Uganda has one of the youngest populations in the world, with 78 percent of its nearly 46 million citizens under the age of 30. Yet the country’s youth face persistent challenges, including high unemployment, underemployment, skill mismatches, and limited economic opportunities in both urban and rural areas.
As the country prepares for the 2026 General Election, we examine the manifestos of several presidential candidates to see what plans they have for the youth.
What parties plan
The Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) manifesto focuses on marginalised youth, particularly those in ghettos and underprivileged families. The party highlights the link between generational poverty and exposure to petty crime, transactional sex, and drug dealing due to harsh social and economic conditions.
ANT promises apprenticeships, skills training, income-generating activities, scholarships, and family support programmes. While the party emphasises social inclusion and long-term empowerment, the manifesto is less clear on the scale or timelines of these initiatives. Uganda’s informal sector employs 85 to 90 percent of actively working youth, underscoring the importance of skilling initiatives.
The National Unity Platform (NUP) manifesto paints a detailed picture of the structural challenges facing youth employment. It highlights how economic growth has not translated into sufficient job creation, leaving millions of young Ugandans trapped in joblessness, informal work, or low-paying jobs.
NUP also notes the mismatch between university training and market needs, forcing many graduates to seek work abroad under exploitative conditions. The party promises better access to credit, improved business regulations, and policies to align skills with market demands.
The manifesto further proposes private-sector job creation mechanisms by easing access to construction permits, electricity, border trading, property registration, and affordable taxes. It also points to the slow pace of urbanisation, linked to sluggish rural-urban migration, which leaves much of the labour force trapped in low-productivity agriculture.
This slow reduction in agricultural labour explains Uganda’s relatively slow urbanisation process. According to the Uganda Banks Association, more than 110,000 Ugandans seek jobs abroad each year, especially in the Middle East. More than 400,000 graduates enter the job market annually, but fewer than 90,000 formal jobs are available. The ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) manifesto, alongside general youth employment initiatives, places significant emphasis on investing in young talent in the creative and sports industries. The creative sector, which includes visual and performing arts, literature, music, film, fashion, design, crafts, and sport, is increasingly seen as a driver of economic growth.
Globally, the entertainment industry was valued at $466 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow to $860 billion by 2030, while the global sports market is expected to exceed $600 billion by the same year. In Uganda, these sectors contribute more than Shs270 billion to GDP and are poised to become major sources of employment, rising disposable incomes, and a growing appetite for leisure and entertainment. NRM promises to expand the revolving fund for artistes, furnish the creatives’ home with recording studios and other amenities, invest in modern national theatres and exhibition spaces, establish regional creative hubs for talent development, increase support for sports in schools, continue investing in modern sports facilities, ensure the success of AFCON 2027, and create an environment conducive to private-sector investment in sports academies. Through these initiatives, NRM says it aims to empower young Ugandans, turning talent in the creative and sports sectors into viable careers and sustainable economic opportunities.
Meanwhile, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) manifesto combines financial and structural support. It proposes a national youth grant of Shs1 million for graduating youth, cooperative schemes for informal sector workers, and opportunities for youth-owned enterprises in government contracts. It also seeks to modernise agriculture to attract young people. FDC further pledges to establish sports and creative arts academies in each sub-region, support women and youth in aquaculture and fish farming, and set up community rebuild centres to train child mothers in livelihood skills. These centres would also provide daycare programmes to enable young mothers to return to school. The party promises to amend electoral laws to reduce nomination fees for youth candidates.
Mubarak Munyagwa of the Common Man’s Party, centres his youth agenda on the argument that Uganda’s education system produces ‘skilled on paper, jobless in reality.’ His manifesto promises a shift from theory-heavy schooling to practical, job-ready skills, anchored in modern trades and workplace training.
He pledges that youth will drive national innovation and entrepreneurship, supported through cooperatives designed to link youth and women-led enterprises to national and global markets.
A major pillar of his plan is technology. Munyagwa vows to launch a ‘Digital Uganda for All’ programme, connecting every school and ensuring every young person becomes digitally literate, with special emphasis on Artificial Intelligence as a new frontier for job creation.
He also devotes significant attention to the creative and sports sectors – areas he says the government treats as hobbies rather than industries. He promises to establish a Creative Economy Fund to finance music, film and arts; rehabilitate regional sports facilities; and support youth recreation centres in every district.
On the economic front, Munyagwa promises to establish a National SME Fund with low-interest loans, arguing that the cost of credit is discouraging youth enterprises before they even begins. Robert Kasibante of the National Peasants Party (NPP) takes a grassroots approach, framing youth empowerment as a rural economic issue rather than an urban frustration. He pledges to establish a Youth Development Fund to finance youth start-ups, especially in agriculture, value addition and cottage industries.
He pledges to reserve 40 percent of all government contracts for youth and women, a direct attempt to redirect public procurement, which he currently says is dominated by established firms and politically connected actors, to shift towards young entrepreneurs. Mr Kasibante also identifies the creative economy as an underused opportunity and promises to promote music, arts, sports and cultural industries as full economic sectors, supported with funding for regional competitions, festivals and talent programmes.
Joseph Elton Mabirizi’s Conservative Party, on the other hand, anchors his youth agenda in skills, production and national discipline. He promises to launch a Youth Skills Corps, a nationwide programme that trains young people in trades needed for infrastructure, manufacturing, ICT and renewable energy – then deploys them to public works or connects them to local industries for economic stability. To encourage private sector hiring, he proposes tax rebates for companies that recruit and train young Ugandans, arguing that employers must be part of the skills transition. He also pledges to expand vocational and technical institutes across all regions, upgrade their machinery, and link graduates to federal-bank-backed financing so they can start enterprises instead of remaining idle after training.
Beyond employment, Mabirizi promises to prioritise issuing land titles to youth and vulnerable groups, saying secure land tenure is essential for economic participation. He also proposes to train and employ youth in cyber defence, both as a job creation strategy and as a response to rising digital crime.
Taken together, the manifestos show awareness of youth issues but vary in focus. Youth advocates, however, note that the real test lies in whether these pledges translate into tangible improvements in the daily realities of Uganda’s young population.
What the youth say
Mr Abraham Elamaboni, the Uganda Christian University (UCU) guild president, is concerned at the rising level of school dropouts, particularly at upper secondary level. Many students are forced into alternative income-generating activities to earn a living. ‘Youths are facing a challenge of school dropout, especially at A-Level, where some join activities for money. Some have missed the Uneb exams because of UPDF recruitment in my hometown. For example, almost every household has at least one school dropout,’ he said, noting that these interruptions affect service delivery and the skilled labour force.
Mr Elamaboni said policies should not focus solely on vocational skills but also ensure access to higher education. ‘The government that takes over in the next term should look at sustaining those willing to continue with school,’ he said. Comparatively, Ms Beatrice Nyangoma, a communications specialist and youth advocate, said manifestos are often drafted without meaningful consultation with intended beneficiaries. Ms Nyangoma explained that young people are already active in the highlighted sectors in the manifestos, especially ICT, content creation and tourism, but require more targeted investment, since they continue to face barriers in public service employment.
‘Platforms like TikTok are employing many young people, yet digital content creation is not fully supported. Many offices are occupied for decades, which limits opportunities for qualified young people and that’s why these new digital channels should be prioritised,’ she said. ‘When someone says they are a TikToker or blogger, they are dismissed, yet this is an income stream for many young people. Parties do not believe in youth creativity. If a government truly wants youth to innovate, why are data costs still so high? Young people cannot afford to upload videos or grow their platforms and the work they do because such hustles are still unconsidered.’
She also highlighted gaps in supporting the girl child, including access to menstrual hygiene, which contributes to school dropouts, early pregnancies and continuous spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Mr Damon Wamara, the executive director of Uganda Child Rights NGO Network, criticised the manifestos for failing to clearly outline how they will strengthen and implement child and youth protection systems. He added that some are relying on existing structures with poor implementation records rather than proposing new strategic mechanisms.
‘The NRM manifesto still assumes everyone knows the child protection systems already exist and everything they talk of. Before youth become youth, they are children and if issues around education, capacity building and health are neglected early, by the time of youth hood, they will still be disadvantaged,’ he said.
Mr Wamara highlighted daily vulnerabilities that need to be addressed, noting that many girls are exposed to sexual violence during their commute to school and that existing manifestos rarely address these risks except the FDC manifesto. ‘Only FDC speaks about gender based violence; they didn’t address other threats like child labour, which is at its peak in Uganda, especially in agricultural settings. In western Uganda, child labour is predominantly in cotton and coffee plantations; in central and eastern Uganda, it’s in rice and sugarcane plantations; and in northeastern Uganda, in Karamoja, you find gold and marble mining sites where children are mostly exploited.’
According to Wamara, the absence of clear positions on minimum wage indirectly fuels child exploitation by destabilising household incomes, hence the need to target the root causes of these risks. ‘While many parties emphasise job creation, they do not discuss wage protection or safeguards for vulnerable populations,’ he said. Mr Wamara criticised the Electoral Commission for failing to issue clear guidelines on children’s involvement in political activities, noting that minors continue to participate in rallies, poster distribution, and other mobilisation efforts despite being ineligible to vote.
‘Children are not voters, but they are the swiftest mobilisers with good numbers. Yet guidance on how to engage them safely during elections is very unclear. The Electoral Commission needs to spell out rules that prevent the exploitation or unsafe engagement of minors during the critical seasons where we have seen aspects of children in trucks, children holding flags, and children being sent to pull down posters,’ he added.
Reflecting on systemic issues such as youth incarceration, Ms Kizza said almost 72 percent of inmates are aged 18 to 35, who are missing out on skills-exchange programmes for employment and innovation. ‘We face a challenge where a significant number of youth are in prisons; around 72 percent of inmates are between 18 and 35 years. You cannot design a one-size-fits-all programme when only places like Luzira Prison and a few others provide skills and education,’ she said. ‘Literacy levels might have increased, but job opportunities for work in conducive conditions are hard to come by. ..most parties are focusing on skilling youth for factory jobs as part of industrialisation, intending that these will absorb many unemployed youth.’
She argued that the parties’ proposals in the various manifestos cannot be realised under the existing system, as meaningful change would require a complete overhaul of the structures that govern youth programmes. ‘We can’t use the current system to implement most of the things they are promising. Show us how you are going to do a factory reset of the youths so as to establish a whole new structure; otherwise acts of corruption and impunity will still dominate.’
For now, youth activists say the manifestos offer hope on paper, yet the emerging generation continues to wait for a blueprint that goes beyond pledge-making to deliver practical, lasting change.
Party pledges
National Resistance Movement
The party, which has fronted the incumbent president, Yoweri Museveni, for another stab at public office, are pledging to:
Continue to back learning by providing free schooling, as well as job skilling programmes for the youth.
Invest in a modern national theatre and exhibition spaces.
Establish regional creative hubs for talent identification.
Increase support for sports facilities in schools.
Provide more money to capitalise the revolving fund for artists and furnish the newly purchased recording studio.
Support low income growth, at the community level (PDM and Youth Empowerment programmes).
Forum for Democratic Change
The Opposition, Forum for Democratic Change, which has Nathan Nandala Mafabi as their presidential candidate has promised to:
Generate employment opportunities through modernising agricultural investment to make it attractive to youth.
Establish a Shs1 million graduate starter grant for all unemployed graduates under 30 years to kickstart their work life.
Human capital development; healthcare funding, health insurance (Shs 20,000 per family).
Set up a programme for a youth innovation and incubation hub across the country for each of the four regions of Uganda.
Mandate a percentage of all government contracts to youth owned enterprises.
Allocate 10 percent of all government contracts to youth-owned enterprises.
Formalise the informal sector with a Boda Boda Savings and Protection Cooperative Scheme.
Establish a sports and creative arts academy in every sub-region to identify, nurture, and recognise talents.
Set up community rebuild centres to train child mothers in livelihood skills and support them with baby daycare programmes.
National Unity Platform
The largest Opposition party in parliament, led by Robert Ssentamu Kyangulanyi is planning to:
Create a National Youth Employment Fund to finance youth jobs.
Establish city and municipal youth skilling centres.
Provide interest-free loans and start-up capital for youth businesses.
Professionalise the creative arts industry through training and regulation.
Introduce school-to-work transition programmes for S4 and S6 leavers.
Build and equip sports facilities and creative community spaces.
Support youth digital entrepreneurship, including innovation labs and tech start-ups.
Alliance for National Transformation
The Alliance for National Transformation (ANT), led by Maj Gen Gregory Mugisha Muntu is pledging to:
Transform ghetto and underserved communities with improved so cial services.
Provide comprehensive skills training and vocational programmes.
Offer apprenticeships and industrial placements for practical experience.
Support youth with income-generating activities (IGAs).
Give tax incentives to youth-led enterprises.
Replace small cash handouts with long-term empowerment programmes.
Strengthen parenting support programmes for better child development.
Provide full or partial scholarships for vulnerable children and youth.
Create sustainable livelihood programmes tailored to ghetto and rural youth.
Common Man’s Party
Provide practical, job-ready skills instead of paper qualifications.
Ensure youth drive innovation and entrepreneurship.
Build strong cooperatives linking youth enterprises to local and global markets.
Promote inclusive leadership, local languages, and participation of youth.
Strong focus on Artificial Intelligence for solving unemployment.
Establish a Creative Economy Fund for music, film, and arts.
Build/rehabilitate regional sports facilities.
Support district youth recreation centres.
Recognise arts and sports as real industries.
Create a National SME Fund with low-interest loans
National Peasants Party
Establish a Youth Development Fund for start-ups.
Reserve 40 percent of government contracts for youth and women.
Promote sports, music, arts, and creative industries as economic sectors.
Conservative Party
Launch a Youth Skills Corps to train youth in:
Trades for infrastructure, manufacturing and ICT
Give tax rebates to firms that hire and train youth.
Expand vocational and technical institutes across regions.
Link vocational training to federal bank financing for youth start-ups.
Prioritise issuance of land titles to women, youth, and vulnerable groups.
Train and employ youth in cyber defence.