Agenda2030 and African Youth: Partnership Key to Deliver Change
April 11“The future of humanity and of our planet lies in our hands. It lies also in the hands of today’s younger generation who will pass the torch to future generations.”2030 Agenda, paragraph 53
The Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development adopted on 25th September 2015 is the world`s ambitious development commitment aimed at ending poverty, fight inequality and combat climate anchored on the principle of “leaving no one behind. As contribution to this, African Union member states also adopted the African Common Position as a strategic roadmap to mobilize Member States this time beyond 2030 calling it the Agenda2063.
Both agendas acknowledge the centrality of youth and their role towards building a future without poverty. Indeed, these development frameworks cannot be achieved without the active participation of all stockholders of society including the youth. To make the SDGs truly meaningful to the youth, it is therefore important they actively participate in the accountability process by offering their own perspectives and playing their own part.
Whiles across the globe there are several initiatives to increase awareness, participation and inspire youth actions to make the Agenda 2030 a reality, there is still a huge gap to tap into the creativity, ideas and the energy of today`s diverse group of young people towards development.
To bridge this gap and contribute to meaningful youth participation on the continent, the vision of African Youth SDGs Summit was born. The maiden event held in Accra, Ghana in 2017 has since been named as finalist of UN SDG ACTION CAMPAIGN, Bonn-Germany.
Being the largest gathering platform for all African youth, stakeholders are hopeful that the summit will not only set the stage for interaction and networking among young people but also create a platform for ideas sharing, critiques, share results and challenge national governments and hold duty bearers accountable.
Launching the registration for the 2nd edition of the summit scheduled to take place from 7-9 November,2018 in Accra-Ghana, Emmanuel Ametepey, the convener of the summit unveiled the summit theme as “Partnership with Youth to Achieve the SDGs: Moving from Policy to Practice.”
Emmanuel further explained that “Youth are change drivers of today and the future and should therefore be seen as important partners in development. That is what sustainable development is about. We must come to the point where nothing is done unless the youth have actively participated from idea creation to implementation.”
“We believe that through this summit, we can ignite deeper conversation around how national governments, the UN, the AU and CSOs can build meaningful partnership with youth to accelerate development on the continent.” He added.
The 3-day interactive event is expected to draw not less than 700 delegates from Africa and beyond to explore and create solutions on SDGs themes such as Young People and Health, Gender Equality, Sanitation and Open Defecation, Smart Agriculture and Climate Change, Migration and youth employment.
Opportunity exist for local and international NGOs, national governments, UN Systems, the privates sector, philanthropic foundations and academic institutions to shape and set the agenda for this important gathering. For further information, visit www.youthsdgssummit.org
