YouthTransitionPaper.pdf
We invite policymakers, educators, development partners, and youth leaders across the country to read, reflect, share, and act.
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