Meaningful Youth Participation

While it is very clear that statistics prove beyond reasonable doubt that young people are the greater part of the population of any African Country their role in their national processes has been very limited and restricted to the periphery.

History has it on record that young people sacrificed themselves and put their life on the line while participating in the liberation efforts to decolonise their nations from the group of imperialists. What is glaringly evident though is that soon after liberation the youths were side lined and never meaningfully involved in national processes.

However it has become increasingly difficult to have sustainable development without the inclusion of young people as they are part of any nation building process. Youths have increasingly called for recognition in various spheres of development from business, politics, social and development work and religion.

The young people have a role to play in any nation building process as they bring fresh ideas and new and effective ways to do things. Young people across the globe have changed the scope of doing things in various ways including telecommunications, technology, business, social work agriculture and many other things. This will bring to mind the likes of Mark Zuckerberg and his generation.

When nations engage young people in national processes they facilitate sustainable development as there is smooth transition from generation to generation. The exclusion of young people can lead to agitation of young people as they become restless because they have too much energy that is not being used and this brings with it a lot of challenges.

Africa at large has to redefine the role that young people play which will result in sustainable development of nations. Governments should guarantee the participation of young people in all processes as prescribed to the African Youth Charter which was ratified by a majority of the African nations. African youth themselves should lobby and advocate for the freeing up of space and capacity building and development so that they play that pivotal role which they are supposed to play.