By Coletta Wanjohi
Since 2019, every year Melaku Hailu organises a simulation of African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
He leads other young people within Ethiopia who pose as leaders of different African countries to discuss, as heads of state usually do, and make their own recommendations, which they present to the African Union Commission.
“I started this just so that more young people can be following closely what our African leaders discuss whenever they meet,” Melaku Hailu, the founder of Model AU-Ethiopia, tells TRT Afrika.
“That way we shall have more young people being interested in how things are run in our continent,” the 29-year-old says.
Hailu is forward-looking hoping for a brighter future for Africa where young people are able to take the continent to greater height.
“We believe that if many more young people do the same at different levels in our African countries, we will be able to prepare generation after generation to be part of our continent's development,” he says.
The African Union says it has recognised the power and the potential of young people over the years.
For example, it dedicated the year 2017 to investments in the youth to better their lives and to enable them contribute more to the development of their countries and the continent as whole.
“Young people used to be looked at as chaotic when Africa formed the Organizations of African unity decades ago, but these days heads of state are including them in important decision-making processes at different levels, because Africa cannot run without young people,’’ Neema Chusi the head of the Secretariat of the African Union Peace and Security Commission, tells TRT Afrika.
In the wake of the COVID -19 pandemic, Africa Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention used young people in a vaccination campaign project called “Bingwa Initiative’’ to reach out to people across the continent on the need to get jabbed.
“Bingwa” means champion in Kiswahili, which highlights the ability of the youths to lead. The African Union has described the initiative as “successful”.
Better chance
As the 60th anniversary of the Organisation of African Unity – now the African Union – is being marked, the focus of the continental body is more on developing self-reliance and encouraging more intra-Africa trade with young people at the centre of this vision.
“There is a firm conviction that the development of the continent can only be truly achieved by transforming the comparative advantage - that is the youth bulge - into a demographic dividend,” says Wamkele Mene, the Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat.
This is a flagship programme by the African Union to promote more free trade within Africa.
“It is imperative to empower young people in all spheres of life as leaving young people unequipped and with no opportunity will jeopardise the inclusive and sustainable development of the continent,” Wamkele says.
Carlos Lopes, the former executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa says Africa with its youthful population is better placed to survive the three mega trends that will influence the future: the demographics, climate change and technology.
“Normally people think the innovation is taking place elsewhere, we are sort of in the digital divide on the wrong side of the fence , the news is, the more technical processes and goods are going to become, the more appealing they will be to the younger population,” he tells TRT Afrika.
“This means the African consumer market is really going to be most attractive in just about a decade or so and that is why you see all the improvements to support startups to have unicorns being born in Africa,” Lopes adds.
The African Union needs to review the AU Youth Charter “to meet the current realities faced by the youth in Africa,” says Chido Cleo Mpemba, the African Union Youth envoy.
The AU Charter approved in 2006 aims at providing an avenue for effective youth participation in Africa’s development process.
For pro-Africa campaigner Hailu, the generation of young people has a better chance to fast-track the continent’s development.
“Our African leaders like Kwame Nkurumah and others, when they were fighting for independence of our continent, they did not have the type of technology, communication and exposure like we do now,” Hailu says.
“So it doesn’t matter where young people are , they can use whatever form of technology and speak out their mind and even seek self-employment,” Hailu the founder of Model AU-Ethiopia says.
Youth on the table
“When a young person gets a job , we are sure that he would support two to three family members, especially for us who come from extended families,” Badru Juma Rajabu, the country head of Restless Development in Tanzania, tells TRT Afrika.
Restless Development is a global organisation that encourages young people to use their youthful power to influence positive change.
Badru says what African governments can do is to provide the basis for young people to develop themselves.
“The current education curriculum we are talking about should be updated to help young people support their communities more,” he tells TRT Afrika. Badru also called for more friendly and affordable health services for African youth.
“Today you cannot talk about climate change and not talk about young people. Because if 75% of the population in Africa is of young people there must be young people on the table when it comes to discussions on climate change, not as beneficiaries but talking leadership to see if they can leverage opportunities that come with climate change,” Badru says.
Experts say the continent needs to be deliberate in implementing policies that will support young people from the grassroot level to make use of available resources to better their lives. He says young Africans should be encouraged ''to do more.''
Africa has a vision for development, called Agenda 2063 that seeks to set the continent on a more progressive path politically, economically and socially.
Young Africans say 40 years is not far away and that the continent needs to invest more in its youthful population to achieve the development target.
