Submitted by Xinran Chen on Fri, 2019-03-08 11:06
In its Vision 2040, Uganda recognizes that transforming Ugandan society from a peasant to a modern and prosperous country, will depend on the country’s capacity to strengthen, inter alia, its human resources, particularly among young Ugandans preparing to enter the labour force for the first time. However, in order to exploit this potential, the younger generations need to be equipped with globally competitive skills, relevant knowledge and positive attitudes. In recognizing the importance of its human resources, the government of Uganda has launched the Business, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (BTVET) strategic plan 2011-2020 Skilling Uganda. The plan denotes a paradigm shift to create employable skills and competencies relevant in the labour market instead of educational certificates. The Plan, embedded in the overall education policy framework, embraces all Ugandans in need of skills, including primary and secondary school leavers. Increasing equitable access to skills development is one of the five overall objectives of the strategic plan. The current report involves research support to realizing this objective. Building on previous cooperation efforts between the government of Uganda and Understanding Children’s Work (UCW), the report is broadly aimed at informing the implementation of the equity and access dimensions of the BTVET strategic plan 2011-2020 (Skilling Uganda). In particular, the report is designed to help inform the development of measures targeting of groups that have hitherto had limited access to skills development opportunities, by profiling the young persons who dropped out of education before completing primary schooling.