Fisheries agency want to empower youth, create wealth

Yalelo, a fisheries agency working with other partners has started a project to empower youth with skills and capital to start small fishing projects.

The project targets 7,000 youths from the districts of Kampala, Wakiso and Jinja.

Micheal Tumusiime, the marketing officer at Yalelo, said during the three-year project they will partner with Community Based Organisations (CBOs) that are well structured to register vulnerable youth, who will access loans. 

“We have partnered with financial institutions ready to offer loans to any beneficiary who purchases fish. We are looking at how these young people can generate income and improve their quality of life,” he said. 

He said young people will be trained in fish farming in small areas and given management tips while Yalelo will provide the market for the fish.

“With a startup capital of sh95,000, which shall be offered as a form of a loan, the beneficiaries will be able to make a net revenue of sh385,000 and more,” he said.

He said they had chosen fish because it has a longer value chain of wealth creation.

The Uganda Bureau of Standards figures indicate that the unemployment rate standards in Uganda are at 9.2% nationally while youth unemployment stands at 13%. 

The same figures show that 70% of Uganda’s total population is made up of youth aged below the age of 30.