From Classrooms to Communities: How NCC 2025 is Turning Uganda’s Youth into Digital Problem-Solvers
The Urban Gazette Staff Writer – Kampala,
At the National ICT Innovation Hub in Nakawa, it isn’t the dignitaries or the corporate sponsors drawing the most attention — it’s the students. On the second day of the 9th National Conference on Communications (NCC 2025), the energy belongs to young innovators who are reimagining what digital transformation means for Uganda.
From a low-cost telemedicine app designed by a university team in Mbale, to a solar-powered Wi-Fi kit brought in from Gulu, to an AI-powered chatbot built for rural classrooms — the ideas on display reflect a generation unwilling to wait for solutions to arrive from abroad.
> “We don’t want technology that just looks good in Kampala,” said one student exhibitor. “We want something that speaks to our village, our farm, our health center.”
A shift in tone
While panels on data privacy, regulation, and infrastructure dominated yesterday’s conversations, day two is showing a different face of the conference: youth-led, community-driven innovation.
Experts agree this is a turning point. “For years, Uganda has looked outward for digital models,” one panelist noted. “What we are seeing here is the reverse — local talent building tools that may someday be exported.”
Bridging divides
The UCC and ISBAT University, who co-organized the event, have repeatedly stressed that inclusivity is central to Uganda’s digital strategy. Today’s sessions on gender and ICT highlighted both gaps and successes, with female innovators taking the stage to showcase tools in agriculture and finance.
But the work is unfinished. Rural schools, health centers, and local governments still face gaps in connectivity and training. Many innovators admitted they struggle to find funding to move from prototype to deployment.
The real winners
While formal awards for best paper, best project, and best student innovation will be announced later this evening, the “winners” visible on the expo floor are already clear: Uganda’s emerging generation of tech creators.
They are not talking about Silicon Valley or Nairobi. They are talking about Lira, Hoima, Mbale, and Karamoja. They are talking about mothers accessing health care remotely, farmers saving water through smart irrigation, and schoolchildren learning in their local languages.
Looking ahead
As NCC 2025 wraps up today, the formal communique will list policy resolutions and recommendations. But the story for most delegates will not be the paperwork — it will be the people.
Young Ugandans are demanding space at the table, and through conferences like NCC, they are not only being heard but being seen.
If there is one message leaving Nakawa, it is this: Uganda’s digital future will not be imported. It will be built here, by its own people.
