It is well known that education is one of the most powerful tools to help people escape from poverty. [...] The problem is that, although governments in sub-Saharan Africa, for example, dedicate on average 18% of their public funds to education, a huge 43% of the region’s population are under the age of 15. This high percentage means that governments are all too often unable to keep up with demand for quality, affordable education.

As Uganda joins the rest of the world to commemorate the International Youth Day on August 12, 2017 next week under the theme “Youth building peace”, allow me appreciate the framers of this day to the lives of young people. They did a lot of work and thought twice about the future of youth who are the world’s biggest resourceful population for its development.

Campaigns to get people cycling are focusing on girls and women, making it easier for them to get to school, helping with business and reducing sex attacks. [...] World Bicycle Relief, which has distributed and sold hundreds of thousands of bikes, is working with schools to change the dynamic.

The Irish Aid Secretary General, Niall Burgess, arrived in Uganda for a five day visit. [...] According to Daniel Cronin, the Irish Ambassador to Uganda, Ireland has invested over 500 million Euros in Uganda since the embassy was opened in 1994.

The Ugandan ministry of foreign affairs (MoFA) has partnered with Stanbic Bank to conduct financial training for Ugandan diplomats as the country positions all missions for commercial diplomacy. [...] Under commercial diplomacy, Mugoya said, missions abroad are expected to deliver tangible financial benefits in terms of direct foreign investments. - 

Uganda is paying the price of having an open refugee policy that has attracted thousands of refugees from neighbouring countries. The east African country has the biggest Refugee Settlement in the world, [...] Once a refugee arrives in Uganda and goes through the necessary documentations, he or she is allocated a piece of land where they can cultivate their own food instead of entirely depending on relief especially in the face of dwindling financial support to humanitarian agencies.

The lights are being switched off around the world at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday evening, to mark the 10th annual Earth Hour, and to draw attention to climate change. The initiative began in Australia in 2007 as a grass roots gesture by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Australia against man-made carbon dioxide emissions linked to a warming planet. In 2017, it will involve the switching off of electric lights for an hour in 7,000 cities across 172 countries, at 8:30 p.m.