I am Kirunda Joy Charity and I am the chairperson of the 1st Young Busoga Conference.
On June 24, the Rt Hon. Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga launched the Young Busoga Initiative in Buwenda, Jinja during the 30- year anniversary celebration of the Jinja Scouts Campsite. The Young Busoga Initiative was founded by Busoga Today Media and Publication limited under the stewardship of its founder and director Isaac Imaka. The initiative will be run in partnership with the Jinja Scouts Council.
At the launch, Rt Hon Kadaga also accepted to be the Patron of the Initiative. Annually, and beginning this December, the initiative will host a one-of-a-kind conference called Young Busoga Conference. I am so humbled to have been given the opportunity to chair inaugural conference come December 2023.
Well, due to the various challenges that the region is facing, a conference will be held from 8th- 10th December to give a platform to not only the young people of Busoga but also give room to the fresh ideas of the region.
The conference is expected to attract participants from all the eleven districts of Busoga and Jinja City. the eleven Districts that make up Busoga Region which include: Jinja, Kamuli, Iganga, Bugiri, Mayuge, Bugweri, Buyende, Kaliro, Namutumba and Namayingo.
The conference will be an invite only for people between 18 and 35 years. These will include young people and leaders from the civic, business, religious, agriculture, trade, politics and community sectors selected from village to district or city level.
Young Busoga is not only about young people. It is about renewal of Busoga and its push for development. Young/fresh energy, fresh approach to solution generation withy young people at the center and heart of it.
Therefore, we the youth have to stand up for ourselves if given the opportunity. Because we are the future leaders of the region and the nation and we contribute a bigger percentage to the development of our nation.
I therefore call upon fellow youth to come and we reason together. The aim of this conference is to mobilize, resist, refocus, reawaken young people standing with our elders in this battle for development soul of our region. We expect during the conference to interact with elders from different professions and all avenues of life to impart us with skills and provide guidance that may change our ways of reasoning, and make us better people.
During this conference we want to engage all the youth regardless of their socio status and background for the betterment of Busoga Region. This is because, it has come to our notice that Busoga having many young people, they are faced with different challenges and that’s why I want to thank the management of the Young Busoga Initiative for giving us a platform to engage with leaders in business, civic and political world on topical issues important to the development of the region.
This conference being the first of its kind youth conference in Busoga Region, we have got a lot of issues to discuss. We also intend to discuss the following issues during the conference.
Talent development and monetization (Sports and Arts), Trade and Business, Civic leadership (community responsibility), Education and training, Employment, Leadership.
We expect to achieve a lot after the conference and we expect to be of great value to society and also help our other youths who will not attend the conference to buy our ideas so that Busoga Region can move forward.
In conclusion, I want to thank the founders of the “Young Busoga Initiative” for taking such an amazing thought to give us the youth of Busoga such an amazing platform. For God and My Country. Busoga Okwisania Nh’amaani.
