On employment, attitudes and skills
Uganda, with one of the biggest youthful population also has one of the highest levels of youth unemployment. This means that unemployment is extremely high and that the most affected are the youth. Now, we all know that the youthful years are the most productive. This implies that Uganda's unemployed youth are a hindrance to national development. The unemployment problem seems to be getting worse despite the impressive economic growth. In short, Uganda has experienced jobless economic growth! Ofcourse some people will be quick to point to the high population growth. May be they have a point. May be not. One only has to look at China to read my mind.
What is surprising is that whereas as we have a lot of "qualified youth" waiting for their first job, the private sector is struggling to find suitable employable talent. Or better, the business managers are struggling to match the available skills and attitudes to their jobs!
So where is the problem? Could it be that the education system has become so hopeless it does not impart the kind of skills that are relevant for the market anymore? In some ways the answer is yes. And perhaps that is why some jobs are entirely dominated by our colleagues from the land of Ugali. If you walk along Kampala road and possibly Jinja road, you will also quickly notice that some enterprises are almost entirely dominated by "visitors". So what is it that these "visitors" do that we Ugandans cannot do?
Perhaps one of the more important factors is changing the attitudes of the people towards hard work and producing something for the market. Ugandans have grown to adore celebrities who do no work but steal. Ugandans prefer to do nothing but earn highly. Even in schools dissertations and theses are either stolen or bought but never earned. Do we expect such people to cut out a niche in the employment market? The average youth in Uganda knows everything about European football, but nothing about coffee growing or small business management; even when the average European knows nothing about Uganda - in fact the average European will struggle to tell you whether Uganda is a small township in the USA or a sovereign country in Africa!
I once advised a cousin of mine to take up a carpentry course with a view of starting out as a carpenter (manufacturer of all sorts of wood products) and he resented me. When a few months later I got him a small job as a salesman for a small (carpentry) workshop he eagerly accepted. Such is the attitude of Ugandans; sweating for a short while is never an alternative even if it pays off greatly shortly after. Agriculture is another great alternative.
But people also need the right skills to produce for the market. My untested formula is SKILLS+ATTITUDE=(SELF)EMPLOYMENT.
The Government of Uganda proposed a student loan scheme supposedly to facilitate youth access to education and also to ensure job creation. This is a good gesture by the state, but my take is that it could have been done better. First, how can the state ensure that the students can pay back on completion of the studies especially in this era of global unemployment? Second, how will the state track down the students, especially since Uganda does not have a national identification system?
Here below I provide the alternatives:
1) In addition to UPE and USE, create a universal technical and vocation education scheme (UTVE)
2) Ensure that all technical courses are taught together with a business outlook so that a carpenter can for example market his product, work on cash flows, keep basic books of accounts, etc
3) Ensure that the national procurement policy requires all Government departments to purchase from the indigenous private sector. This will help support the graduates from the UTVE
4) Institute a national identification system
If we harness the potential of our youth, equip them with the right skills, re-orient their mindsets and attitudes towards work, Uganda will surely be on a path to economic transformation. Equally important, the economy has to expand and create markets and are linked to sustainable job creation.
Joseph Mawejje
What is surprising is that whereas as we have a lot of "qualified youth" waiting for their first job, the private sector is struggling to find suitable employable talent. Or better, the business managers are struggling to match the available skills and attitudes to their jobs!
So where is the problem? Could it be that the education system has become so hopeless it does not impart the kind of skills that are relevant for the market anymore? In some ways the answer is yes. And perhaps that is why some jobs are entirely dominated by our colleagues from the land of Ugali. If you walk along Kampala road and possibly Jinja road, you will also quickly notice that some enterprises are almost entirely dominated by "visitors". So what is it that these "visitors" do that we Ugandans cannot do?
Perhaps one of the more important factors is changing the attitudes of the people towards hard work and producing something for the market. Ugandans have grown to adore celebrities who do no work but steal. Ugandans prefer to do nothing but earn highly. Even in schools dissertations and theses are either stolen or bought but never earned. Do we expect such people to cut out a niche in the employment market? The average youth in Uganda knows everything about European football, but nothing about coffee growing or small business management; even when the average European knows nothing about Uganda - in fact the average European will struggle to tell you whether Uganda is a small township in the USA or a sovereign country in Africa!
I once advised a cousin of mine to take up a carpentry course with a view of starting out as a carpenter (manufacturer of all sorts of wood products) and he resented me. When a few months later I got him a small job as a salesman for a small (carpentry) workshop he eagerly accepted. Such is the attitude of Ugandans; sweating for a short while is never an alternative even if it pays off greatly shortly after. Agriculture is another great alternative.
But people also need the right skills to produce for the market. My untested formula is SKILLS+ATTITUDE=(SELF)EMPLOYMENT.
The Government of Uganda proposed a student loan scheme supposedly to facilitate youth access to education and also to ensure job creation. This is a good gesture by the state, but my take is that it could have been done better. First, how can the state ensure that the students can pay back on completion of the studies especially in this era of global unemployment? Second, how will the state track down the students, especially since Uganda does not have a national identification system?
Here below I provide the alternatives:
1) In addition to UPE and USE, create a universal technical and vocation education scheme (UTVE)
2) Ensure that all technical courses are taught together with a business outlook so that a carpenter can for example market his product, work on cash flows, keep basic books of accounts, etc
3) Ensure that the national procurement policy requires all Government departments to purchase from the indigenous private sector. This will help support the graduates from the UTVE
4) Institute a national identification system
If we harness the potential of our youth, equip them with the right skills, re-orient their mindsets and attitudes towards work, Uganda will surely be on a path to economic transformation. Equally important, the economy has to expand and create markets and are linked to sustainable job creation.
Joseph Mawejje
Technical skills training is our answer. Thanks Joe
ReplyDeleteCharles,
ReplyDeleteTechnical skills is only a small component of the solution. We have extremely skilled, talented, and schooled technicians who cant find decent jobs. We have great minds that came up with great business ideas that did not grow, expand, create jobs. Its much more than meets the eye. Technical skills will help, yes, but the real solution is revamping the economy, in getting value for money in every Government coin expended, in ensuring that Govt is accountable to its citizens.