AFRICAN YOUTH DAY

Harnessing Youth Digital Skills to Drive Uganda’s Tenfold Growth Ambition

By James Beronda

Uganda has set itself an ambitious goal: to grow its economy tenfold, to US$500 billion, by 2040. Under the Tenfold Growth Strategy, science, technology and innovation (STI) is expected to contribute US$136 billion of that total, more than a quarter, while acting as the catalyst for value addition in agro-industrialisation, tourism and mineral development. The Fourth National Development Plan (NDP IV) and the Digital Transformation Roadmap 2023/24–2027/28 likewise place human capital development, digital transformation and private-sector-led job creation at the centre of the country’s development agenda.

None of these ambitions can be realised without a digitally skilled workforce, and Uganda’s young people, if equipped with the right digital skills, are best placed to build it. As Uganda joins the rest of the continent to commemorate African Youth Day on 1 November 2026 under the theme “Empowering Young People for Inclusive Wealth Creation and Sustainable Development,” the task is clear: youth empowerment must go beyond imparting knowledge to creating pathways through which young people can apply their skills, access opportunities and contribute to the economy.

The numbers show both the scale of the opportunity and the urgency of the task. According to the 2024 National Population and Housing Census, Uganda’s population of 45.9 million includes 10.8 million young people aged 18 to 30, yet more than half of these young people are not in employment, education or training. Equipping this generation with digital skills is therefore not only an investment in their futures but central to Uganda’s growth.

Demand for digital skills is growing fast, and it now cuts across every sector. A 2025 World Bank study of nearly five million online job adverts in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda found that nearly half require at least one digital skill, and that Uganda recorded the fastest growth in such demand of the four countries. Even jobs traditionally seen as low-tech, from shop assistants to drivers, increasingly call for basic digital competence. Boda boda riders rely on digital navigation, mechanics use on-board diagnostic (OBD) tools to identify faults in motor vehicles, and graphic design and audio-visual content producers are opening new opportunities for young people.

For some young people, the move from learning to earning is already happening.

A young beneficiary of the Uganda Communications Commission’s Digital Literacy programme in Eastern Uganda testified that the training helped him get a job in the Airtel digital department from which he is earning a living.

Through the Uganda Communications Universal Service and Access Fund (UCUSAF), UCC is working to make such stories more common. Over the past three years of UCUSAF’s current five – year strategy, we have trained more than 100,000 young people in digital literacy across the country, directly and indirectly.

In line with its mandate of universal access, UCUSAF focuses on young people in rural and semi-urban areas who would otherwise have few opportunities to acquire these skills. Results are emerging here too: some trained youth who started out in digital content creation are now moving into theatre and the wider creative industry. Owning a smartphone is one thing; having the skills to create good content with it is another.

However, the journey from skill to sustainable income is not automatic. In unserved and underserved areas, limited access to ICTs, little market exposure and a lack of mentorship hold many trainees back, while others are still studying or have yet to find opportunities to build on what they have learnt.

Part of the answer lies in UCUSAF’s wider digital inclusion work, of which skills training is only one strand. Alongside it, we support ICT public access centres, school ICT laboratories and connectivity, and back locally developed ICT innovations through the E-Booster programme, recently recognised with an award by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO). Together, these interventions create an environment in which young people can not only learn digital skills but also put them to work solving everyday problems. Emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) now offer an opportunity to accelerate innovations further.

No single institution, however, can close these gaps alone. Bridging them requires sustained collaboration among government, the private sector, academia, development partners and financial institutions. Stronger links between training programmes and industry will align skills development with market demand, while internships, mentorship, practical assignments and job placements will ease young people’s transition into employment and entrepreneurship.

Strengthening post training follow up on trained beneficiaries is important. Beyond counting the number of people trained, tracking whether beneficiaries are applying their skills, securing jobs, attracting customers, increasing their earnings or developing solutions to community challenges is required and that evidence goes a long way in showing where more support is needed and helps ensure that every shilling invested in digital skilling delivers lasting results.

As Uganda marks African Youth Day, the young people now earning from their ICT skills give us grounds for optimism, and a reminder of how much remains to be done. If Uganda is to realise its tenfold growth ambition, its youthful population must be equipped to turn digital skills and creativity into jobs, enterprises and lasting contributions to national development.

The writer is Director, Uganda Communications Universal Service and Access Fund (UCUSAF), Uganda Communications Commission (UCC)

Link: https://www.newvision.co.ug/opportunities/notices-4092