Background
Northern Uganda Youth Development Centre (NUYDC) was established at the request of the President of Uganda as a special project for the youth in Northern Uganda. This was part of a phased approach to introduce development assistance following years of conflict and displacement in Northern Uganda.
Following the Commonwealth Secretary General’s visit to Uganda in 2003, the Government of Uganda invited the Commonwealth Secretariat in 2004 to make a political assessment mission to the country to discuss among other issues ways in which the Commonwealth Secretariat could assist in the political stabilization of the situation in Northern Uganda. At the time, there was a clear consensus that after the ending of conflict in Northern Uganda, the situation could be quickly improved by introducing programs that deliver forward – looking sustainable development opportunities and as such, skills development was identified as one of such programs.
The goal of the project was to assist the reconstruction of sustainable livelihoods through skills training and provision of credit, demonstrating the development potential of communities in the vicinity of a basic youth Development Centre.
NUYDC was then established in 2006 through a partnership between the government of Uganda represented by the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) and the Commonwealth Secretariat with the aim of empowering the youth of Northern Uganda who were affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army conflict (LRA). By targeting the youth who missed out on education and had no skills for employment in the job market, NUYDC would help them gain dignity and acceptable standard of living and enhance their integration with the communities they come from in West Nile, Acholi, Lango, Karamoja, Teso and Elgon sub regions. Commonwealth Secretariat committed £500,000 over a period of three years for this course and subsequent funding came from DFID and OPM.
However, in the FY 2012/2013, Development Partners (Commonwealth Secretariat) support to the Centre was withdrawn and it was on the verge of closure but due to its importance, OPM accommodated the Centre’s needs as a special project in the Department of Pacification and Development under Poverty Reduction and Development Program (PRDP), within her own budget of Post war Recovery and Presidential Pledges Program. Because this arrangement was unsustainable and lack of adequate capacity for OPM to manage an educational institution, stakeholders found it prudent to transfer the Centre to Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) which is mandated to manage, supervise and give professional guidance to educational institutions.
Subsequently in March 2017, leaders from Acholi sub – region met the President at State House Entebbe and OPM was directed to make arrangements to transfer NUYDC to MoES and OPM tasked the Minister of State for Northern Uganda Rehabilitation to coordinate the process of transfer of NUYDC to MoES.
In October 2019, the then State Minister for Northern Uganda presented a Cabinet Memorandum on the transfer of NUYDC from OPM to Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) which was sponsored by OPM. The Cabinet noted the status of NUYDC and endorsed the transfer of NUYDC from OPM to MoES as its permanent home for professional growth and management with effect from 1st July 2019.
Responding to cabinet resolution, the then Permanent Secretary MoES in his letter of 12th January 2020 requested Ministry of Public Service to process a Code for NUYDC as a Vocational Institute under the MoES and the Centre coded in 2023 as a VTI under the MoES.