The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Arua, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | BrighterMonday Uganda has launched the ‘HireNow Tour’, an ambitious regional employment drive aimed at closing the widening youth skills and jobs gap in Northern Uganda. The initiative, supported by the Mastercard Foundation, Advance Afrika, and the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB), was unveiled yesterday at the Arua District Council Hall before an audience of more than 180 business leaders, employers, government officials, and young jobseekers.
The launch signals a renewed push to confront the structural barriers that keep thousands of young Ugandans locked out of the labour market chiefly skills mismatches, limited employer engagement, and the concentration of formal opportunities in Kampala.
Speaking at the event, Jeff Luboga, Head of Workforce at BrighterMonday Uganda, positioned the HireNow Tour as an extension of the organisation’s flagship Gen-Kazi programme, developed in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation.
He noted that the programme is shifting employability conversations away from credentialism and toward practical, market-ready skills.
“We are equipping young Ugandans with the practical, demand-driven skills needed to thrive in the modern job market,” Luboga said, stressing the need to prioritise competencies over traditional academic pathways.
The Gen-Kazi model integrates soft skills training, industry-aligned certifications, and a placement system designed to connect employers with vetted, job-ready yout an approach BrighterMonday argues is essential to correcting Uganda’s persistent unemployment paradox.
The launch received strong endorsement from district leadership. Arua District Chairman, Alfred Okuonzi, urged the business community to take a proactive role in supporting youth inclusion.
He pressed employers to offer opportunities that match the evolving job market, warning that without deliberate investment, the region risks entrenching generational unemployment.
His message was echoed by other senior local government leaders in attendance, including the Resident City Commissioner and the Town Clerk, reflecting growing political consensus around the role of private-sector-led skilling.
Arua marks the first stop of the HireNow Tour, which is strategically focused on Northern Uganda an area where formal job access remains constrained despite a young and growing population.
The tour will proceed to Gulu on November 20, 2025 and Lira on November 26,.
