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About the National Youth Colloquium on Oil & Gas – 2025
The First Inter-Faith National Youth Colloquium is an initiative of the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU), in partnership with the Global Peace Foundation (GPF) and the Government of Uganda. This inaugural event, themed “Resilient, Skilled, and Competent Young People Driving the African Renaissance,” will take place on the 20th of June 2024 at POPE PAUL VI MEMORIAL HOTEL KAMPALA. The Colloquium will convene 500 youth leaders from religious, political, and academic institutions across the country to address the challenges and opportunities for youth in the 21st century.
Uganda is home to one of the youngest populations in the world, with immense potential to drive national development, innovation, and sustainable growth. Recognizing this, the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU), in partnership with the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC), is proud to host the National Youth Colloquium on Oil and Gas 2025.
This year’s colloquium builds on the success of the 2024 edition, where youth from across Uganda convened to explore their role in shaping the future of the country. The 2025 event will specifically focus on empowering young people to engage with Uganda’s oil and gas sector, an emerging industry full of opportunities for employment, entrepreneurship, innovation, and sustainable livelihoods.
This colloquium is part of IRCU’s broader strategy to influence policy and expand meaningful opportunities for youth through mindset transformation, mentorship, and skills development. It aims to extend values-based education for the future, nurture ethics and integrity, promote resilience through inter-generational dialogue, optimize the benefits of digitalization, and support youth-led innovation and entrepreneurship in agriculture, business, tourism, and the extractives sector, with a particular focus on oil and gas. Participants will gain knowledge and exposure to pathways in the oil and gas sector, with sessions led by industry experts, government officials, and peer professionals.
Youth leaders between the ages of 18 and 35 are invited to participate either physically or virtually. Nominations for physical participation should be submitted by Friday 30th May 2025 while registration for both physical and online participants remains open until Sunday, 1st June 2025 at 11:59 PM.
Why the Colloquium
Recognizing that youth are the largest and most vital segment of the population in many African countries, including Uganda, the IRCU and its partners have taken the initiative to organize this colloquium. The event aims to contribute to mindset change, influence policy, and promote skilling among the youth. With Uganda’s rapidly growing young population facing significant challenges such as unemployment, lack of skills-based education, and exclusion from decision-making processes, the colloquium will provide a platform for dialogue and action to address these issues.
This program and initiative is designed to influence policy and expand opportunities for the youth through mindset change, mentorship and skilling through;
(a) Extending value based skilled education for the future.
(b) Nurturing values and ethics.
(c) Building resilience through Inter-Generational Dialogue
(d) Optimizing the opportunities presented by digitalization and,
(e) Supporting youth led enterprises, innovation and Capacity building in practical agriculture, business, tourism, Oil and Gas.