Back to Index

Activity update
National Youth Development Trust
May 15, 2012

Lupane - Young Women's Study Circle

Young women in Masenyane, Lupane have cited traditional practices as the major reason why the civic participation of females has been low in their area. Making submissions at the meeting whose topic under discussion was: Interrogating Reasons For The Poor Civic Participation Of Young Women, young women cited a number of challenges that are impeding on their effective participation in community and national processes. They said traditionally a woman does not speak in the presence of men and a child does not speak in the presence of adults unless if spoken to. As such, they said, it becomes difficult for them to attend meetings and contribute as effectively as their male counterparts. The married young women said that as long as their husbands attend the meetings alongside with them, they have no reason to speak as it may be regarded as disrespectful for a woman to speak in the presence of men. The single young women said that community meetings are usually attended by older people so they did not have the opportunity to contribute to such meetings. Furthermore, the young women said that they are responsible for the majority of household chores so they hardly have time to attend different meetings. They called on the organisation to convene more young women's programmes that would serve as a starting point in empowering young women and to boost their confidence so that they may meaningfully participate in the socio-economic and political processes.

Nkayi - Young Women's Study Circle

Bringing up girls in a patriarchal society has negatively affected the ability of young women to confidently articulate issues in the presence of men, young women in Nkayi have revealed. Speaking during a study circle held at Guwe, the young women said that they are brought up to believe that men are the ones who are allowed to address a crowd. They added that their male counterparts are more exposed to platforms that boost their confidence unlike females whose lives are largely confined to the private sphere. They said that while young men go out and interact with other people, young women have to stay at home and do household chores. As such, the young women said that they are intimidated to speak in public meetings because they think men can articulate issues better than them. With regards to their participation in electoral processes, the young women acknowledged that they have not been playing an effective role. They however committed to register to vote in the next elections since they now had a better understanding of the importance of such participation.

Nkayi - Youth Meeting

Youths in Guwe, Nkayi have expressed concern over the way political parties handle fielding of candidates for primary elections, saying that it is sidelining young people from contesting in elections. They said that the authorities in the political parties usually support older people hence even if the youths want to support a young person, there are rarely any youthful candidates to vote for. They also displayed little confidence in the upcoming constitutional referendum saying that people from different areas want different issues addressed as such some issues are likely to be marginalised. The youths were deliberating on the topic: The Importance of Youth Participation In Electoral Processes. By virtue of being the most populous part of the population, young people were told that they have the capacity to influence the country's governance if they effectively participate in such key processes.

Ntabazinduna - Sports for Leadership Festival

More than 300 youths converged at Ntabazinduna for a sports for leadership festival held on the 12th of May 2012. During the festival, the youths had the opportunity to deliberate on the Importance of Meaningful Youth Participation in Electoral Processes. They said that the participation of youths in electoral processes has largely been confined to campaigning for contesting candidates and in some cases perpetrating violence on behalf of these candidates in exchange for alcohol and food. Although the majority of the youths were registered, most of them stated that they have not voted before because they do not have confidence in the electoral system. Some said that it was pointless to vote because they believe elections are not conducted in a transparent manner. It was noted at the meeting that during elections, youths are most visible in the campaign stages as most of them usually constitute the campaign teams. Of major significance is the fact that the youths said that even within the political parties, there is limited space for growth for youths. The youths said that all the influential posts are occupied by older people and the youths are merely pushed to the youth wings which do not have as much power as the main wings.

Visit the National Youth Development Trust fact sheet

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP