Staff
GULU, UGANDA — Youth leaders, development partners, and entrepreneurs converged at the Heart to Harvest lecture in Gulu, where Dr. Okello Sharon Nagenjwa led discussions on economic integrity, youth collaboration, and turning skills into income.
Representing UNDP, Florence Ochola emphasized that learning must translate into action. “What is taught should not end here,” she told participants, engaging them directly on how they planned to add value and generate income. Many youth responded by sharing ideas around digital marketing, branding, and small-scale enterprise.
Ochola highlighted the importance of unity among young people in Northern Uganda, urging collaboration over competition as a pathway to sustainable growth.
Project partner Sedrick Otolo, founder of Kakebe, reinforced the message, stating that youth must leverage their existing skills to make money. “Talent without application remains potential,” he noted.
Throughout the session, Okello positioned youth not as victims of circumstance, but as active economic agents capable of earning from industries they did not directly produce in—particularly through digital transformation, storytelling, and sales.
The event, supported by UNDP, reinforced shared goals around youth employment, innovation, peacebuilding, and inclusive economic growth, demonstrating how mindset change, policy thinking, and practical action can converge to unlock opportunity in post-conflict regions.
