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Recommendations at the second pan African youth leadership forum
Pan African Youth Leadership Forum
June 20, 2008

At the end of the second Pan African Youth Leadership Forum organised by Friends of Africa International, Inc. in Cairo Egypt, June 16-20, 2008, the following recommendations were proposed by the Youth Delegates:

Heads of States and governments in Africa should initiate and institutionalize the African youth volunteerism programs and advocate for inter-African volunteering programs.

Realising also, that the many African nations have yet to ratify the African Youth Charter (AYC), we urge Heads of States and Governments from the member countries of the African Union to ratify the Youth Charter, as well as its implementation. We would like to see the AYC enter into force by the end of 2008.

Revitalize also, regional bodies including African Union, NEPAD, APRM, etc, and make it accessible for young people. This could be done by way of encouraging internships and volunteer with these bodies. We want the member states and the African Union Commission to provide for youth participation in all summits and meetings and especially in all organs of the African Union. We have already started this initiative in Ghana and Egypt; we would like to see a more participatory process in the next summit in June/July 2009.

Considering that there can be no meaningful sustainable economic and social development without internal stability we call on African Heads of States to address the conflicts in Sudan, Somalia and Zimbabwe in a timely fashion.

Young people should be allowed the opportunity to participate in mediation, peace and security dialogue for countries in conflicts as well as the mitigation of physical, socio-economic effects of conflict. We urge governments to support the fact-finding mission proposed by Africa's young people to Sudan, Somalia and Zimbabwe. We would like to collaborate with the elders in this process.

Reaffirming the need, to improve the movement of young people from one African country to the other, we urge governments in Africa to strengthen existing immigration procedures and structures in their respective countries in order to simplify the process of obtaining visas for African youth in other African countries. This is to address the visa issues faced by young people to enable them attend to programs to improve their self development.

Aware of the lack of TV stations focusing on youth, we urge our governments to work with various stakeholders to set up African Youth TV channel for sharing best practices on youth programs.
African Leaders should also commit to the introduction of African studies into our formal education system both at primary, secondary and tertiary level.

Noting the role of Africa's international partners in its development, we urge our leaders to set minimum quality standards for goods coming into countries; develop a standard partnership strategy to communicate with the international partners. Also, there is a need to develop a mechanism to improve the quality of our export products by adding values. This will be a win- win situation. Inter-African trade relations should be improved.

Considering the lack of transparency in utilizing aid funds, we urge African leaders to be more transparent and accountable in disbursement and utilization of aid funds to enable young people monitor the expenditure of these funds and loans. Our governments should be transparent with us during bilateral talks. African citizens should be given a voice during these talks. We encourage our governments to use our natural resources for the development of our countries rather than depending on international aid.

Also considering the looming food crisis, we urge our Leaders and other relevant stakeholders to engage in mechanized agriculture to address this current world wide problem.
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Bearing in mind that we have just seven years to go before the realization of the 2015 MDGs we urge our governments and relevant stakeholders to involve young people at every decision making level towards achieving the MDGs. It is equally our common position that governments in Africa should reaffirm their commitments to the Millennium Development Goals and foster the process and attainment of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

In all of the above, the youth delegates re-affirm their commitment for individual and collective action as well as their support for all initiatives towards these goals.

Onyeka Obasi
President, Friends of Africa International, Inc.
On behalf of the 2008 PAYLF II Youth delegates

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