Young leaders’ think tank meeting gives Outlook for activities in the coming year - Foundation Office Uganda and South Sudan
Event Reports
The "Young Leaders Think Tank for Policy Alternatives" (Think Tank) is an initiative of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung to enhance youth participation in governance and policy formulation in Uganda.
The two main working groups focused on refugees and migration as well as trade as the key topics for engagement in 2016. The groups will finalize the policy papers which will form a basis for roundtable discussions with key stakeholders and experts in the respective fields.
The group working on the refugee policy in the East African Community (EAC) discussed the structure and scope of their policy paper highlighting the need for a harmonized refugee policy for the region. The working group will work on the policy and have it ready for discussing at a roundtable on the 29th November 2016 with experts working on the topic. The group however pointed the lack of adequate information about refugees in the EAC countries as one of the obstacles to their research.
The working group on the trade policy also chronicled the lack of competitiveness on the part of Ugandan industries and products. Eshban highlighted the need for Uganda to increase its productivity and value addition on agriculture in order to increase Uganda’s competitiveness in the region and the world market. As it is now, he painted a bleak picture of the economy; something which challenged the working group to go back to the drawing board to suggest some plausible policy alternatives. Both capacity and compliance with international standards are key to the improvement of Uganda’s economic performance in the region and the international scene. By outlining the current imbalance of trade between Uganda and western countries, the group pointed out the problem that 90% of the exports from Uganda are natural, unprocessed resources with a small commercial value compared to the imported products from the region and western countries.
For 2017, the think tank will enhance its visibility by increasing the frequency blog posts and other publications from members. In addition, the youth4policy.org will be opened to other initiatives linked to KAS.
