Seven (7) members of our Youth In Action network were among over 40 young people drawn from 17 countries in Africa, gathered in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania for the 2nd Africa young leaders learning and exchange forum.
The weeklong youth-led forum was packed with conversations, reflections and group activities around broad areas on the engagement of young people in leadership and governance, peacebuilding and conflict transformation and economic justice and climate action. These areas of discussion sought to provide perspectives on the critical question – As Africa aspires to meet its peace and security, political and economic goals under the Agenda 2063, how can youth contribute to the process of meeting these goals? How can the demographic dividend of the youth be harnessed by government leaders and civil society organizations to realize these goals?
While sharing thoughts on the role of young people in conflict transformation, James Oluka, a member of Youth In Action from Uganda challenged young people to take change and positively influence and change trends in transforming conflict. He added that young people have the demographic advantage to drive change in their communities, including peacebuilding.
“The youth agency carries the responsibility of shaping current and future development trends. Precisely, youth have the numbers, potential and justification to transform conflict” he said.
Similar thoughts on youth inclusion, innovativeness and role in promoting peace were shared by fellow Youth In Action, Doris Namatovu. Doris was among a panel of young people sharing experiences on youth in leadership.
The forum took stock of young people’s actions and achievements and potential in their various spaces in transforming the continent with regards to youth participation in political governance, policy issues, peacebuilding, gender justice, climate justice and economic and natural resource justice. These discussions were anchored on the forum theme – Empowering minds, unlocking potential for transformation in Africa.
“Youth are the leaders of today. While we strive for change, we must also be prepared to preserve our natural resources for the benefit of future generations” sentiments by Chindele Chingumba from Zambia, which best expresses some of the dominant rallying call at the forum discussions.
The holistic youth-led forum involving panel discussions, safe space conversations, plenary discussions, group discussions and actions for instance beach cleaning culminated in concrete key areas for young people’s action within the continent.
By being part of the forum, we widened the reach of the work of our Youth In Action network while leveraging on the experiences, partnerships and collaborations of other youth networks and organizations within the continent. This formed a significant step towards widening Youth In action and our work regarding peacebuilding in general.
The Africa young leaders learning, and exchange forum was convened by our partner NCA (Norwegian Church Aid) – Regional Peace Programme and Act Church of Sweden among other partners and umbrella organizations. The first forum took place in Nairobi, Kenya last year, similarly organized by NCA (Norwegian Church Aid) – Regional Peace Programme and Act Church of Sweden.