Remarks by UN Resident Coordinator at the National Commemoration of Career Guidance Day

Salutations

Honourable First Lady of the Republic of Uganda and Minister of Education and Sports Janet K. Museveni,         

Representatives from the Government,

Representatives from Civil Society,

Members of the Youth Coalition for SDGs,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Please allow me to convey our heartfelt condolences for the loss of Kampala Archbishop Lwanga. On behalf of the United Nations, I would like to convey my appreciation for the invitation to participate in the commemoration of the National Career Guidance Day with the theme “Recover and Revitalize Education for the COVID-19 Generation”. I would like to thank the Ministry of Education and Sports for designating 20th March as National Career Guidance Day, and I would like to commend Incredible Youth International, for helping to organise this National Career Day. Incredible Youth International is a youth led movement with the aim of empowering and grooming young people to become agents of positive change; they are also a member of the Youth Coalition for SDGs. Established in 2019, the Youth Coalition for SDGs brings together youth led organisations implementing the SDGs across the country under the auspices of the National SDG Secretariat within the Office of the Prime Minister and the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator on behalf of the UN system. The Youth SDG Coalition recently met H.E. the President and is working on their first joint programme to support Agro-industrilization and value chains to improve the quality of life of communities around presidential demonstration farms. On their behalf, I launched last year the One Million SDG Solutions Innovation Challenge providing young Ugandans with the opportunity to be recognized for their work and innovations. We have since identified more than 30 youth led organizations using this method as they continue to engage with partners and contribute to critical initiatives of national importance.

Ladies and Gentlemen: according to UNESCO, the COVID19 pandemic created the largest disruption of education systems, affecting nearly 1.6 billion learners in more than 190 countries across the world. It also created a once in a generation opportunity to reimagine education and empower a new generation of leaders. Uganda, the world’s second youngest nation, must maintain an enabling environment for this generation of digital entrepreneurs, political leaders and social innovators. If Uganda is to achieve its national vision 2040 and the SDGs it must find ways to invest in green industrialization, the knowledge economy and a values-based system of governance. The great strides being witnessed in health, agri-business and production require a large community of researchers, scientists, entrepreneurs, teachers, etc who can exchange knowledge, create jobs, share solutions and empower their communities. We need to bring together cultural and religious leaders, gender and human rights activists, philanthropists and social investors, local and international executives as well as political and security leaders to have a dialogue on how to overcome the current challenges and mobilize the financial and expert resources required for a balanced investment in education, health and wellbeing, transformational governance, shared prosperity, as well as peace and justice for all.

Ladies and gentlemen, before I conclude I wish to invite us to seize this moment to modernize the learning system in this nation. If Uganda is to achieve middle income status, consolidate gains made in infrastructure and sustain peace we will need to make significant investments in human capital development as well as in modalities to address both emerging threats and opportunities. We need to help households to improve the quality of life by linking produce to markets, facilitating access to learning and empowering communities to share Obuntubulamu values such as Obwesimbu which means integrity; Obwerufu which means transparency and honesty; and Obumu, which means unity. We must ensure that civic education is part of critical foundational learning alongside literacy, math, entrepreneurship and digital technologies-specific skills. Too many children in Africa, including Uganda - are not developing key skills, in part because African youth are the least digitally connected in the world. We must build on what we have learned and become better prepared to deal with future risks. I would like to commend teachers for devising creative ways to adapt their lesson plans and teaching methods using online tools, mobile phones, television, newspapers and radios. In remote communities, I thank teachers who delivered self-study packages to learners which were greatly appreciated by parents and students with no connectivity.

As the UN in Uganda, guided by our Cooperation Framework we will continue to support the National Development Plan III inspired by the SDGs. I would like to highlight some of the efforts in education by members of the UN in Uganda: (a) through UNESCO and partners, we continue to support teachers’ professional development, policy development and the use of technology for capacity building in education, vocational education and training; (b) to keep children learning at home during COVID-19, UNICEF, the Ministry of Education and the National Information Technology Authority introduced a free of charge digital learning platform - Kolibri - with content approved by the National Curriculum Development Center; and (c) UNCDF is engaging the Ministry of Education to apply solutions to address constraints related to access of quality education for segments of the population that are at risk of being left behind in Northern Uganda.

As I conclude, I reiterate our commitment to support efforts to work with the people and Government of Uganda to ensure access to quality education, to modernize the education system and address the digital divide. I would like to use this opportunity to thank all stakeholders who have invested in education and appeal to all of us to continue trying to ensure that children, youth and adults can benefit from quality learning regardless of location. Our African heritage calls on us to place our community at the epicenter of our development and the UN Charter calls on us to place our shared humanity at the epicenter of every journey towards shared prosperity. May we rise together to reimagine learning for all.

Thank you for your attention.