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Update in the Youth Forum restructuring exercise: A great indaba convened
Youth Forum
November 22, 2011

In line with the restructuring exercise currently underway at the organization, the Youth Forum held an indaba this past weekend that saw representatives from the country's ten political provinces converging in Harare on Saturday 19 November 2011 to deliberate on the current state and emerging issues in the restructuring exercise

Amongst issues discussed and deliberated were the history and role of the organization to date, the new role the Forum is supposed to play in Zimbabwe as well as deliberations on the new constitution to be used by the organization.

The restructuring exercise is meant to recruit and formally register membership with the view to ceding all ownership and decision making powers to this membership. This will eventually culminate in target beneficiaries of the organization, the members, playing a more apparent role in the policing, programming and practices of the organization.

The democratization process will not be an overnight process as ensuring wholesale participation of youth who are willing to be part of this historic process is crucial if it is to reap the intended results. In this regard, the organization is in the process of providing civic education in the communities through its current membership on what the organization stands for and how and why it seeks to achieve the democratization process.

The constitution that was debated was drafted after wide consultations with the Forum's current membership countrywide. It is critical that at each and every stage, before the draft constitution is endorsed at the inaugural congress; the target beneficiaries are given an opportunity to debate and input into the document.

The indaba saw all the country's provincial representatives inputting into the constitution as well as airing their views on the restructuring exercise. The provincial representatives promised to outdo each other when it comes to recruiting members in their provinces.

The Zimbabwe Youth Council's role in the transitional phase as well as the intended structure of the organization was also discussed with many participants expressing disgruntlement at the operations of the Council. Some even questioned the wisdom of being a member of such a useless body in its current state.

For the restructuring process to be effective it is critical that the target beneficiaries of the organization are involved at each and every step so that the process is informed by the needs and aspirations of the envisaged members. Various key processes have already been carried through to date.

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