Providing Opportunities to African Youths and Other Disadvantaged Groups:The Uganda Martyrs University Approach/ Strategy

Youth is a period of building “self concept” often influenced by parents, peers, gender and culture. The United Nations (UN) youth agenda is guided by the World Programme of Action for Youths (WPAY) adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1995. WPAY has 15 priority areas. Africa is often regarded as the “youngest continent” because of the large number of young persons, and in Uganda, 49% of the population is under 15 years. Uganda Martyrs University (UMU) is a faith-based, private, not-for-profit institution founded in 1993 to address the perceived moral decay in business and professions. At UMU, ethics is a compulsory subject irrespective of one’s field of study. UMU obtained its civil charter in April 2005 and is one of only six out of 29 private universities in Uganda with this status. UMU places research and scholarship on top of its role agenda, followed by community engagement and finally teaching. UMU is located in a rural setting, and believes a university must not exist in isolation and that a university must be owned by the community where it is located. UMU’s focus areas include, inter-alia, HIV/AIDS, poverty alleviation, peace and justice and food security. UMU’s outreach project at Nnindye is to help the community lift itself out of poverty and all faculties are strongly encouraged to mainstream outreach in their curricula. UMU’s wireless network has been extended to neighbouring communities as far as Buwama, 15 km away. Criteria for new campuses include uniqueness of purpose. In this regard, UMU’s Mbale campus focuses in education; Ngetta Campus is intended to be the “hard work” campus, while Kabale is to be developed as a polytechnic. Most of these are targeting the youths.