Vice Chancellor Meets SAY Project Advisory Panel
Prof. Openjuru George Ladaah, the Vice Chancellor of Gulu University, received a multi-agency Advisory Panel of the Skilling in Agripreneurship for Increased Youth Employment (SAY) project on the 17th of July 2023 in the University Council Boardroom.
The panel comprised officials from the Office of the President; Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries; Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development; and Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives. Others were from the Federation of Ugandan Employers; World Skills Uganda; Directorate of Community Led Industrialization; Uganda National Farmers Federation; Enabel Uganda; Gulu City and AVSI Foundation.
The monitoring and learning visit is part of the SAY project mechanism and strategies to engage with Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to address barriers in the enabling environment that prevents skilled youth from accessing more profitable markets and gainful employment.
The Vice Chancellor Prof. George Openjuru Ladaah welcomed the delegation and underscored the importance of skilling the youth in agriculture to increase employment and food security.
He told the delegation that he has been part of a team who were in Nairobi, Kenya for a week developing a proposal to Mastercard foundation for skilling the youth.
Ms. Mbabazi Hellen, the Head of the delegation said she is honored for the welcome and congratulated Gulu University for its commitment towards skilling the young people in the region and empathized the need to mentor and model more young women in the academic world.
Dr. Collins Okello the Dean, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment informed the delegation that in 2022, the SAY project supported the faculty to train 200 youth, aged 18-30 years, in mushroom and vegetable production, beekeeping and agro-processing.
“The faculty will soon send out a call to enroll another lot of 200 youth for another round of training”. Announced the dean.
After the meeting, the delegation visited the Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, where they interacted with the trained youth.
Gulu University is implementing the SAY project under a memorandum of understanding with AVSI Foundation. Funds for the implementation of the project is from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
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