Kampala, UGANDA – The interested youth today find inspiration and motivation for leadership in so many brackets ranging from power and wealth, to simply holding titles and maintaining a reputation. However, although over 50% join politics with the aim of changing the status quo and bettering the quality of life for their fellow youth and the country at large, how prepared are they for the major task ahead? Coined by most scholars is the phrase “learning never stops”, and in this case, all youth striving towards their goals of leadership are either indebted to continuous learning backward or forward.
As an organization, Open Space Centre (OSC) has partnered with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) to facilitate youth leaders of the districts of Kampala and Gulu respectively with the Local Government Leadership Professional Course for Youth Leaders (LG-LEAP) – a course focused on building their capacity in three focus areas of civic education, community service, and youth leadership development. This LG-LEAP course falls under one of our organizational thematic areas, the Youth Mentorship Programme, which leverages the power of debate and training programs for young people providing them with information, tools, and skills to grow and serve their communities as young leaders.
The LG-LEAP program is designed to facilitate about 40 participants on merit, following the number of successful applicants whose training will run for a specified period, focusing on three modules including Decentralization and the Local Government System in Uganda; Planning, Budgeting, and Accountability; and Local Economic Development and the Parish Development Model.
Background of the LG-LEAP
The LG-LEAP as a brainchild was formulated and validated by numerous youth leaders from district and sub-county levels, technical members of the local government, policymakers, coordinators from the Parliament of Uganda, media personalities, CSOs in policy and governance, members of the academia, and university leaders. The course was validated after a test run under the Meaningful Youth Participation Program (MYPP), a one-year program funded by the British High Commission that was aimed at building the capacity of youth leaders of Mukono, Wakiso, and Kampala on local governance, budgeting, and accountability.