Uganda Christian University (UCU), in partnership with Uganda Martyrs University, Bugema University, and Kabale University, has launched a research project aimed at combating youth unemployment through innovations in the maize agro-food sector.
The five-year initiative, titled “Strengthening University Delivery of Entrepreneurship Skills for Community Engagement and Action Research in Uganda (SUESCA)”, was unveiled at UCU’s main campus in Mukono. The project seeks to empower young people, women, refugees, persons with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups with entrepreneurial skills across all stages of the maize value chain in Bugiri, Buikwe, and Kayunga districts.
Funded by the Mastercard Foundation, SUESCA will be coordinated under the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) and will integrate technical and vocational institutions, private sector actors, and community organizations to scale up results.
“This is not just another university project,” said Prof. Balyejusa Kizito, UCU’s principal investigator and expert in sustainable agriculture. “This is a movement to restore dignity to employment and transform maize into an engine of opportunity.”
UCU will focus on applied research and innovation in maize-based products through its Nutri-Dense Foods Innovation Program, commercialization activities, and farmer–market linkages using digital platforms such as a Farmer Management Information System (MIS). These efforts will build on UCU’s previous initiatives like the AIRTEA project to fast-track progress and impact.
Mr. David Mugawe, UCU’s Deputy Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration, who represented Vice Chancellor Prof. Aaron Mushengyezi at the launch, called the project a “timely intervention” for Uganda’s struggling youth job market.
“We must create systems and ambassadors that live beyond the project’s five-year life span,” Mugawe said. “As UCU, we are committed to long-term community engagement and transformation.”
The project includes short skilling programs for job creation, post-harvest and climate-smart agricultural training, business incubation, value chain development, and digital entrepreneurship. SUESCA also plans to establish satellite entrepreneurship hubs in hard-to-reach areas to expand impact.
The consortium targets:
- 1,700 university students
- 200 TVET students
- 918 out-of-school youth
- 5,000 jobs created
- 19 startups and 11 spin-offs launched
- 250,000 trees planted
Seventy percent of all beneficiaries will be young women under the age of 35, with a strong emphasis on inclusivity for persons with disabilities and displaced individuals.
Maize was selected as the project’s focal commodity because it is Uganda’s most widely grown and consumed crop. SUESCA aims to unlock its full economic potential by engaging participants in everything from input supply to agro-processing and export logistics—contributing to Uganda’s National Development Plan IV and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
“We should no longer produce just graduates as universities,” Prof. Kizito emphasized. “We must raise innovators, community transformers, and job creators who will lead Uganda into a future of dignity, sustainability, and shared prosperity.”
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