The Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) has concluded a symposium on the inclusion of the youth in governance in Africa.
The symposium held in Nairobi in collaboration with partner institutions sought to develop recommendations for the member states on youth engagement and development, build the capacity of young people on engaging with the APRM processes and encourage youth advocacy for African countries universal accession to the APRM Mandate by 2023.
Speaking during the opening of the event, Treasury CS Ukur Yatani said the symposium had brought together the young and old, creating the cooperation needed to grow Africa.
“In bringing together into the symposium not only youth who represent the seeds of our future but also the not-so-young who carry the lessons and experiences of our past, we have in essence created a synergy for accelerated Africa’s economic growth and social progress as we tap into the available wealth of wisdom, experience, knowledge as well as vigour and energy,” he said.
The Treasury CS was represented at the event by CAS Eric Wafukho.
The symposium was also an opportunity for youth-led accountability, sharing experiences, best practices, priorities on youth engagement and development, and recommendations for Member states.
According to APRM Continental Secretariat CEO Prof Eddy Maloka, the youth need to be deliberately incorporated in the governance processes.
“All APRM Country Review Reports have identified youth unemployment as a crosscutting issue. The Republic of Namibia in this regard underwent a targeted review on youth unemployment. I hope we are going to zoom in and learn from the experiences of Namibia in curbing the scourge of youth unemployment,” he said.
Maloka noted that Africa cannot afford to ignore the valuable resource of its demographic dividend “the youth”, while other continents are struggling with ageing populations and a shortage of workforce.
The call for the inclusion of the youth was echoed by Public Service and Gender CS Prof. Margaret Kobia closed the event.
In her remarks, the CS pointed out that in Africa, youth remain an important resource and their energy, innovativeness, and resilience that are imperative to harnessing the demographic dividend.
She added that young people who are the future need to play an important role in the governance process.
“The African Union and Member States must leverage the inclusion of young people in conceptualisation, formulation and implementation of Regional and National policies and strategies,” Kobia added.
In 2019, the APRM Continental Secretariat signed a collaborative framework to work with the AUC Youth Division in upscaling youth mainstreaming in governance.
The 1st APRM Youth Symposium was held in Ndjamena, Chad and the APRM has accelerated the mainstreaming of youth participation in its processes that has also led to the renewal of the APRM itself.
The symposium is aimed at reinforcing the strong desire by APRM to increase youth social accountability in AU member states leveraging youth frameworks.
Edited by D Tarus
