Back to Index

African Youths Day: Stakeholders need to synergize their efforts
Youth Forum
November 01, 2012

Today, 1 November, is African Youth Day, a day set aside to celebrate the continent's youths and their achievements as well as to look at ways of empowering the continent's largest population. The theme for this year is "Africa Must Deliver as ONE to Empower African Youth For Sustainable Development." The theme seeks to encourage youth to be involved in the decision-making processes at national, regional and continental levels for their own development, as well as the achievement of Africa's agenda for sustainable development.

The Youth Forum believes young people should be an integral part of social and economic development. Today, Africa is the youngest continent in the world and is projected to begin experiencing a demographic window for the next decades should it make the right investments in us, the youth.

This population dynamic must appear as the strength for the continent that must work as a collective to deliver on youth development and empowerment. The African Youth Charter of July 2006 recognizes the youths as Africa's greatest resource and that through our active participation, Africans can surmount the difficulties that lie ahead.

For Africa to be able to 'deliver as one to Empower African Youth For Sustainable Development', there is need for all members states (Zimbabwe included) to expedite their efforts to sign, ratify, domesticate and implement the African Youth Charter which urges members states to:

Guarantee the participation of youth in parliament and other decision-making bodies Ensure equal access to young men and women to participate in decision-making activities Give priority to policies and programs including youth advocacy and peer-to-peer programmes for marginalised youths to offer them the opportunity and motivation to re-integrate into mainstream society Provide access to information that will empower youths to become aware of their rights and of opportunities to participate in decision-making and civic life Develop macroeconomic policies that focus on job creation particularly for youth Develop measures to regulate the informal economy to prevent unfair labor practices where the majority of youth work.

All stakeholders need to synergize efforts in delivering as ONE on Youth development and empowerment in Africa. To this end, the Youth Forum commits itself to work together with other key partners to deliver as ONE on Youth development and empowerment and ensure that Africa's young people are playing their role in the decision-making process and the Forum has been working with other youth organizations and stakeholders in the region to ensure that the youths from the region can work as one and deliver.

Visit the Youth Forum 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