Programme, dates & format

Monday 5 and Tuesday 6 May 2026, Hybrid format.

• In person: Kololo Independence Grounds, Kampala: the Summit expects over 15,000 participants on site across the main programme, side events, expo, and youth-facing activities.
• Online: a live online programme in parallel, with 8,500+ people expected to join through high-quality streaming and interactive features. The same run of plenaries and selected breakouts, so you are in one national conversation, not a separate “webinar on the side.”

Whether you walk through the gate at Kololo or log in from a skilling centre, a campus, or your phone, the Summit is designed so you are not a spectator, you are part of the deal.

Young people are everywhere: in towns, in districts, in training halls, and online. A purely physical Summit would leave too many people out; a purely virtual one would miss the energy, the handshakes, and the expo floor where jobs and training actually meet. The 2026 concept sets a deliberate balance: a big tent at Kololo (15,000+ in attendance) and a serious online lane (8,500+ on the live programme) so that presidential skilling centres, universities, vocational and training providers, and youth networks can organise watch parties, bring classes, and still feed into the same outcomes.

For partners and investors, the model means reach and clarity: one set of messages, one programme of commitments, and one follow-up map, so your funding and policy support are not split across a dozen competing events.

• Take stock: where national policy on productivity and youth jobs stands in 2026, in plain data and plain talk.
• Learn honestly: what has worked in skilling, job creation, and youth entrepreneurship, what has flopped, and why (no blame, just useful truth).
• Share innovation: Uganda’s own ideas, plus tested approaches from partners (UN, private sector, TVET, and more).
• Lock in commitments: from government and from partners, with names, timelines, and follow-up everyone can see after the event.

The concept is built to feel serious and alive, not a sequence of long speeches you cannot use on Monday.

• Plenary sessions with ministers and leaders, with space for real questions, not just protocol.
• Keynotes and partner views from global and regional skilling and employment players.
• Breakout and parallel sessions in different formats (fishbowls, roundtables, sector corners).
• Rapid-fire research and posters (selected competitively) so evidence hits decision-makers fast.
• An expo and youth-facing side activities so learning and hiring can start on the spot, in line with the 15,000+ on-site footprint in the 2026 design.
• Creative space for art, essays, and stories from young people in skilling and employment programmes.
• Networking that is not accidental, so the introduction you need can actually happen.
• Online participants join the same key moments through the live programme, with interaction designed for 8,500+ (not a silent stream).

The work continues: post-Summit dialogues, follow-up with MDAs, industry, and Parliament, and published outcomes so young people and partners can see what was agreed and who is accountable for the next step.

Register your interest, get email updates, or contact the secretariat for partnership, group bookings, or media. If you represent a skilling centre, university, or TVET college, tell us in your form. We are mapping institutional delegations to make group engagement easier.