Commission Report
Discussion Leaders: Rumbidzai Mzenda (Zimbabwe, pictured) and Lilias Makashinini (Zambia)
Topic: “State of the youth in Africa and how you can change it”
Participants included delegates from: Tanzania, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia.
The delegates shared perspectives on the state of the youth in Africa. These included:
1. Unequal access to opportunities especially technological access which sometimes discourages youth from developing themselves. Financial challenges even to start up their own businesses. 2.
2. Youth in the rural areas in most African countries continue to be disadvantaged in terms of access to resources and opportunities.
3. Unemployment levels remain very high amongst the youth; this also includes graduates and diploma students. Although the number of youths having access to tertiary education has increased, African governments are not expanding fast enough to cater for the graduates being produced by the universities.
4. There is growing moral decadence among the youth, high levels of HIV infection, crime as a result of unemployment
5. Political undermining of the youth and manipulation by power hungry people who only seek votes from the youth and fail to implement policies which improve conditions of the youth.
6. “As youth are we being educated or is there schooling where one just crames the book knowledge” This raised the issue of the need to develop the individual as a whole to be able to focus the working world. For example graduates find themselves unemployed because of lack of job readiness and lack of experiences.
7. There is corruption; people do not believe in hard work too much greed for easy money. The youth are also driven by the media; they are the largest spenders following Western trends and identity issues.
8. There is also some positive among youth in Africa which offers hope for the future. Were youth are really coming up, taking positions and playing an active role in their own lives and personal development. As noted in Kenya the commercial sector is being driven by youth, young professionals who are in leadership positions. There are many programmes and schemes which youth can take advantage of.
What can be done to change the status of youth in Africa?
1. Change starts with the individual, youth should realize they are the agents of change using their various capacities. There is also need to plough back and spread/ share the knowledge that they gain amongst themselves and others who have not had the privilege.
2. Youth should take an active role in politics even it involves just voting, working with the prevailing government to influence policy change. Youth should take advantage and speak out at various platforms as it is part of policy advocacy
3. Joining youth groups and organizations with high bargaining power.
4. There should be more entrepreneurship programmes for youth and access to training in business management, leadership skills and other support.
5. More internet portals available for the youth and training in computer skills.
6. Offering incentives for companies and organizations that have internship programmes to alleviate the high unemployment levels.
7. Continue to advocate sustainable partnerships among the youth, were they can draw their skills together towards one goal rather than competing among themselves and engaging in self aggrandizement.
8. Youth should be encouraged to engage in social entrepreneurship, community related projects and working towards the betterment of their communities. Be part of the development of their countries, by promoting them, talking about the good that is happening and taking part in research initiatives to attract foreign investors.
9. It was also noted that a good number of youth do not take part in development related initiatives and general lack of awareness of the development agenda such as the MDGs, global partnerships and other tripartite agreements signed between nations. Hence, there is need to educate the youth and promote awareness among the youth if Africa is to move forward and meet the various set targets.
These were the recommendations put forward by the delegates. At the end of the focus group discussion we posed a challenge to the delegates to reach out to as many people as they can through their various clubs and committees. To set targets and also train other young people in communities and have outreach programmes to rural areas. We encouraged them to set up partnerships with companies and organizations and source funding for their various projects. To research on companies and their various Corporate Social responsibility objectives to look for avenues for sponsorships.
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