How ready is the Busoga region to empower our young adults?
Youths are young adults at a critical stage in their lives as they attempt to stamp their place in the world.
Some of them may feel like adults, but usually, they all need support and guidance in mapping out steps for setting and reaching their potential and individual goals as they deal with obstacles along the way.
How ready is the Busoga region to empower young people as they seek to strengthen their self-identity, think long-term, and practice goal-directed behaviour?
Our youth are the immediate future; their future is the region’s destiny.
Ideally, core life skills are laid out properly during childhood. In that case, the youth stage is a vital ‘window of opportunity’ to strengthen those core life skills—this time with practical support from society’s practitioners.
During this stage, they can practice their knowledge under a watchful adult eye as unwanted traits get ‘pruned out’.
This ideal is the way of the future—of preparing Busoga’s youths.
The new interconnected global economy demands a new set of skills unknown in the Busoga region. No society in this modern world can afford that alienation, so Busoga youths need to be made aware.
The new interconnected global economy is demanding a new set of skills that are unknown in the Busoga region. No society in this modern world can afford that alienation, so Busoga youths need to be made aware.
Self-image of Busoga Youths
Given the pile of adversities experienced in the Busoga region, including neglect, excruciating poverty, general public bias, poor living conditions and the like, Busoga’s youths have been affected.
This is unfortunate, especially when you consider that youths are more attuned to social acceptance and rejection at their stage than in any other period of human development.
Understandably, these hardships are more likely to make the region’s young people feel as if they have no control over their life and don’t belong with the rest of the nation – and that they should accept things as they are.
Low levels of self-esteem in our youths have multiplied in recent history, so we need to do something drastic about it. We should take deliberate measures to build practical hope, a strong sense of self-worth and a ‘can-do’ attitude.
Low levels of self-worthiness can suffocate the proper functioning of a person’s mental faculties, including imagination—and that’s costly.
Youths require opportunities in varied sectors to learn and apply skills in the real world as they deepen their growth to establish the region’s sense of value from within. They need to be involved in activities that have a meaningful impact – to build their sense of responsibility as a route for them to feel valuable, respected and supported in their pursuits.
They need access to quality employment opportunities, education, healthcare and social engagement, and civic and political participation.
They need opportunities to be in contact with like-minded peers and positive adult role models to widen the horizon of their view of the real world.