Young People’s Challenges & Miklah: How Miklah 5, a holistic education and mentorship program is Your Answer!

Miklah 5 is a program of Mikah that offers education and mentorship services to individuals, groups, businesses and communities based on 5 major aspects of life; word of life (the spiritual or belief aspect), love and relationships, life and health, sacred entrepreneurship, and SWAPafrica. This programs enables young people (whether in schools, on streets, or already in businesses) to discover their life-purpose based on their innermost value system of belief or faith and successfully pursue their purpose or goals through the remaining aspects of life. In other words, at Miklah, the belief or the spiritual or, to be specific, the theological meaning of life and life-purpose to an individual or organization really determines his, her, or its outward performance in all other aspects of life. This is makes our program special for we build our clients from within outwards and not the other way round.

How did we get here or what moves us?

About 80% of Uganda’s population are young people below the age of 35. The latest 2018 population status report highlights that 52% of Ugandans are actually below the age of 15. Well, national statistics (UBOS, 2017) say that we were a little more than 39 million people in 2017. However, the latest estimates say there are about 44 million people living in Uganda now. If we take this estimation, then it means that 35.2 million people are below 35 years and more than 22.8 million people are very young and below the age of 15. Accordingly, Uganda has 28.4% of its population between 25-64 years and only 2% are above 65 years or older. In summary, we are saying that Uganda is one of the countries with the youngest (about 52%) population in the whole world, the others being Niger and Mali. What does this mean to you?

Demographers (people who specialize in population studies) generally tell us that very young people (below 15 years) are usually non-productive and dependent, 15-64 aged people are classified as being productive and thus non-dependent, and 65+ aged Ugandans are, just as children, non-productive and dependent. In other words, Uganda is only full of dependent and non-productive young people since more than half of the population are below 15 years. Actually, the 2018 Uganda population status report says we have a dependent ratio of 103 (this is not even close to reality; the reality is worse). Wait! You think this is the only problem? No, more surprises on the way.

The only way out: Demographic dividend

According to Vision 2040 and NDP II, Uganda hopes to achieve inclusive and sustainable socioeconomic transformation by embarking on five major areas of which human capital development or demographic dividend is one of them, the others being tourism, Minerals and oil and gas, infrastructure development, and agriculture (NDP II and Vision 2040). As it appears, building a country’s human capital is critical to any form of development and yet this may not be possible for a country whose population is characterized by high birthrates and death-rates and citizens are always children or ‘unproductive’ adults. What are we saying?

While very many young people who are not productive and dependent are dangerous to themselves and the country, there is a lot more they can do for themselves and for the country if conducive environment is availed. For more than 10 years (considering our national documents like Vision 2040, National Development Plan II, Population Status Reports 2012, 2014, 2017, 2018, Poverty Eradication Plan, 2011-2015 National Adolescents and Youth Strategic Plan, Demographic Health Surveys and many more), Uganda government has been aware of this problem and the effective solutions to address it and reap socioeconomic transformation instead of troubles from the young population. The socioeconomic transformation that countries enjoy due to their young people who have grown into responsible, skilled, healthy, and productive citizens is called demographic dividend. See how our policy makers define this for us;

Demographic dividend ‘is the accelerated economic growth that can result from improved reproductive health, a rapid decline in fertility, and the subsequent shift in population age structure. With more people in the labor force and fewer children to support, a country has a window of opportunity—but only if the right social and economic investments and policies are made in health, education, governance, and the economy’ (The Uganda population report 2018, Page 3)

In other words, the only way out for our country is to leverage on these young people and score demographic dividend in the near future when these 0-15 or even 0-30 young people have grown up. However, certain conditions must be met if a country is to achieve demographic dividend. Grasp this truth from our planners;

‘Uganda is guaranteed to have a big population due to the high fertility rate and the concentration of young people who are yet to reach childbearing age. To turn this abundant population into valuable human resources for socioeconomic transformation and development, the country should focus on investments in high-level education, health, and economic reforms that will stimulate people’s innovation, productivity, and purchasing power’ (National Planning Authority; Harnessing Demographic Dividend, 2014 report; Page 10

In summary, Uganda’s population is largely made up of young people who are not economically active and thus dependent on the few who are employed or working. With this dependency and surrounding poor economic conditions, the country cannot develop but instead can plunge more into danger as the growing population exerts pressure on the non-growing economy. To avoid this predicament, Uganda has the opportunity to invest in the young population and turn it into a serious working force with few dependents around. This achievement is called demographic dividend. But to achieve this, certain conditions or sacrifices must be met. The next question is; what are these conditions? As a country, how far have we gone?

Conditions for demographic dividend: Do we have them

While the plan for Uganda’s future is well-laid in our official document of Vision 2040 and National Development Plan II, the specific plan to achieve demographic dividend is well-laid in population status reports especially of 2014 and, to an extent, the Uganda National Adolescents Strategic Plan 2011-2015 and The National Youths Policy. Seriously, if you are a Ugandan and you have never read the documents i have used in this article, then you too deserves our medicine. As a matter of fact, get your pen and make a note somewhere so you don’t forget to look for these documents online and study them. Anyway, let us move on.

If you followed me very well, you already know what needs to be done. To be straight, this sentence summarizes our deal; we need to lower fertility rates (by the way, we still stand at more than 5 children per woman in Uganda and our population growth rate is at 3% annually; this is crazy. No country ever developed, i mean reaches maximum development with this ‘life’), take care of those we already have (reduce death rates) and then work on these we have saved to turn them into responsible-ethical-moral-healthy-skilled-working force. That is the only way. Anyone who suggests an alternative is a liar!

Uganda government makes it clear in this screenshot (the screenshot is mine and what i captured is Uganda’)

To be clear, it is FOR all the above that MIKLAH exists. We are a non-profit organization that wanna push in with the good policies and see the socioeconomic transformation our leaders envision for us. Of course, Uganda is globally famous for good policies and plans on papers but poor implementation (Wallace, 2011) and we at Miklah wanna change that by actively participating in implementing these policies. To be exact, that is what Miklah 5, our education and mentorship program does; we reach out to individuals, groups, companies and communities and enable them to take up demographic transition mechanisms, live healthy lives, engage in sustainable development, take care of social relations and live morally and ethically upright lives.

But wait! Does the above diagram really make it clear as what you need to focus on to be part of this envisioned socioeconomic transformation? Well, I won’t bother myself; let us hear more explanations from our planners;

Deeper problem analysis: where we stand in relation to demographic dividend prerequisites

Demographic Transition: To begin with our population structure, we aren’t any better. As I earlier highlighted, our annual population growth rate is at 3% and our fertility rate a little bit more than 5%. Our mortality rates for mothers, under 5 children, and babies aren’t better yet though we have registered some progress; maternal mortality is at around 340/100,000, under-5 mortality at 64/1000, neonatal mortality at around 20/1000 and infant mortality at around 37/1000. While these figures have improved compared to our 1980s and 1990s, we are still far from global hit-targets. General HIV prevalence is still high (at about 7%) and even among young people (at about 5%). Malaria, diarrhea, malnutrition, and pneumonia are still rampant in Uganda, claiming more than 200,000 lives of children in Uganda annually (The state of Uganda Population report, 2018). In one sentence, we are giving birth to very many children like rats or dogs and these same children are dying-and the hopeless cycle begins again and again.

Education of young people: How about education of the few youths around so they are employed and become productive? Well, UPE and USE have done us some progress but it is not as you think. While enrollment both at primary and secondary level has improved over the years, dropout rates are alarming. For example, about 44% of those who get enrolled in primary education do not complete that level! Can you imagine that? Few who continue into secondary education, 20% of them drop out before completion! And there are more cunning issues than dropouts, what do you think? poor education quality and inequalities between males and females and then urban and rural schools! In summary, even the few people who survive our ‘death roll’ in their infancy and children stages don’t get proper education to turn them into employable humans! Let us hear from our planners on this;

‘About 2.8 million young people (33%) out of the estimated 8.5 million were in school by 2015. The males in school are more than females by about 12 percentage points. There is almost a balance between rural and urban young people in school. However, the national proportion of students declined by about 7 percentage points to 33% between 2013 and 2015. After the USE policy in 2007, progression to secondary schools increased to 67 percent. However, the rate of transition has dropped gradually to 54 percent in 2014—more particularly in relation to the girl child (figure 4). Up to 48 percent of girls (figure 4) who start primary one do not transition to secondary. Early marriage (31%) and pregnancy (21) are major reasons for girl child drop out from primary school.

Net Enrollment Rate (secondary) for urban areas is also higher than that of rural areas, by about 15 percentage points. Unless this phenomenon is reversed, progress towards DD and SD will be hampered. The UPE schools also lack funds and human resources, which affects the quality of UPE system. Consequently, learning levels are low, which threatens the achievement of the demographic dividend. Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2011, found nine out of 10 primary 3 students were unable to read a primary 2 story in English (grade 2 represents basic skills), and one in five were unable to recognize letters of the English alphabet. There are similar findings in reading and mathematics, only 10 percent of primary 6 students could read at the expected level (SACMEQ, 2010)’ (The state of Uganda Population report, 2018, Pages 11, 36 and 51)

Health of Young People: Surely, our government has tried to deal with health issues among the adolescents and youths but you know what! We still have a long way to go. Our young people, especially girls whether in school, on street, in businesses and in their homes or social relationships have thousands of terrible reproductive health challenges and, if nothing is done, vision 2040 is just a dream. To start with HIV, prevalence rate is at about 5 among young people, STIs are rampant (atleast between 6%-56%) (Vandepitte et al., 2011). 25% of Ugandan girls get pregnant before 18 and actually early or teenage marriage is at 40% with some regions like Karamoja scoring 56% prevalence rate. Most of the early pregnancies are unwanted and most of these (more than 42%) end up in abortion (not legalized and safe abortion, but unsafe and dangerous abortion). No wonder maternal mortality among adolescents in Uganda is 2-5 times higher than general Maternal deaths.

Young people in Uganda have issues with drugs and alcohols, early and unsafe sex, sexuality and gender-based violence, unfair gender related prejudices and dangerous cultural practices like female genital mutilation, widow inheritance and sharing, and so much more (Ministry of Eduation and Sports, 2018). By the way, did you know that Pokot people in Karamoja have FGM prevalence rate of about 98% and Sabiny of Sebei have 50%? By any chance, did you check out the number of defilement and rape cases that were registered by Uganda Police in only 2017? Well, let me check in for you; 1,335 rape cases, 14,985 defilement cases, and, yeah, 365 lives claimed by domestic violence! (Uganda Police’s 2017 Annual Crime Report).

If these issues cannot be fixed, just as the official documents warn, our future socioeconomic transformation is nowhere.

Sound Economic Policies, Entrepreneurship and Job Creation: To begin well, let us remind ourselves that youths unemployment is far way beyond 65% (Population report, 2014). We already highlighted that most graduates are not employable for they lack skills and technical knowledge for the jobs available. According to a 2017 report by Oxfarm, Uganda has unfavorable economic policies for local young people trying to do business. According to that report, these issues are compounded by the unfriendly bank system that doesn’t make it easy for capital loans especially for those who don’t have security property. Through programs like Youths Livelihood Program, Wealth Creation, and many more, Uganda’s government has tried to deal with this problem but the journey is still too long; Miklah’s contribution is needed.

According to The State of Uganda Population Report 2018, our economy is still growing at a low rate of 4.5%, debts are almost swallowing our government, the dollar is hitting on us. Poverty has increased to more than 20%. Majority of young people aren’t employed or are underemployed in informal and dangerous jobs (actually 71% are in vulnerable employment). About 56% of the few who are economically active are in agriculture, the sector that up to now, despite employing a bigger percentage (maybe 72-78%) of Ugandans contributes less to our GDP. There is serious economic imbalances between male and females, between rural and urban, among regions and maybe among tribes, oh no, i mean the rich and poor. If you read this 2018 population report and immerse yourself into the non-inclusive nature of our economy as elaborated on pages 43-50, you might cry! (Oh, did you notice that 14% of the 8.5 million young people 15-24 years are idle?)

What are we saying? I have always heard entrepreneurs say that ‘Uganda has the highest number of startups but also has the highest failure rate of startups’ and i have always wondered; why? Anyway, if the young people of Uganda need to be depended on for our vision 2040, then an economically conducive environment must be provided and relevant resources and guidance provided. Miklah does this through our #SacredEntrepreneurship.

Monitoring and Evaluation, Governance, Accountability, Responsibility: Honestly, our government has screamed it loudly through these national plans that Ugandans (from the lowest to the highest) have experienced moral erosion and ethical code of conduct is not part of their codes anymore. No trust, no commitment, no responsibility and, yeah, no good work. Actually, the whole of 2018 population report is themed on governance and accountability. In this document, it is argued that governance, accountability, transparency and being faithful to government resources during plan execution is a key that cuts across all other strategies and that needs closer attention. According to this report, Uganda has consistently scored less on global indexes of accountability, transparency and good governance and instead characterized by smelly corruption among various officials and offices.

Corruption affects service delivery, investment, tourism, education and health, and increases the cost of every plan while satisfying few people. Let us borrow some words;

‘Weak accountability and transparency affects service delivery and can impede the achievement of the DD. Service delivery outcomes are not only a result if resources spent but also the nature of accountability relationships between the actors in the service delivery chain (Kimenyi 2013). Corruption serves as a disincentive for firms to invest, and with investment kept below potential, and economic growth is also kept below potential. Moreover, bribery acts an added tax on the poor as they try to access basic social services such as education and health. Charging of illegal fees to already poor citizens means that those who cannot afford the fees are excluded from accessing these services. Consequently, the sick may not access care and children whose parents cannot afford will be excluded from school. As far as the economy is concerned, small firms are more likely to pay bribes than established ones; the cost to enterprises of regulatory burden is also greater for smaller firms (Anderson 2003).Yet, to achieve the DD, there should be steady progress in expanding access to social sectors of education and health and strategic investments and reforms in the economy’ (2018 Population report, Page 62).

Do you really need me to remind you about the tens of corruption scandals we have ever heard in Uganda? Anyway or luckily, our education and mentorship program works out this and produces young people with honest and committed hearts through word of life and sacred entrepreneurship

Miklah 5 and the above 5 policy areas: How our program is your magic to the Uganda we all need!

Summary: We find young people wherever they are (in schools, workplaces, church/mosques etc) and, through teaching, mentorship and technical theories and models, empower them to discover their life’s purpose, envision their moral and ethical responsibilities, embrace healthy lives, serve their purpose through SDGs businesses and access all the resources via SWAPafrica (it’s called Miklah-5 holistic education and mentorship program). It is a life-changing program for youths.

1. Word of Life (https://wordoflife.miklahlife.com). Through philosophical and theological knowledge and concepts, we appeal to young people’s beliefs & spirituality and find concrete answers to life’s concrete questions; what is life? Why are we alive? For what purpose? What is my contribution to humanity? And how can I be that I was meant to be?
2. Life and Health (https://lifeandhealth.miklahlife.com). This a health promotion program. Under this, we deeply explore reproductive health challenges, chronic and non-chronic diseases among young populations and, through health promotion models, design and apply effective and efficient prevention and early treatment measures.
3. Sacred Entrepreneurship (https://sacredentrepreneurship.miklahlife.com). This program focuses on entrepreneurship among young people in relation to sustainable development goals. In this program, we create and sensitization about Vision 2040, The Africa We Want 2063, and Global agenda 2030, enable young people to start projects addressing SDGs of their choice, enable existing businesses to incorporate SDGs in their strategies and provide updated information about SDGs, African agenda and Vision 2040 for informed decisions.
4. Love and Relationships (https://loverelationships.miklahlife.com). This focuses on social and family relationships. We enforce moral and ethical responsibilities surrounding social and family relationships, leading to grown up people who are responsible, accountable and transparent in their families, public service or their own businesses.
5. SWAPafrica (https://www.swapafrica.net). This is a web and mobile-based social platform where young people meet to swap, share, or lend out resources of skills, items or services among themselves without using money (enhanced online barter trade). Across Africa, more than 50% of young people’s startups don’t celebrate the 3^rd year due to lack of resources or money to pay for the resources. SWAPafrica is a disruptive solution to ‘lack of resources’ syndrome among young entrepreneurs.

That is how we are creating THE AFRICA WE WANT 2063, UGANDA VISION 2040, AND GLOBAL AGENDA 2030.

GOD BLESS YOU