 As part of activities to mark this year's International Youth Day celebrations, President Yoweri Museveni opened a Youth Centre in Arua town, in the northern part of the country.
The International Youth Day Celebrations are held on 12th August every year and at the Arua event the Ugandan Head of State also launched the Dream Balls project.
The Youth Centres established in several towns across East Africa is a project contributing towards goal three of the UN Joint Programme on Population which is "Youth and Vulnerable groups have competitive skills and opportunities to participate in the economy including urban development". This gaol aims at contributing to building youth skills and opportunities to actively participate in the economy for sustainable livelihoods.
 The aim of the project is to enhance the capacity of the Government of Uganda- the municipality council of Arua to empower vulnerable urban youth for socio-economic inclusion and development. Through the establishment of a One Stop Youth Centre (OSYC) in Arua the Municipality will enhance the capacity of youth and youth organizations to acquire and promote entrepreneurship skills for income generation. It will also strengthen the capacity of Arua municipality to undertake youth development activities.
In the context of the 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa, Hyundai Motor Company donated 874,000 footballs ("dream balls") to UN-HABITAT as a part of their corporate social responsibility programme to support disadvantaged children and youth in Africa.
The aim of the "Dream Balls Project", jointly implemented by Hyundai and UN-HABITAT, is to promote youth development, responsible citizenship and peace, urban development and harmony. UN-HABITAT, through its Partners and Youth Branch, has agreed to provide technical support for the distribution of the balls to selected countries in Africa. The 30,000 balls shall be distributed by Right To Play, a Canadian-based NGO and UN-HABITAT.
Other activities used to mark the International Youth Day included tree planting throughout the week, cleaning up the town (Arua municipality), painting of zebra crossing in the town to reduce accidents, radio talk show, football tournament, Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT), blood donation and public dialogue with young people. The discussions in the dialogue focused on the national theme of the youth day which was "Accelerating youth empowerment through skills development". |
