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Africa’s youth are major drivers in bid to attain African Union vision

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, April 13, 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ — A three day meeting of experts of the African Union  is underway in the resort town of Victoria Falls, in preparation for the Third Ordinary Session of the African Union Ministers in Charge of Youth (COMY III), to be held from 15- 16 April. The African Union Youth Charter identifies a youth as a “person between the ages of 15 and 35″.

The experts meeting is an opportunity for the Member States delegates to consider, among other programs, the African Union Plan of Action (POA) to support the Decade for Youth development in Africa and the African Union proposal to establish and implement the African Union Youth Volunteers Corps. 2009 – 2018 was declared as the Decade for Youth Development in Africa by the 12th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government in February 2009. The decade is an opportunity to sustain political commitment to youth development and empowerment.

Proposals made by the experts will be put forward for consideration and/ or adoption by the ministerial meeting. If the POA is adopted by the Ministers at the end of their meeting on Friday 16th April, the 53 Member States of the AU would then be expected to incorporate it into their own national plans and strategies. This will ensure that youth development across the continent is in line with the strategic objectives of the African Union, as defined by the Assembly of Heads of State and government, the highest decision making body on the continent.

In addition to discussing the documents being tabled by the AU, the ongoing experts meeting is also providing an opportunity for Member States to learn from each other and share experiences. It is serving as a forum to provide targets on youth development which will assist Member States to use research as the basis for youth development programming and planning, thereby ensuring that the same standards, targets and measurement of progress, more or less, are observed across the continent.

The Plan of Action being considered by the experts recognizes the critical role that can be played by the youth in achieving the AU vision of “an Africa integrated, prosperous and peaceful, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena”.  Vital statistics and information presented in the POA will enable the experts to make considered decisions, before they present their recommendations to the ministers.

Speakers at the opening session of the experts meeting today described the youth as the “engine for Africa’s development”. This is borne out in the POA which clearly states that “in 2025, the young people of today will be the main drivers of African economies”. This is so for a number of reasons: numerically the youth form a large part of Africa’s population i.e. 34.3% of the population of Sub Saharan Africa in 2007; the young people of today are the best educated in human history; and gender gaps are steadily closing. The social advantages provided by the youth include greater degree of mobility, versatility, dynamism and adaptability. Youth are also known to be more creative and innovative than adult populations, and take the lead in several areas of development, such as in community development, IT, HIV/AIDS, life skills, education and campaigns.

However, as the experts consider the action plan, they will also have to take into account the challenges that the youth face, and adopt an implementation plan designed to ensure coordinated youth development across Africa by 2018, when the Decade for Youth Development will officially come to an end.

One of these challenges is poverty. 72% of the youth population in Sub Saharan Africa lives on less that $2 a day, caused basically by poor education and lack of skills. Other challenges include exploitation of the youth as they migrate in search of better livelihoods; unemployment; HIV/AIDS; unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions; maternal mortality; different forms of abuse, exploitation by different regimes as perpetrators of violence or conflict; and exclusion from governance structures.

After considering the various opportunities offered by the youth population bulge and the challenges that constrain young people from effectively contributing to the AU vision as well as the proposals for action put forward by the AU, the experts will consider the proposed implementation matrix for the POA, whose timeline runs from 2010 until 2018.

During the experts meeting, the African Union is also putting forward, for consideration, its African Union Youth Volunteerism continental strategy (AUYVC). Youth volunteerism is defined as the services of skilled workers between the ages of 18- 35, supported to provide volunteer opportunities to build their capacity through public sector projects, organisations and/ or in a special service community activity.

The AU also took the opportunity to urge Member States attending the experts meeting to ensure that they ratify the African Youth Charter and that, beyond ratification, and more importantly, that they implement the provisions of the Charter. To date, 19 Members have ratified, 11 are still at the signing stage and 16 have not yet signed. AU Director for Human resources, Science and Technology Mrs. Vera Brenda Ngosi, said “Ratification is one thing and its good but ratification without implementation of the ideals of the charter is like having a good strategy on paper but without action. It is like a nice dream that is never realized”.

Further discussions by the three day experts meeting will focus on preparations for the Mexico 2010 World Youth Conference and the necessity for Africa to prepare a common position on priorities for youth development for the African region.

Other speakers to address the opening session of the experts meeting today were Mr Itai Muguza, Director in the Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment in Zimbabwe and Mr. Magoot, the expert of the Ministry in harge of Youth in Libya who is also the outgoing Chair of COMY II.

Source: African Union Commission (AUC)

On Zuma Leadership and Africa’s Youth

Leadership can be described as a process of social influence. It is not just the ability to lead a group of followers effectively.

The Greek philosopher, Aristotle cited character as the foundation of leadership – “to the right person, to the right extent, at the right time, with the right motive, and in the right way …” (Aristotle, Ethics II.9)

But for those who may say that Aristotle represents western values, what about African traditional leadership?

What made the chiefs of  Mali and Songhai, or for that matter Great Zimbabwe or Buganda leaders?

Traditional leadership was based on a centrally controlled hierarchy of authority. Leaders such as Shaka Zulu rose because they displayed charisma and valour in protecting their territory. For this protection, such leaders were often allocated land, livestock and of course brides!

That was the way. Today, we pay hefty salaries to our leaders, and even though democracy and good governance have emerged, we still demand that our leaders represent our national values.

Role Models

In the academic study of leadership, starting from behavioural theories of the 1950s, the focus on who or what is a leader has moved from what leaders do to how they act. In that way, the impact of their actions on their followers has been acknowledged as a way to assess the quality of their leadership.

Barack Obama is a recent example. Many youth even in Africa got inspired to believe that they could succeed in making change. In other words, he led by example.

Zuma Leadership

This week, it emerged that South Africa’s 67 year old President Jacob Zuma fathered his 20th child out of wedlock with the daughter of a friend, 29 years younger than him.

Though it is heartening that Mr. Zuma has publicly acknowledged his paternity, the question remains whether his actions have had repercussions on his leadership credentials.

The President was also quoted saying that his actions didn’t undermine his government’s efforts to combat AIDS. The HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in South Africa is among the highest in Africa with the predominant new contraction rate being among the youth. This is the same throughout sub-Saharan Africa, with the scourge being mainly felt in the working age population. Then there is also the generation of AIDS orphans who are now in their youth.

When in May 2006 he was acquitted of rape charges with an HIV positive woman, Mr. Zuma who is a former head of South Africa’s National Aids Council, testified that he had not used a condom and took a shower after the act to minimize the chance of infection.  He later apologized for these remarks saying “I erred in having unprotected sex. I should have known better.”

And, the buck does not stop with Mr. Zuma.

His party, the ANC who held such clout they “recalled” former President Thabo Mbeki have in their remarks given a stamp of approval to Zuma, saying the media was making “a mountain out of nothing“. Even more disturbing the ANCs Women and Youth Leagues have also passed it off as private and disrespectful to discuss.

Apart from HIV/AIDS, South Africa has a major crisis in violence against women. In a study last year by the country’s Medical Research Council, one in four South African men in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces  said they had raped someone, and nearly half of them admitted to more than one attack. Even more alarming, practices such as gang rape were common because they were considered a form of male bonding.

So are President Zuma’s actions his business alone?

Personally yes, but as the President of South Africa and role model to the youth, – No.

Any leader wants to leave a lasting positive legacy. And now is the time for Mr. Zuma to make South Africa a success. Let not his legacy be promiscuity, irresponsibility with his wives health and a score of children claiming inheritance.

Today schools teach the history of Shaka Zulu who fought against western imperialists. Today the war for South Africa is different. The foreign intruder is the scourge known as AIDS. This scourge is killing the youth. This is the war that Jacob Zuma must lead his country. With all his might, discipline and zeal. And, from the front and not behind.

Lead the way and we will follow.