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Youth Forum meets Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Youth
Youth Forum
December 02, 2010

The Youth Forum today, 2 December 2010, met with the Parliamentary portfolio Committee on Women, Youth, Gender and Community Development in a no-holds barred meeting that also saw a group of 25 youth present some of their most pertinent issues to the honourable committee. The meeting is part of the Youth Forum's drive to providing platforms for young people to meet and dialogue with policy and decision making bodies within Zimbabwe.

Among some of the most pertinent issues that dominated discussions was the contentious issue of youth economic empowerment, which many youth are in agreement to be the panacea to most of the problems that young people face in our communities. Many youth are of the view that the Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenization and Empowerment has done little to address the economic disenfranchisement that is rampant among the youth, something which was fingered as being at the core of promoting the youth's vulnerability to being proponents of political violence. Other issues which were also discussed included the feeling of youth towards the impending 2011 election, the low youth attendance noted during the COPAC's outreach meetings and youth access to anti-retroviral therapy (ART). The meeting also discussed extensively about the national healing agenda and the education sector which was noted to be in shambles.

The chairperson of the committee Hon. Matiyenga (MP) saluted the Youth Forum for initiating the meeting which at its core seeks to bridge the interaction gap between young people and decision makers. She highlighted that the committee is there for the youth and will do everything in its power to ensure that youth issues brought to it by the youth and youth representatives are looked into and scrutinized with the urgency and importance they deserve. In this regard, the committee resolved to look into the issues raised during the meeting and they will be summoning some of the parent ministries responsible for issues raised, with a view to finding common ground and lasting solutions to the problems bedeviling the youth in Zimbabwe. In this regard, the Youth Forum and other stakeholders will also be attending such meetings to get full insight to the work of parent ministries vis-à-vis youth issues.

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