Although we say that the youth are our future, we must build and invest in that future today. I am very happy to be amongst those who have dedicated their lives to investing in girls. This is particularly true for our beloved continent, since over seventy percent of our population is under the age of 30 years, and the majority are girls and young women.
By 2025, one quarter of the world’s young women and men under 25 years will be African.
We are not only blessed with a youthful population, but we also have abundant natural resources.The greatest and most precious resource we have, however, remains our people. If we want to realize our dream of an Africa that is integrated, people-centred, prosperous and at peace with herself and her environment, we must invest in the young girls, women, and the young men of Africa.
As older generations, we can share our experience of life, society and the world. We are often in positions of authority and power, whether in families, communities or society as governments. As adults – whether as mothers, fathers, uncles or aunts; as neighbors, priests, pastors or imams; as teachers, journalists, politicians, artists, writers and musicians; as Guides, Scout leaders and public figures – we all have the duty to mentor, share experiences, protect, provide opportunities and to work for a better life for the next generations. We must also listen to and engage with the views of young people.
Young women and men have energy, are creative, innovative, impatient and prone to take risks. An enabling environment for young people to soar to excellence means an environment where energies, creativity, impatience and risk are geared towards positive self, peer, community and societal development.
The early Pan African movements that helped liberate our continent from slavery, colonialism and apartheid had in their ranks thousands of young women and men who used their energy and creativity, were impatient to see change and often took the ultimate risk to free their people. Today’s generations of young Africans have an equally burdensome responsibility to ensure that our dream of an integrated, people-centred, peaceful and prosperous Africa becomes a reality.
Involvement in some form of organization is important to personal development. It helps develop a sense of self-confidence, of being part of a group and fosters social and organizational skills. Being part of organization from an early age also makes us aware about society, the world we live and interdependence. Organization also teaches us that we can achieve excellence if we work hard; we can and must contribute towards a better society and world – as individuals and through joint action; and ‘together we can change our world.’
The African Union adopted the African Youth Charter in Banjul, in 2006, recognizing that youth are partners, assets and a prerequisite for sustainable development and for the peace and prosperity of Africa.
The enormous resources we have on the continent can only lead to shared prosperity if we have artisans, architects, farmers, pharmacists, miners, botanists, engineers, economists, electricians, doctors, nurses, lawyers, quantity surveyors, midwives, soft-wear engineers, entrepreneurs and artists that will ensure the development of world-class African companies and brands in every economic sector and human endeavor.
We need young people in the public sector and in civil society, to ensure that our states and government serve the people by playing a truly developmental role and that we build inclusive societies.
With 60% of unused arable land in the world, youth are the next generation that must get involved in agriculture so that Africa can feed itself and the world. Young Africans, especially young women must learn the business of farming, agricultural sciences, the food processing sectors, marketing and logistics, in order to build and grow our agro-businesses and sectors.
Young Africans must be at the forefront of advocating for an integrated Africa. We can only build shared prosperity when our countries and region trade with each other first, before looking across the seas to import what are basic needs of our continent and import finished products when we export all the raw materials to make such products.
Young Africans must take special interest in plans to integrate the continent through infrastructure. It should be possible in the future to drive or take a speed train from Lagos to Algiers, Cairo and Djibouti, or from Banjul to Dakar, Freetown, Djamina to Juba, Addis Ababa, and Mombasa, or from Tunis to Maputo to Mbabane, to Cape Town and Luanda. Young people must be interested whether they will on their journeys have access to fast broad band internet, reliable electricity, energy, clean water and sanitation. With rapid urbanization, young Africans also have an interest in the state of our cities and towns, whether they are well-planned and maintained.
Young people must also be interested in knowing whether ECOWAS, the African Union and all African countries are making progress with free movement of people and goods because they want to experience the hospitality, natural beauty and cultures of other countries on their continent; explore markets, innovations and form business links beyond the borders of their countries and regions.
Young people have always played an important role in taking our traditions, culture, history and life experiences and representing it in new ways and through new means. Our continent has the fastest growing mobile phone sector in the world, but we must be more than users of technology, we must also make cyberspace our own, through content that is African – in its rich diversity and languages. Each generation must work for a better world for itself and future generations.
The empowerment of girls and young women means making sure that they grow up to have their contributions valued in families, communities and societies, and that they have the space to make informed decisions and choices. Empowering girls and young women means that no-one should tell them that they cannot reach their goals and dreams, simply because they are girls or women. This means that we advocate, work for and monitor progress in the education of girls and young women in all our countries, encouraging parents to send and keep their girls and boys in schools. We also engage with girls and boys on the need to value their bodies and to respect each other. We warn against the dangers of teenage pregnancy, HIV and AIDS, and advocate for policies that enable girls to have information and to protect themselves.
We also advocate for our societies to abolish harmful cultural and religious practices – such as child marriages – that infringe on the rights of girls and women. Research shows that teenage mothers make up a disproportional part of maternal and infant mortality. Let’s not marry children, let them be children. Women’s rights, the rights of girls and young women are human rights.
The African Gender Protocol commits the African Union and its Member States to work towards achieving Gender Parity by 2020. We are making progress in education and in the political sphere, but only ten (10) countries have met the interim goal of having 30% women in their parliaments and cabinets. If women are given a chance, they can make a difference in any organization or institutions – whether in the public or private sectors.
It is for this reason – our trust and confidence in the future of Africa – that the African Union decided to embark on the process to develop an agenda for the future – called Agenda 2063. Through this agenda we want to achieve three things: firstly, to agree on the Africa we want; secondly, to set short and medium term milestones and concrete strategies on how we will get there, and thirdly, to define the role each of us should play to achieve this Agenda.
Young people are Africa’s future – and I am confident that the future looks bright. We shouldn’t just want them to reach where we are, but beyond.
By Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma,
Chairperson of the African Union Commission.