Extracted from PML Daily.

08 October 2026 | KAMPALA – Muni University and the Uganda Vocational and Technical Assessment Board (UVTAB) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to expand skills assessment and certification for young people, including refugees and members of host communities in West Nile.

The agreement was signed during the UVTAB Stakeholders’ Feedback Workshop 2026, with officials saying the partnership is intended to strengthen the link between vocational training, certification and employment.

Under the MoU, UVTAB will work with Muni University to assess and certify employable skills acquired through the university’s Refugee and Host Community Youth Empowerment and Transformation Initiative (RETI) and other skills-development programmes.

Muni University Vice Chancellor, Associate Professor Simon Anguma Katrini, said the partnership would take skills development beyond the university campus and closer to communities that have limited access to formal training and certification.

“Through this memorandum of understanding, we aim to deepen our collaboration and strengthen Muni University’s community engagement through three key approaches: taking the university to communities, linking learning to earning, and using a community-based artisan model,” Anguma said.

RETI, supported by the Mastercard Foundation, seeks to equip 100,000 young people, including refugees and members of host communities, with skills that can lead to dignified employment.

According to Anguma, local artisans have been central to RETI’s community-based training model, but the new partnership with UVTAB will focus on improving their teaching methods, quality assurance, assessment and certification.

The university also plans to work with UVTAB to establish a competence assessment centre either at its main campus or one of its satellite centres.

Such a centre, Anguma said, would bring assessment and certification services closer to young people in West Nile, particularly refugees, while supporting other skills-development programmes in the region.

The MoU will also facilitate collaboration on internship and apprenticeship guidelines, joint research, staff development, resource mobilisation, and sharing of facilities and expertise.

UVTAB Executive Secretary Onesmus Oyesigye said the partnership provides a framework for delivering credible, transparent and nationally recognised assessment and certification services to beneficiaries of RETI and other programmes.

He said UVTAB would participate in the RETI Programme Advisory Group, provide strategic guidance, help develop guidelines for internship and entrepreneurship placements, organise assessment schedules and deploy qualified assessors.

“The MOU has been cleared by the Office of the Attorney General, which has confirmed that it carries no financial implications for the Government,” Oyesigye said.

He called on other universities and higher education institutions to partner with UVTAB, arguing that skills development requires collaboration between government assessment bodies, universities and industry.

“We cannot do this alone. Skills development in Uganda depends on strong partnerships with universities such as Muni,” Oyesigye said.

Education Ministry Permanent Secretary Ketty Lamaro said the partnership comes at a time when Uganda is undertaking reforms aimed at ensuring that graduates acquire practical skills needed in the labour market.

Lamaro said Uganda’s ambition of transforming into a modern and prosperous country by 2040 will depend heavily on the quality of people produced by the education system.

She challenged institutions involved in technical and vocational education to embrace continuous learning and adapt to changes in the labour market.

“We must all be ready to keep learning. Without that willingness, the reforms will not deliver the results we expect,” Lamaro said.

She said the reforms should ultimately produce graduates who are not only academically knowledgeable but also capable of applying their skills in real-world workplaces.

The Muni-UVTAB partnership therefore places assessment and certification at the centre of the transition from training to employment, particularly for young people trained through community-based and non-formal skills programmes.

The officials said the collaboration is expected to provide young people with recognised proof of competence, while strengthening the contribution of local artisans and community-based training models to Uganda’s TVET system.