As we stand at this crossroads-crucial to draw inspiration from the powerful words of great revolutionaries and visionary leaders who have sparked change in their nations. In the spirit of Malcolm X's "The Bullet and the Ballot" and Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream," let us embark on a journey to expose the harsh realities, challenge the status quo, and ignite the flame of social resistance. Our nation is shackled by the chains of poverty and the grip of political systems that have always failed us. We find ourselves at a crucial juncture, where the quest for freedom and progress can no longer be postponed. Today, we must rise and confront the bullet of poverty that has plagued our land for far too long."

Child malnutrition remains a critical concern in Uganda. Almost 3 in 10 children between 6 to 59 months are stunted, four percent are wasted, and 11 percent are underweight (UBOS & ICF International, 2018). While most districts in the country experience high child malnutrition, there is a divide between urban and rural areas and between northern and southern districts. Children in rural areas and the northern part of Uganda experience more malnutrition when compared to children who reside in urban areas or the southern part of the country (World Food Programme, 2019). At a regional level, Tooro region has the highest percentage (40.6%) of stunted children, closely followed by Bugisu region (36%) and Karamoja region (35.2%) as of 2016. Concerning wasting children, the West-Nile region has the highest percentage, with 10.4%, closely followed by the Karamoja region, with 10%. Finally, Karamoja region has the highest percentage of underweight children (25.8%), closely followed by West-Nile ‘(16.7%) and Acholi with 15.4%.

This study uses desk reviews, secondary data, and qualitative (Baraza’s forums and key informants) approaches to answer questions on the nature of jobs (old and potential), skills and technology requirements and investment opportunities in two critical value chains of fish and cotton. In addition, the study explores the extent to which the prevailing environment within each sector is conducive to facilitating the growth of these value chains. Of note is that the fish value chain is heterogeneous depending on the fish variety. In this study, we place emphasis on three lucrative fish varieties, i.e., Silver fish (mukene), Nile Perch (mpuuta) and Tilapia (ngege). About fish, findings reveal that Lake Victoria alone had the number of fishermen doubling from 34,889 to over 60,000 between 2000 and 2020. Over 99 percent of persons involved in the fish business (irrespective of fish type) are males (both young and adults). Beyond the fishing /production stage, more women are involved in local processing (sun drying, salting and deep frying) of silver fish compared to Nile Perch and Tilapia. Women and youth take part in the Nile Perch and Tilapia processing chain by smoking and salting the bones after removing the fillet. The Nile Perch (Mpuuta) value chain is more complex, highly industrialised and capital-intensive because of the fish maw. In the Tilapia value chain, the share of men and women engaged in production has grown by 14 percent between 2014 and 2020, attributed to the uptake of cutting-edge technologies in fish farming (aquaculture). Findings also highlighted the relatively low skills required by persons willing to participate in the value chains. Amongst the various opportunities for investment in the fish value chain are adding value to the fish maw, investing in more quality control measures to ensure and foster standards given that fish is highly perishable and susceptible to toxins if not well handled, manufacturing sustainable fishing gear, e.g., nets, hooks and baits, fishing vessels, fish feeds, cheap processing technology for drying and salting fish, customised cold storage facilities for different fish varieties, at primary and secondary wholesaling and processing level, cold storage equipment and transportation for different modes and invest in domestic fish skin and fish maw trade. Regarding the cotton value chain, seed cotton production is undertaken by low-skilled family labour, mostly provided by females and youth. Males feature mainly during post-harvest handling, storage, and marketing of seed cotton. One out of every ten middlemen are female. Also, females dominate the stage of ginning cotton into yarn (value addition), and women dominate (60 percent) in performing manual jobs where no skills are required, e.g., transportation, offloading, sucking (packing) and weighing, and cleaning. Investment opportunities and hence jobs lie in investments in industrial by-products: cotton lint and cottonseed; oil; soap; and livestock feed - as well as high-end manufacturing products like cotton yarn, garments, and apparel textiles. Hand-looming was explicitly identified as a low-hanging investment opportunity for women and youths. Policy actions are: First, the government should start providing cotton seed to farmers akin to coffee and tea. Second, stakeholders should support the need to revitalise farmer associations and cooperative unions for cotton. These would solve many underlying challenges farmers face around access to credit and determining the inclusive cotton price rather than leaving it to ginners and the CDO who announce the prices.