Remarks by UN Resident Coordinator at Y+SUMMIT 2021 of the Uganda Network of Young People Living with HIV/AIDS (UNYPA)

Acknowledgements:

The Director General, Uganda AIDS Commission, Dr. Nelson Musooba

The Acting Country Director UNAIDS, Mr. Jotham Mubangizi

The Executive Director, Uganda Network of Young People Living with HIV (UNYPA), Mr. Isaac Lekdyang; UNYPA ambassadors

Representatives from Government, Civil Society, Private Sector

Members of Uganda Network of Young People Living with HIV (UNYPA)

Ladies and Gentlemen

On behalf of the UN Family in Uganda, I am pleased to participate in the Y+2021 Summit. I commend UNYPA for organizing the Y+ Beauty Pageant annually for the last seven years. I would like to congratulate the Uganda Network of Young People Living with HIV (UNYPA) for organizing the Y+ Summit, which has over the past four years cumulatively brought together over 2,000 Young People living with HIV and different stakeholders to share, learn and collaborate. I would like to appreciate your contribution since your formation in 2003, as a youth led, youth serving organisation providing leadership and coordinating the meaningful involvement of young people living with HIV in Uganda in the national, regional and global HIV and AIDS response. I commend the Uganda Network of Young People Living with HIV for your advocacy to improve the quality of life of young people living with HIV in Uganda, for universal access to HIV prevention, for the provision of sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) information, treatment, care and support, for fighting stigma and discrimination against young people living with HIV. The 1000 beauty queens and kings from all over the country have become ambassadors amongst their peers back home in raising awareness about HIV/AIDS and overcoming stigma in their communities.

Uganda has the second youngest population in the world with over 75% of the population below 30 years of age. About 200,000 of the 1.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS are young people 15-24 years, young women are disproportionately affected due to inequalities that exist in our homes and society. I am informed that about 100,000 of the young people living with HIV are part of the UNYPA network from whom 1,000 Youth ambassadors are operating through your presence in 52 districts across all the 10 sub-regions.

The United Nations system in Uganda supports Government efforts to address HIV-AIDS through the Joint Programme for Support on HIV and AIDS (JUPSA) whose 10 UN members include ILO, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNODC, UN Women, WFP and WHO. I wish to thank UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF and UN Women whose support has enabled UNYPA to deliver services and convene events.

The COVID-19 pandemic upended the lives and aspirations of young people and their families. The UN in Uganda carried out a socio-economic impact analysis of COVID-19 which revealed that up to 60 percent of informal enterprises stopped their operations or moved below the poverty level, denying earnings to between 5 and 6 million informal workers most of whom were young men and women. Many members of UNYPA are from vulnerable communities including landing sites and low-cost neighbourhoods in urban areas. I have been informed that in the discussions over the past two days, you have confirmed that UNYPA members were adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. You lost jobs and livelihoods which affected your ability to have nutritious diets, and you also were unable to access ARVs during the lockdown, which impacted your adherence. I use this opportunity to convey my belief that if we work together, we can manage this new threat and find solutions that are sustainable, inclusive and culturally relevant.

Permit me to highlight some of the UN initiatives supporting the youth in Uganda. Let me begin with the Innovation Programme for Young People taking charge of social change by UNFPA. Under this programme seven Social Entrepreneur Startups were launched in 2019 including Babykit, which is a team using affordable and locally made materials to develop infant warmers to help mothers in refugee settlements who have given birth to premature or at-risk babies. We also have the Infopic company which created an interactive voice response system that helps women of childbearing age easily access family planning services. UNICEF has trained young people across the country in communication, digital storytelling, photography, videography and simple graphic design to enable young people to voice their concerns. UNICEF is also working with young people to co-create content because they understand the issues affecting them and their community much better.

Under the Strengthening Social Cohesion and Stability project IOM and its partners have provided vocational training to 1,000 youths, provided small business startup capital for 644 youths, as well as training and logistical support for the Uganda Police Force to improve community policing which includes youth. They have also conducted messaging campaigns to discourage violence. Some of the youth in slums who reached out to IOM are producing face masks to help fight COVID-19 and we are supporting their access to partners. The Uganda Women entrepreneurship Programme by UNWOMEN skills, coaches and mentors young women to ensure that they run businesses in a profitable and sustainable way while the SDG Fund for Digital Innovation Challenge by the UNCDF  provides seed capital and grants for top innovations by youth.

In addition, UNDP and Stanbic Uganda Holdings Limited (SUHL) have developed the Youth4Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship Facility to enable youth and businesses pilot innovative enterprise ideas or new ways of delivering products and services. This facility seeks to provide a flexible funding that will stimulate faster recovery of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises affected by COVID-19 and support the creation of at least 20,000 new decent jobs for youth; while skilling 50,000 youth to increase their entrepreneurial success rate. We expect this to have a multiplier effect and influence the creation of over 100,000 indirect jobs. The Facility has made available an initial $10 million grant and up to $200 million for concessional loans below market rates for the youth. I encourage youth to visit www.undp.org and apply for these opportunities.

Before I conclude, I would like to invite the Uganda Network of Young People Living with HIV/AIDS to join the Youth Coalition for SDGs which comprises over 30 youth-led organisations, including private companies and NGOs, actively involved in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across the country, under the auspices of the SDG Secretariat within the Office of the Prime Minister, and the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office. You are also SDG ambassadors.

As I conclude, I would like to highlight that you are resilient and innovative generation of youth. I have met youth in Moroto, Arua, Mbale, Isingiro, Kisoro, Gulu, Mbarara and even Kampala, to mention a few locations. Uganda’s youth are truly torchbearers of the Sustainable Development Goals, I invite you to embrace the positive values of Obuntubulamu, the UN Charter and the SDGs. On behalf of the United Nations system I would like to reiterate our commitment to support young people living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda on your development journey. Our new UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2021-2025 outlines how we will support implementation of the National Development Plan III and National Vision 2040 to attain prosperity for all.

Thank you for your attention.