1. MARGARET ANGUCIA, PHD DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNANCE AND PEACE STUDIES UGANDA MARTYRS UNIVERSITY POST CONFLICT YOUTH IN UGANDA

2. PERSPECTIVES ON YOUTH IN POST- CONFLICT SOCIETIES without better support and respect for their rights, young people will become more angry and disaffected, and are likely to become a major source of new unrest” (Twum Danso, 2005, 25). broken citizens in a broken community where societal structures and cohesion is lost, values and norms diminish receding role of elders as custodians and transmitters of culture and tradition…..communal relations are shifting to individual needs (Angucia, 2010)

3. YOUTH IN POST CONFLICT SOCIETIES Demobilised and reintegrated post-conflict youth continue to be vulnerable – illicit drugs, violence, militias or urban gangs

4. TWO POST-CONFLICT SCENARIOS IN UGANDA? The 1986 post conflict Uganda The 2008 post conflict Uganda Question: A country in transition (post conflict) in perpetuity?

5. UGANDA’S YOUTH AGENDA The Uganda National Youth Policy: The historical background of the National Youth Policy shows different, disjointed efforts to address youth concerns and issues from independence till 1986 The policy acknowledges that in spite of the attempt to institutionalize youth structures to empower them, the resources allocated for youth empowerment are insufficient or mismanaged.

6. UGANDA’S YOUTH AGENDA  Among the many problems facing the youth, the national youth policy, section 2 highlights:  a rural – urban youth migration rooted in the search for better social services such as education,  parental neglect,  insecurity  the search for employment opportunities.  poverty,  lack of employable skills

7. ON-GOING RESEARCHES ON POST CONFLICT YOUTH 1. Youth and governance: perspectives on Post- conflict reconstruction in northern Uganda (funded by VLIR). Questions, to what extent have the youth of northern Uganda been engaged in the PRDP as the main post conflict reconstruction programme What experiences do the youth councils have vis-à-vis the PRDP? What are the views of the youth on post conflict reconstruction

8. ON-GOING RESEARCHES…. 2. The role of young leaders in promoting Justice and Peace in northern Uganda( funded by the IFCU) Focuses on out-of- school youth How do young leaders relate to justice and peace in their own youth groups?

9. ON GOING RESEARCHES…. 3. Negotiating Identity: Catholic youth in post- conflict northern Uganda (University of Notre Dame’s Contending Mordernities Research at: https://contendingmodernities.nd.edu/) https://contendingmodernities.nd.edu/ do the catholic youth in northern Uganda find catholic teaching useful in negotiating their post conflict identity? how do they use the catholic teaching to negotiate their identity in the post conflict northern Uganda?

10. ON-GOING RESEARCHES… What specific catholic teachings are most useful in negotiating catholic identity in the post conflict northern Uganda? What secular ideas do catholic youth sometimes use to negotiate their post conflict identity? Under what circumstances do catholic youth choose to use catholic teaching or secular ideas to negotiate their post conflict identity?

11. IN THE END… May be a book on post conflict youth? But really would like to tell the story of post-conflict children/youth from another era: the Kadogos (so- called child soldiers) from the NRA rebellion.

12. Thank you for your Attention