Young people in Africa have pledged to work harder and ensure that the continent achieves its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
A statement issued by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, said that the youths made the commitment during a virtual discussion with the theme “Africa’s Youth in the Decade of Action: Actors or Bystanders”.
Organised by the ECA, youths drawn from across the continent agreed that they had a role to play in ensuring that Africa achieved the SDGs.
In her keynote address, climate and environmental activist, Elizabeth Wathuti, commended her peers across Africa who were leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the SDGs were attained by 2030.
She added that Africa’s youth need to be taken more seriously and that their voices and interests should be an integral part of decision-making processes.
“As a climate activist, I have not been sitting back and feeling helpless, I started growing trees at the tender age of seven.
“Youth engagement does not mean inviting young people onto panels. Serious engagement means internalising the fact that young people and future generations have the biggest stake in decisions made today.”
Jayathma Wickramanayake, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, said that Africa was blessed to have the world’s youngest population, with a median age of just 19.7 years.
She expressed confidence in the youths’ ability to steer the continent’s trajectory in the 21st century, cautioning that “their success or failure will also be that of the continent as a whole.”
Vera Songwe, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and ECA Executive Secretary, said that in spite of the negative effects, COVID-19 had presented huge opportunities in the areas of innovation and tourism, showing that Africa had the potential to grow and create jobs for its youth.
She urged young people to use such opportunities to “create their own jobs and become the employers and entrepreneurs for a prosperous Africa by 2030.”
Songwe cited an ECA youth programme called African Girls Can Code – which links girls across Africa, enabling them to learn the internet of things, artificial intelligence, and gaming as an initiative that also creates jobs for young girls in Africa.
She said that with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Africa could begin to manufacture on the continent and do value addition across the different sectors of its economy.
She added that young people were those most affected by the SDGs and that they stood to gain the most from high-quality education, decent work, gender equality and a healthy planet or to lose the most if the world fails to reach those goals.
Emma Theofelus, Namibia’s Deputy Minister of Information, Communications and Technology, said making data accessible to youth would go a long way to enhance Africa’s growth.
“We need young people in decision-making positions. They should be at the tables where Africa’s future is being discussed.”
The event served as a platform for young people to engage with leaders to renew their commitment to the 2030 Agenda and to advocate urgency, ambition and action to realise the SDGs.
It also served as a platform to provide African youths a virtual hub to mobilise, reflect on their needs and aspirations and establish coalitions for positive change through the achievement of the goals. (NAN)
