On this day, Wednesday 12th August 2015, we celebrate the Youth.
The theme of International Youth Day, 2015 is “Youth Civic Engagement.” Africa is said to have the
most youthful population, as the number of youth among the regions total
population is higher than in any other continent.
Some authors have referred to youth in Africa as a ticking
time bomb noting that youth are faced with numerous challenges such as
unemployment, poverty, low levels of civic engagement which makes them easily
manipulated by politicians. The large mass of Youth in Africa had been
sidelined from participatory governance and civic engagement but in the last
years this has improved but still, much has to be done.
The youth throughout Africa are resilient by
creating innovative ways to survive such as entrepreneurship but all this has
to be supported by stakeholders (governments, corporates and
development partners). The voice of the youth has to be heard by
leaders. The youth need to be engaged in civic matters so as to achieve
sustainable development in Africa.
It is with this regard that YALDA Morocco has
organized an online conference entitled ‘Youth Civic Engagement in Africa:
Challenges and Expectations’ which will take place at 7pm (UTC+1). The time is
now for the youth, Youth need to actively participate in Civic engagement. The
conversation of the youth is on, the voice resonates to all corners in
Africa.
Youth Civic Engagement
Webinar
View the discussion Twitter #YALDAYouthDay
Matthews T. Mmopi
International Chairperson
International Secretariat
