Strengthening Universities student Activism in the East African Region: In many parts of Africa, University systems are in a crisis; squalid conditions, students strife, and increasing state violence have turned universities into battle grounds. Attempts by governments to control Universities through patronage, surveillance and violence and using other institutional configurations to facilitate this are rife. The lack of activism in universities has bred students that can no longer effectively defend their rights. As a result, Universities are producing low quality graduates, who are docile, apathetic, politically unconscious, and civically incompetent. In pursuit of a solution, Youth Line Forum (YLF) and Innovations for Democratic Engagement and Action (IDEA) are implementing a regional program meant to  promote a strong movement of University scholars across the East African region that can defend their rights, and stand in solidarity with each other and  unified to push back against closing of civic space in East Africa.

Informal organizing: Strong and vibrant informal youth movements are critical in terms of mobilizing youth around critical issues, bridging the gap and creating linkages between government, development partners and youth.  Our work on informal organizing aims contributing towards building a youth movement that is anchored around the informal sector, where majority young people belong.   We a) Create individual urgency amongst young people in the informal sector to be able to advocate and respond to critical issues affecting them b) Contribute towards strengthening of youth informal structures and institutions to effectively articulate young people’s development priorities at community and national level  and c) Promote responsiveness of leaders and policy makers to young people’s social, economic and political demands and rights.

We coordinate informal groups like Youth For Uganda and work with informal youth formations across the country and beyond.