Inspiring Change, Shaping a better Future

Step Up Youth Initiative has a rich history of championing youth participation in shaping a more sustainable and equitable world. Our journey began as a loose network of youth champions working with African Monitor on the Voice Africa's Future (VAF) initiative, a pivotal post-2015 consultation process. Here, we empowered young Ugandans to voice their visions for the future by actively participating in the development of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a new global framework for addressing pressing challenges. Building on this momentum, we transitioned into Action/2015. This global movement aimed to mobilize millions of citizens and world leaders to raise their ambitions for tackling critical issues like poverty, inequality, and climate change. Recognizing the urgency of these issues, still as a loose network, we played a leading role in Action/2015's global youth team, advocating for ambitious goals that would directly impact young people around the world. Following the successful adoption of the SDGs, we remained committed to ensuring their effective implementation. We partnered with African Monitor on the Citizens Report, a groundbreaking initiative that gathered citizen-generated data on the meaningful participation of youth and marginalized communities in achieving the SDGs across ten African countries, including Uganda. Through this project, we played a critical role in: Data Collection: Facilitating data collection processes to ensure Ugandan youth and marginalized communities had their voices heard. Data Analysis: Contributing to analyzing the data, identifying key trends and challenges faced by these groups regarding SDG implementation. Advocacy: Leveraging the findings from the Citizens Report to advocate for increased youth and community participation in national and regional SDG dialogues. This journey exemplifies Step Up Youth Initiative's unwavering commitment to empowering young people. From shaping the agenda with VAF to mobilizing global action with Action/2015 and finally, monitoring progress through the Citizens Report, we strive to ensure that youth voices are not only heard but also shape the decisions that impact their future. Over time, this dynamic network recognized the need for a more formalized structure to maximize its impact. Thus, Step Up Youth Initiative emerged as a powerful organization, dedicated to championing youth advocacy and empowerment on a wider scale