Feed the Future Uganda Youth Leadership for Agriculture Activity FY 2016 Q3 Quarterly Report

The purpose of this flagship activity is to increase their incomes and build entrepreneurship, leadership, and workforce readiness skills. YLA is a $21.5 million, five-year activity managed by Chemonics International Inc. The Activity's period of performance is July 14, 2015 – July 13, 2020. Uganda has the world's second youngest population, with each year 400,000 youth entering the labor market and competing for only 80,000 formal jobs. More than 70 percent of youth live in rural areas, and youth make up about 55 percent of the workforce in the agricultural sector. With an economy reliant on agriculture for growth and food security, Uganda sits at a critical juncture. A youth bulge for any country can be a strain or it can be a demographic "dividend," depending on the human, social, financial, and physical assets in place. The Activity is focused on achieving two objectives: increasing incomes of youth working in agricultural value chains and improving skills development through formal and non-formal education and training organizations. The implementation strategy is crafted around a youth-driven approach that prioritizes facilitation, targets in-school and out-of-school youth, and leverages the private sector and workforce institutions to ensure buy-in and sustainability of interventions. Youth are at the forefront of everything done to ensure that all interventions are age-appropriate, meet the needs, aspirations, and opportunities of youth. The Activity supports Ugandan partners, with youth in the lead, to identify and drive forward sustainable, inclusive, and cost-effective approaches that put youth, especially female youth, squarely in the agriculture sector as leaders, farmers, entrepreneurs, and employees. The Activity's purpose is to increase economic opportunities for hundreds of thousands of Ugandan female and male youth ages 10 to 35 in agriculture-related fields in order to increase their incomes and build entrepreneurship, leadership, and workforce readiness skills. The Activity's progress against indicators shows that more than 2,500 youth have received training in agricultural value chains, and over 1,000 youth have been engaged in entrepreneurship and leadership development activities. The Activity has also established partnerships with 15 educational institutions and 10 private sector companies to provide training and job opportunities for youth. The Activity's collaboration efforts with the Government of Uganda, other USG and USAID-funded activities, and other donors have resulted in the development of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support the implementation of the Activity's objectives. The Activity's planned interventions for the next reporting period include scaling up the training program to reach an additional 5,000 youth, establishing a youth-led business incubator, and developing a market-driven technical skills training program for youth working in agricultural value chains.