Africa’s hope is in the youth

Lazarus Sauti

“Young people really are dreamers. They dream of a better kind of world,” once said Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Because of this, young men and women of Africa must be placed as central to all development initiatives in their respective countries if Africa’s envisaged development is to be realised.

Addressing a national youth consultative forum on the African Union’s Agenda 2063 in Pretoria, South Africa recently, South Africa’s Deputy International Relations Minister Luwellyn Landers agrees young people of today are the main players and partners of the development of Africa.

Sharing same sentiments, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment, Cde Francis Nhema says placing youth as central to all development programmes and encouraging them to be focused is critical as they are key resources and assets in transforming economies.

“We must place our youth as central to our development programmes and encourage them to be focused since they are not only major resources, but they are also active contributors to the nature of societies today,” he says.

To place Africa’s future in its young generation, decision makers should fully support the commitment taken by African leaders and call upon young men and women of Africa, on the continent and in the diaspora, to give impetus to this continental move of transforming the continent.

This means political leaders and policy decision makers should be committed to empower youths so that they can take charge of the continent’s resources and become successful in their business ventures.

More so, as biggest stakeholders, governments must declare the importance of active involvement of young people in national, regional and continental development by providing frameworks with common goals for development.

Governments’ ministries, non-government organisations, private and public sectors, youth groups in youth development and all agencies engaged in youth development across Africa must, as a matter of necessity and priority, develop respective national youth policies and strategies to provide common aspirations and priorities for youth development across Africa.

These policies and strategies must ensure that all young men and women in African nation states are given meaningful opportunities to reach their full potential, both as individuals and as active participants in their respective societies.

More so, policies and strategies must seek to empower young men and women to participate and contribute to the political, economic, social and technological development of nations; to develop coordinated responses and participation by all stakeholders in the development and empowerment of the youth; and to instill in youth a clear sense of national identity and respect for national principles and values.

To attain their objectives of successfully empowering Africa’s young and future generations, youth policies must be consistent with national Constitutions, major regional and international Conventions and Agreements such as the African Youth Charter and the World Programme of Action for Youth, and important developments at national, regional, continental and international levels.

Vice President of Zimbabwe, Cde Joice Mujuru, also says for young men and women of Africa to be protagonists of their own development, governments should be committed to empower them by simply creating enabling environments and marshalling the resources necessary for undertaking programmes and projects to fully develop the youths’ mental, moral, social, economic, political, cultural, spiritual and physical potential in order to improve their quality of life.

This demands employment creation for sustainable livelihoods, and she therefore urges governments to focus on creating jobs and promoting enabling environments that support the continued life-long development of youth and their skills and capacities.

In most African countries, youth are more educated than their parents but less employed due to different pressing challenges.

“Youth employment is one of the biggest challenges facing the African continent in its efforts to fight poverty and, more fundamentally, ensure the sustainable development of the continent,” agrees the African Development Bank.

Although Africa has recorded an annual economic growth of nearly 5 per cent over the last ten years, the available data show that job creation is largely insufficient, when under normal circumstances this situation should have enabled African countries to resolve the problem of employing the many young people entering the job market.

Data from the International Labour Organisation and the World Bank also reveals that young people make up 60 per cent of the unemployed population, not counting those who are clearly under-employed.

To reverse unemployment and empower youth in the continent, governments should also realign educational curriculum towards skills development and poverty reduction. They should periodically review and revise the education and training curricular to place increased emphasis on practical training to prepare and empower the youth for their roles in society and contributions to both formal and informal sectors.

To drive Africa on a developmental trajectory, young men and women should be transformed to transform the continent as Africa’s hope is in them.