Students for Global Democracy Uganda has established student chapters based at their respective schools/ colleges/universities. These chapters are governed by the students themselves, who have to be democratically elected.
These chapters are established for the sole purpose of engaging students in the activities of SGD Uganda and for sustainability. They are supervised by the SGD Uganda headquarters and shall maintain affiliation with Students for Global Democracy Uganda. Chapter form the base foundation and backbone of Students for Global Democracy Uganda and represent the main sphere of activities of Students for Global Democracy Uganda. They may be governed according to the desire of school/university chapter leaders, as long as that governance is democratic, official or chartered by the school or university authorities, status allows a chapter to use the SGD Uganda materials, and represent SGD Uganda at their respective schools, colleges /universities.
Chapters must participate in 2/3 of SGD Uganda wide events, and it is the SGD Uganda Program/Outreach Officer’s duty to track the participation of chapters, audit their governance mechanism, and inform non-participating chapters of the possibility of loosing a charter. These chapters are run on a voluntarily basis, however members will enjoy some benefits as follows:
Students for Global Democracy Uganda has focused on strengthening the capacity of different young people in high schools to participate in the democratization process of their nation, so as to effectively influence issues that affect them through learning programs at both national and international levels.
SGD Uganda considered a notion that young people, especially school going in high schools are disengaged from the political process and are not actively involved in the democratic institutions like the political party structures and process hence this limited involvement likely affects the students’ participation as many players have not leveraged young people as capable players in the democratization process. The notable identified challenges that limit their engagement in politics include limited platforms/opportunities to participate and many high school students are ignorant and lack knowledge about how to participate in the electoral process and are not constructively exercising their civic power. However, the biggest notable barrier limiting students’ participation is their negative view of politicians, with many feeling that they do not address issues that matter to them, viewing them as untrustworthy, self-interested and un- representative of young people. The absence of democratic players reaching out to young people with literature, promotional materials, leaflets, manuals and IEC materials further has affected their participation in the democratic life.
SGD Uganda has addressed student limitation to engage in politics by promoting youth civic engagement programs, because youth civic engagement leads to youth engagement in various forms.
Successful youth engagement strategies require that youth have genuine and meaningful opportunities to work with each other and with policymakers to impact issues of important. Effective initiatives respect the values of young people in public problem-solving and provide young people with information, tools and support to work effectively on solving social challenges, allow opportunities, take ownership, mobilize others and become powerful role models to each other, whilst building sustainable networks that engage young people who have not traditionally been involved in community youth development opportunities. By creating opportunities for youth civic engagement, SGD Uganda offers young people, principally school going in high schools and universities with opportunities to gain work experience, acquire leadership skills, mentorship, acquire new skills, to learn responsibility, while contributing to the good of their communities. This kind of engagement with young people has developed a long- lasting sense of civic responsibility among them in a range of service options that has allowed them to develop skills and gain experience. It has also provided young people with opportunities for out-of-classroom learning to increase their interest in civic-political participation to provide diverse opportunities for young, especially in high schools and universities to engage is a strategy that promotes the development of a new generation of caring and experienced citizens, activists and volunteers.
SGD Uganda conducts the following activities in high schools and universities/tertiary institutions to build capacity of the student community to actively participate in democratization process and civic engagement, which eventually promotes their engagement in national issues and builds their individual capacities:
