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Unlocking the youth potential: Why Zimbabwe needs a National Youth Policy
Youth Forum
March 26, 2010

Youth policy is progressively being acknowledged as one of the key factors and an important indicator for human and social development and is generally regarded as a vehicle for facilitating the participation of young people in their country's mainstream developmental processes. Zimbabwe crafted and adopted a national youth policy in 2004. However this policy is highly defective in that it was railroaded into policy by the youth ministry then without proper consultation and involvement of young people in its formulation. Consequently youth in Zimbabwe seem to be unfamiliar with the current policy and this has seriously affected its influence on youth development, empowerment and participation.

It is generally agreed that youth in Zimbabwe form a vulnerable and marginalized group owing to a myriad of factors. Due to the level of human and societal development in Zimbabwe, it has been difficult to locate a definite age-group for the youth. While many developed and developing countries have set 25 years as their cut-off age for youth, the current youth policy of Zimbabwe recognizes youth as people from 10 - 30 years of age. This is against the background that youth are generally believed to graduate into adulthood on the basis of their being able to attain economic independence which then opens up avenues for them to set up their own families usually through marriage. However, owing to the economic recession that has characterized the country over the past decade, coupled with the near collapse of the education sector and high levels of unemployment amongst the youth, the young person in Zimbabwe has failed to attain economic independence and many youth have remained perpetually stuck in their youthful stage. It is this unproductive and disempowered stage and tag that has and continues to haunt the youth of Zimbabwe in contemporary times.

The National Youth Policy of Zimbabwe is a document that is designed to provide a comprehensive and multi-sectoral framework for addressing youth issues that are currently considered not commensurate with achieving sustainable socio-economic development. It is based on eleven (11) guiding principles which provide an ethical context for a rights-based approach in dealing with youth concerns.

The current National Youth Policy of Zimbabwe

The current national youth policy of Zimbabwe was crafted in 2000 under the auspices of the Ministry of Youth Development, Gender and Employment Creation. This policy was then adopted in 2004 but there still lacked a comprehensive and multi-sectoral approach to its implementation. Essentially, the policy remained only on paper.

Without doubt, the current national youth policy of Zimbabwe is an excellent presentation of the aspirations of the government of Zimbabwe in facilitating genuine participation and empowerment of young people in the mainstream socio-economic and political development of the country. However, because it has never been meaningfully popularized, many young people who form its main target beneficiaries are not cognizant of either its presence or content. According to a research conducted by the Youth Forum in Masvingo Province in 2009, 80% of respondents interviewed professed that they were not aware of the existence of the national youth policy document. Of the 20% who knew about the policy, only 9% of these had ever had a chance to read the document. This unfortunate situation is compounded by the fact that there were never meaningful consultations of young people in their diversity by the facilitating ministry during the formulation of this policy. This in turn is directly attributable to the acute polarization that has characterized the Zimbabwean society since the turn of the millennium. However, such an unfortunate situation has negatively impacted on the capacity of the national youth policy to addressing the myriad of problems affecting the youth and in particular its capacity to act as a vehicle for youth participation and empowerment. Because it was not formulated with the critical participation and input of the youth, many young people have failed to identify with some of its key objectives as well as objectively verifiable indicators of progress.

The Role of the Zimbabwe Youth Council

In facilitating the coordination and implementation of the National Youth Policy, the policy provides for the setting up of the Zimbabwe Youth Council (ZYC). It is worth noting that the government of Zimbabwe has regularized the functions of the ZYC through a statutory instrument, the Zimbabwe Youth Council Act (Chapter 25:19 as amended in 1997). The role of the youth council is basically to register and coordinate the activities of national associations and clubs while playing an advisory role to government on youth needs and issues.

Questions have been raised in the past over the work of the ZYC. It is the firm belief of the Youth Forum that for the ZYC to play its role and fulfill its mandate, it should be accorded the necessary autonomy to act as a non-partisan platform for youth empowerment and participation. This is one fundamental shortcoming that has been noted about the ZYC. It is our firm contention that for as long as the ZYC cannot execute its duties in a non-partisan manner, then it cannot and should not purport to represent the interests of the youth of Zimbabwe. This will also certainly undermine its capacity to incorporate the views of all youth regardless of political affiliation, economic or social background, colour or creed into policy formulation.

The ZYC has an important role to play as the principal chief advisor to government on youth issues and concerns so that these can be holistically mainstreamed into overall developmental policies of the government. One cannot expect the ZYC to perform such a crucial function when they cannot holistically encompass the input of youth from various backgrounds. It is true that our society is not homogenous and the youth cannot be expected to have the same line of thinking. The ZYC should be able to afford a non-partisan platform for all youth to deliberate on youth issues from a purely non-partisan and youth perspective.

A framework for Youth Policy Reform in Zimbabwe

The above-mentioned scenario presents a grave need to reform the current national youth policy so that it can reflect the needs and aspirations of the current generation of young people. The underpinning factor during such a reform process should be genuine incorporation and participation of the principal target group, the youth.

The current political dispensation presents an opportunity to reform the ZYC towards a more open and transparent body with the principal task of facilitating the development of young people in Zimbabwe. It cannot be hidden that the ZYC has not been inclusive in affording young people the opportunity to give direction and leadership to this body. We are still to be convinced that the current council can rise above party politics to champion the interests of all the youth of Zimbabwe.

The first and most important target for reform should be the Zimbabwe Youth Council Act which provides for the establishment of the ZYC. The Act in its present state bestows unnecessary powers on the responsible Minister in the governance structure of the Council. Currently the Act provides that the Minister responsible for youth has the power to appoint over half (eight out of fifteen) of the ZYC Board members. It is our humble submission that such a scenario negates and undermines the role that the ordinary youth should play in the governance of such a crucial youth body. We content that the youth themselves should be solely responsible for mandating their peers to lead the ZYC through elections to the ZYC Board, provided that a mechanism is in place to ensure the inclusion of all youth formations registered with the ZYC. For as long as the youth do not have a voice in the constitution and affairs of the ZYC, then this body cannot genuinely represent the needs and issues of young people in Zimbabwe.

It is commendable that the ZYC managed to hold a Strategic Planning Workshop from the 17th to the 20th of March 2010 with the view to map a strategy for reforming the council towards being an institution for the youth by the youth. The Youth Forum was part of this workshop. One of the fundamental points that were buttressed by the participants to this workshop was the need for genuine reform of the national youth policy. As the Youth Forum we submitted to this process three key points which we felt are crucial for the ZYC to be a truly representative body for the youth.

• There is need for the ZYC to be inclusive of all youth and youth formations in its programming. There seems to be a negative perception by the ZYC towards youth formations and individuals who are critical of the government. Past observation has shown that the ZYC used to operate more or less as an appendage of Zanu PF, at one time being housed at the party's headquarters in Harare. It should be however commended for creating a certain level of independence and autonomy from the parent ministry as they have since acquired their own office space.
• There is need for the ZYC to employ a needs-based approach to its programming. The youth and youth formations should constantly be consulted so that they input directly into policy and programming aimed at addressing the innumerable challenges that confront Zimbabwean youth today. Research on youth issues and needs should direct the interventions of the ZYC towards youth policy and programming. This is no longer the era where young people can entrust the elderly to formulate policy on their behalf as the resultant policies cannot meaningfully address the issues and concern of young people.
• Reform of the National Youth Policy. The current generation of youth is clearly not in touch with the present policy and it has dismally failed to champion the interests of young people towards meaningful participation and empowerment, socio-economically and politically. Young people, including children should be consulted during the formulation of this policy. This should include identification of the founding principles and key strategic areas for the policy intervention. Pursuant to this is the formulation of an Action Plan for the implementation of the policy. This policy should also be in line with the provisions of the African Youth Charter to which Zimbabwe is a signatory and recently ratified through the Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenization and Empowerment.

It is the humble submission of the Youth Forum that reforming the Zimbabwe Youth Council Act and the National Youth Policy are crucial processes to ensure that the youth of Zimbabwe can meaningfully participate in civic life so that they are able to play their role as equal stakeholders in advancing democracy and development in Zimbabwe.

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