The
youth make the biggest demographic bracket, therefore empowering them is the
logical option. They need to be engaged in all aspects of society. But that
would be impossible if their skills remain undeveloped and if access to finance
and jobs remain just a pipe dream.
In
many foras youth empowerment has always been one of those ‘feel good’ attention
getters to which our politicians are inclined to resort in their public
pronouncements as a means of boosting their approval ratings. It widely held
notion that youths are cream and future leaders of any country. When we empower
our youths, certainly we are empowering our future leaders.
Afterwards,
we find ourselves waiting forever for the actualisation of the undertakings
that derive from those public pronouncements.
We
always argue that a national policy on youth empowerment is nothing if it is
not - in the first instance - an initiative that seeks to identify and put in
place measures to improve the social, intellectual and material well being of
the nation’s young people.
In
the recent past, we have seen a large number of the country’s youthful
population taking on the Mediterranean route in search for greener pastures in
the West. Lack of job opportunities and limited prospects are the main drivers
forcing this high number of youths to their dream destination.
Let’s
remember famous quotation made by the former United Nations Secretary General-
late Kofi Anan that ‘from creating start-ups to igniting revolutions, young
people have been toppling the old structures and processes that govern our
world. This quote clearly manifests the role of youth in a growing economy and
their power to propel national development initiates.
It
is an indisputable fact that if the country is to solve the most pressing
issues of our time, there is need to tap into the dynamism of youth movements
and young social entrepreneurs, for they have the potential to disrupt inertia
and be the most creative forces for social change.
‘‘Almost
everything that is great has been done by youth.’’
Benjamin
Disraeli
