Young people should create their own space, where they galvanise their voices and develop strategies to engage so that they become key drivers in decision-making processes, Empowerment and Transformation Trust (YETT) director Lucy Mazingi has said.
by PHYLLIS MBANJE
Speaking ahead of a youth global advocacy conference, Participate 2015 which will be attended by over 100 delegates from 14 countries, Mazingi said young people should desist from “waiting to be given space” but proceed to take it.
“Young people have to realise that increased youth participation in different spheres of life opens avenues for a new social and economic world order which is increasingly becoming urgent by each passing day,”, she said.
Running under the theme Creating Space for Youth, Participate 2015 kicks off on Monday right up to Friday and will provide a platform for experience and knowledge exchange within a structure that includes panel discussions, presentations and capacity-building sessions on themes related to advocacy and youth participation.
The conference will be officially opened by Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment minister Patrick Zhuwao, while the keynote address will be delivered by Swedish head of development co-operation, Maria Selin.
Mazingi said the conference will also focus on opportunities, challenges and strategies that exist for young people to participate in global networks for advocacy.
“YETT’s strategy for international partnerships is premised on sharing knowledge and experiences as a means for capacity building, therefore, young people uniting for global action creates a pool for best practice knowledge and unified action,” she said.
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YETT is a youth networking organisation committed to the participation of young people in sustainable development through advocacy and capacity building of youth organisations, has for the past two years successfully hosted two regional conferences under the themes Participate 2013 and Participate 2014.
The two conferences focused on promoting youth led-multi-party dialogue on how youth leaders can strengthen youth participation in democratic processes within their various countries.
Participants for both conferences were drawn from Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa, Botswana and Uganda.
