



The pathway to a just and youth-friendly tax regime is clear: policies must keep pace with the realities of young entrepreneurs, formal and informal, urban and rural alike. Only through ongoing reform, robust support systems, and genuine participatory tax justice can Uganda unlock the full power of its youth as architects of a more prosperous future.
As the Harare Declaration states, the African youth bulge as an engine for the continent’s structural transformation agenda is at risk of being a missed opportunity due to being saddled with accumulated debt, while potentially being locked out of accessing finance that is desperately needed to invest in them, and making them carry the burden of a mortgaged future. Instead of investing in our potential, governments are forced to divert billions to creditors, too often to lenders who prioritise profit over people. This is not only an economic imbalance; it is a generational betrayal. We thus demand debt and tax justice that put people and the planet first.
Youth for Tax Justice Network (YTJN) proposes the Pan African Creative Arts Youth Competition. This initiative seeks to harness the creativity of African youth to foster innovative ideas and grassroots awareness around critical economic governance topics, including sovereign debt, the AfCFTA, climate finance, asset recovery, and the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation.
C’est dans cette optique que le Youth for Tax Justice Network (YTJN) propose le Concours Panafricain de Jeunes en Arts Créatifs, une initiative qui vise à mobiliser la créativité de la jeunesse africaine afin de stimuler des idées novatrices et une prise de conscience populaire sur des enjeux clés de la gouvernance économique tels que la dette souveraine, la ZLECAf, le financement climatique, la récupération d’actifs et la Convention-cadre des Nations Unies sur la coopération fiscale internationale.
Fiscal discipline reduces unsustainable debt levels, freeing resources for investments in sectors like agriculture, tech, and green industries, which are critical for youth employment.