Browsing by Author "Tukundane, Cuthbert"

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Building vocational skills for marginalised youth in Uganda:
(Elsevier, 2015) Tukundane, Cuthbert; Minnaert, Alexander
Educational exclusion leads to the marginalisation of many youth in regards to employment and other livelihood opportunities. Vocational education and training (VET) is expected to offer skills to ameliorate this situation. This paper presents findings of an exploratory study conducted on four VET programmes for marginalised youth in the rural areas of Mbarara district, south-western Uganda to examine the current VET practices and how the youth are prepared for the labour market and livelihood opportunities. The findings show that VET can improve access to labour market and livelihood opportunities, but a number of areas require improvement.
Excluded youth and skills training in Uganda.
(2015-02) Tukundane, Cuthbert
This paper shares insights into how the youth population in Uganda that is excluded from education can best be helped to develop skills necessary for the labour market and for other livelihood opportunities, such as productive self-employment. The paper shows that technical and vocational skills may not be enough to help excluded youth gain access to and maintain a decent job. They also need foundational and transferable skills. Moreover, I argue that it is important to enhance partnerships between training institutions and industry. In addition, given the Ugandan context, the informal, agriculture and ICT sectors are crucial sectors that could absorb a large number of youth provided they have the requisite skills to work or to become entrepreneurs in these sectors. It is also important to note that excluded youth may not only require skills. Those who desire to start their own businesses will require other forms of support such as access to finance.
Learning for sustainable futures:
(2015-09) Tukundane, Cuthbert
With 70% of Uganda’s population of 34.9 million below the age of 30 and 56% below 18 years, the country has one of the youngest populations in the world. The youth bulge that the country is experiencing demands for educational actions that enable these young people to learn for sustainable futures, especially for decent and sustainable work. Currently, youth unemployment in Uganda is estimated at 65% and is largely attributed to the slow growth of jobs in the economy, as well as a poor education system that produces graduates with inadequate skills for the labour market and for livelihood opportunities. This paper underscores the importance of partnerships between training institutions and industry in preparing young people for decent and sustainable work in Uganda. Drawing on research experience in the area of vocational skills development for marginalised youth in the last five years through the use of participatory methods; and experiences in facilitating an undergraduate class on Agriculture and Rural Development with a component of interaction with practitioners, I argue that one of the best ways to prepare learners for decent and sustainable work is through partnerships with industry. Not only do such partnerships enhance practical skills development, they also improve the quality of education generally and transitions from school to work. The paper concludes with a formulation of ingredients of effective partnerships between training institutions and industry that should enrich the preparation of learners for decent and sustainable work.
Long-term socio-economic development through harnessing the demographic dividend:.
(2015) Tukundane, Cuthbert
In the last thirty years, Sub Saharan Africa has undergone a remarkable demographic transition. The region now has the youngest population in the world with some 600 million people under the age of 25. This young and energetic population can be a great resource for socio-economic development if properly developed. To realise its demographic dividend and achieve long-term socio-economic economic development, Sub Saharan Africa must build its young people’s human capital and provide them with livelihood opportunities. The current high unemployment and underemployment rates, as well as low productivity self-employment among the youth in the region are causing severe economic and social marginalisation of the youth. This marginalisation has increased socio-economic problems such as illegal migration, prostitution, crime, drug abuse, recruitment into terrorist groups and political instability in some countries. Thus, Sub Saharan Africa has to provide livelihood opportunities to its young population through access to quality education and skills. Having a skilled workforce will not only lead to increased access to job opportunities but also to innovation, development of new industries and expansion of economies. However, the current education systems in the region do not equip majority of the graduates with the requisite skills for the labour market, self-employment and innovation. This problem is compounded by high rates of early school leaving where millions leave without having acquired foundational skills and/or skills for work and livelihood opportunities. Accordingly, my current research focuses on interventions for skills and productive youth development using participatory methods. In my presentation I would like to share insights from my research and also to pose some unsolved questions. For example, how do we develop holistic solutions to reduce obstacles to youth skills development, employment and other livelihood opportunities in Sub Saharan Africa?
Mobility justice: working through cross-disciplinary perspectives on technology and refugee youth in Uganda during a pandemic
(ACM DIgital Library, 2021-03-03) Clarke, Rachel; Tukundane, Cuthbert
In this article we discuss recent collaborative writing experiences between researchers in the U.K. and Uganda. In early 2020, our team began planning research with young Ugandan refugees on their mobile phone use. Subsequently, numerous pandemic lockdowns thwarted this research and we had to revise our plans. While this enforced physical immobility (at least in terms of air and road travel) initially limited possibilities for building new partnerships, it did open up opportunities for deeper reflection on critically informed sociotechnical mobilities, engaging us both pragmatically and conceptually with different disciplines as part of an international team. In this dialogue, we highlight the value of collaboration and collective sense making, recognizing differences in expertise, disciplines, and orientations, for understanding technological innovation in international development and refugee contexts.
Reclaiming the educative power of vocational placements: experiences from agriculture education practice in Uganda
(Wiley Online Library, 2021-05-06) Jjuuko, Robert; Tukundane, Cuthbert; Zeelen, Jacques
Amidst the global pressure on education systems to harness youth employability and transition to the world of work, there is increased interest in vocational placements. It is evident that Uganda's tertiary education sector, like others in similar context, is struggling to optimise vocational placements for better students’ learning and labour market outcomes. This article explores the “educative” potential of vocational placements offered as a component of study programmes by a public tertiary agricultural training institution in Uganda. It draws on data generated from a qualitative case study that engaged 70 stakeholders namely students, graduates, lecturers, administrators and workplace supervisors. Undertaken between 2016 and 2019, the study reveals the complexities and prospects associated with the design and delivery of vocational placements in stressed education and labour market contexts. From a social constructivist perspective, we make contextual pedagogical propositions for unleashing the educative power of vocational placements in Uganda and similar contexts.
A review of enabling factors in support intervention programmes for early school leavers:
(Elsevier, 2015-02) Tukundane, Cuthbert; Kanyandago, Peter; Minnaert, Alexander; Zeelen, Jacques
One of the major problems facing education systems in Sub-Saharan Africa is the phenomenon of young people who leave school before completion. Research has shown that this phenomenon disadvantages young people and exposes them to various forms of social exclusion. Accordingly, there have been increasing calls for the scaling up of support intervention programmes for young people who leave school early. This paper analyses literature on support intervention programmes for early school leavers (ESLs) to identify enabling factors that can be promoted in future or in current less effective interventions. The review revealed that programmes that address the multiple disadvantages and needs of young people through flexible, holistic and intensive support approaches tend to be more attractive and beneficial to the participants. The findings from this review are crucial to policy makers and teachers working in support intervention programmes for ESLs.
Using participatory action research to improve vocational skills training for marginalised youth in Uganda:
(International Journal of Training Research, 2015) Tukundane, Cuthbert; Zeelen, Jacques
Although vocational education and training is considered to be a good option for improving livelihood opportunities for marginalised youth in developing countries, it often suffers from an image problem. This situation affects the quality of entrants, instruction and skills acquisition in training programmes. In this article, the researchers report on results and experiences from a participatory action research (PAR) project initiated to work towards the improvement of vocational education and skills training for early school-leavers. The research project was conducted in Mbarara district, south-western Uganda. The results show that the project created an awareness and change of attitude on the part of participants towards vocational education and training. It also established links between training institutions and employers; that is, between the skills supply and demand sides. Based on experiences and reflections from this project, the researchers argue that PAR can be a productive approach for facilitating skills development in vocational education and training.