SORAK Development Agency Teens up now project seeks to clearly lift the power of teens through participatory strategies and processes to; influence newly elected leaders’ policies, practices, and behaviours to consider teens as equal citizens. It will create a platform where teens have opportunity to engage, advocate and demand for what belongs and suits them.

The 2021 general elections in Uganda provides a timely ‘teens up now’ action. Time is now that teens get up to push for tackling discrimination, injustices and unfairness. They ought to challenge the errors and omissions created by leaders with the pretext that they know it all for the teens.

This demographic bulge of77% aged below 25 years is a time bomb. Worse still these live at the margins of society. Majority of them miss participation in policy formulation and decision making.

In Mubende district teens are not aware that important political decisions and priorities arederived from community level to district and national level leadership. They rarely participate and never involved in current political spaces. Their peculiar needs are rarely considered in budgets. Policies are passed and delivered without their participation. They need information and knowledge on budgetary, planning and decision-making processes. Their voices are overshadowed by the rich and ‘political elites’ on the pretext that when they question the decisions or contradict the views of the rich, they will lose theiradvantage and support from the rich.

Teens up now project will breakthe silence of teens from village to district level governanceaccountability participation and performance through building civic consciousness and grass rooting their activism. Teens will be motivated to organise themselves into self-inspired groups ready to demand and task local leaders into teens involvement in politicalprocesses. The teens influencing actions will be blended with participatory theatre.

Teens will further engage elected leaders via; ‘teens up’ festivals that will bring teens faceto face with leaders, community score cards on political performance and inclusion of teens in the political processes.
Teens will also seek to ‘invite themselves’ in the political spaces arena as well as holding leaders accountable and stay in constantlink through; innovative communication, information and education and design thinking for equalization of opportunities. Teens will be equipped with “a smart app”, not running on any technical device, but on the locally available paper materials-high graphical flash cards with information to arm teens to engage leaders from an informed background. This will have simplified information on laws, the citizens’ responsibilities in promoting good governance and political participation and rights.
There will be teens and leaders joint; ‘live-on air’–radio dialogues, social media platforms where teens will be in constant reach, communication to share concerns, raise issues that influence and create opportunity for fostering space for teens political participation.

Teens’ led participation in political spaces will be elicited; pushing duty bearers into teen’s inclusive participation in governance and political spaces. Teens will be awakened to participate in leadership and decision making for a democratic society.