KAMPALA, UGANDA: Government through the Ministry of Gender, Labor, and Social Development has launched a ghetto talent search and health awareness campaign as it bids to promote skills and talents of youths in the populated slums, commonly known as ghettos.
The launch of the talent search competition happened on Thursday, September 30, 2021, at a function officiated by the State Minister of Youth, Sarah Mateke.
“Today we gather here to launch the Ghetto Got Talent Search and Health Awareness campaign, this was inspired by a needs assessment exercise in various slums of the country with the aim of identifying what the youth of the community see as their priorities, skill gaps and capacity needs,” said Mateke.
She stated that one of the mandates of Gender ministry is to mobilize and empower communities to harness their potential while, protecting the rights of vulnerable population groups.
“Uganda’s young people below the age of 30 years comprise 78% of the country’s 40.7 million people. Unfortunately, youth unemployment in Uganda stands at 83%. It is these worrying statistics that constantly move the Government of Uganda to think of designing programs to tackle the unemployment situation among the youth,” she said.
Government hopes that youth, youth leaders and organizations fully embrace the Ghetto Got Talent Search as a vehicle towards the development of untapped talents in ghettos.
“We will continue to fund the youth who arc not in formal employment to enable them create jobs for themselves and also employ others, through our programmes of Youth Livelihood Program, Youth Venture Capital Fund, Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program and Emyooga,” she said.
“The Ghetto Got Talent Search and Health awareness campaign presents an opportunity for the
Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development to explore a different framework for doing research that connects more explicitly with the ministry’s objective of supporting marginalized communities in becoming healthy actors of social change through their various skillset by having community members actually engaged in and designing the research processes.”
According to the Minister, Government has formulated policies and programs to support youth employment to tackle the current plight of the majority of the youth.
“It is, therefore, incumbent upon the youth to acquaint themselves with the Government’s policies and programs to lift themselves out of poverty, under-employment and unemployment. This very campaign is designed to identify, nurture and promote Uganda’s fresh talent in all the Ghettos around Uganda and also promote health awareness for sustainable livelihoods,” she said.
This campaign will give the Ghetto youth in Katanga, Kamwokya, Bwaise, Namuwongo, Kivulu, Makerere and Kisenyi an opportunity to show case and develop their talent on a national platform.
The search will focus on promoting Musical talent, Dance, Art and design, Comedy, Poetry, Magic, Fashion and Acrobatics that advance values of cultural development, national pride, educational and entertainment purposes to the community and country at large.
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