The government is to set up call centres across the country to employ over 3,000 youth.The call centre initiative is part of the Job Stimulus Programme that the Government designed to create jobs for the youth, mainly through the use of the growing computing and information technology (ICT) sector.

Under the initiative, Ugandans will be in position to work for local and multi-national firms and organisations online, ICT minister Aggrey Awori said yesterday.

The first two call centres will be established in Kampala, with one at Makerere University. Both will be operational by July. The Makerere centre will employ over 300 youth while the second one, whose location is yet to be decided, will create over 1,000 direct jobs, Awori said.
Other call centres will be established on a regional basis in the districts of Soroti or Mbale, Gulu or Lira, Mbarara, Masaka and Fort Portal.

Awori explained that the centres will operate 24 hours a day.

Most of the youth expected to get direct employment are graduates of information and communications technology (ICT).

The centres will be connected to the national backbone for fast internet.

However, he said since the call centres will serve as bases for sourcing both local and international jobs on the internet under the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) programme, more skilled youth will get jobs.

The jobs are expected to grow from 3,000 to over 7,000 by the end of next year.

BPO is when an organisation uses outside service providers to perform activities traditionally handled by internal staff.

Awori said with the programme, Ugandans may no longer have to go abroad to look for kyeyo (odd jobs) since they can do international jobs even from within the country.

“The Government is committed to supporting the ICT sector and BPO industry in general so as to create employment and enhance people’s incomes especially the youth,” he added.

Awori was speaking at a function where the ministry passed out 485 pioneer students of the BPO course at Makerere University school of computing. He said more youth, including those in villages, would be trained.

The underlying premise, the minister added, is to promote self-employment as a viable alternative to the traditional and endemic path of academic qualification.

During a state dinner where he hosted entrepreneurs and dozens of youth in October, President Yoweri Museveni, hailed the call centre initiative, saying the programme would reduce unemployment and spur economic development.

He said the youth would appreciate Uganda more if they engaged in income-generating activities.

The programme is coordinated by the Uganda Youth Convention, Institute of Country Pride, Enterprise Uganda and the Uganda Industrial Research Institute, which provides vocational and industrial training services. It is also funded by the Job Stimulus Programme in the finance ministry and the private sector.

The World Bank in its 2008 report said Uganda had the highest youth unemployment rate and the youngest population in the world. It warned that unless Uganda scales up her efforts to create jobs, the youth would be more involved in crime and armed conflicts.

Another report by the African Development Indicators 2008/2009, which focused on youth and unemployment in Africa, showed that 83% of Ugandan youth are jobless.

Yesterday, Betty Bigombe, the National Information Technology Authority chairperson, said the programme had grown to phenomenal market levels estimated to be over $1.1trillion per annum.

She added that if embraced, the programme would spur economic development in Uganda like it had in India, Philippines and Mauritius.
From: New Vision

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