ALHAJI FARUK KIRUNDA: PISGBC: Keeping the promise of new hope for youths

What the report says

Watchdog Uganda published an opinion piece by Alhaji Faruk Kirunda on Uganda’s Presidential Initiative on Skilling the Girl/Boy Child (PISGBC), a program launched in 2017 to offer practical training to vulnerable young people in Kampala. The article says the initiative is meant for youths who have been left out of conventional schooling because of poverty, dropout, missing qualifications or other difficult circumstances, and frames it as a second chance aimed at helping them earn a livelihood.

According to the piece, PISGBC is led by Dr. Faith Katana and has already trained tens of thousands of young people, many of whom have gone on to start small businesses or income-generating work. The current intake is reported at more than 4,500 students across several Kampala skilling centres, including Mulago, Kikoni, Namuwongo, Mutundwe, Nakulabye, Luzira, Wabigalo, Kigowa and Wandegeya. Training areas listed include tailoring, bakery, carpentry, construction, electrical installation, plumbing, welding, mechanics, electronics, hairdressing and other hands-on trades.

The article says the training is free, with certification through the Directorate of Industrial Training and starter tools provided to successful trainees. It also argues that the program has helped some participants move away from crime, substance abuse and early marriage by combining vocational training with mindset change and rehabilitation. The broader significance, as presented by Watchdog Uganda, is that the initiative is being used as a model for wider presidential industrial skilling hubs beyond Kampala.

The piece places PISGBC alongside Uganda’s UPE and USE education programs as part of a wider effort to reduce exclusion and support economic participation. It presents the initiative as a response to youth vulnerability and a way to turn job seekers into job creators.