Thread:Youth policy advocacy (41)

Hi everyone

Aplogies for joining the discussion late.

I have been involved in youth policy advocacy work for some time at various levels. While serving as Chairperson of the Commonwealth Youth Caucus (2000-2003), we odvocated for meaningful and active youth participation in the Commonwealth Secretariat programmes. One outcome of the advocacy was that the myself and 3 other Youth Caucus members were nominated by the Commonwealth Secretary General to be part of the Commonwealth Observer Group which observed Zimbabwe's Presidential elections in 2002. We were also part of the Commonwealth Observer Group which observed Ugandá's 2006 elections. The trend has continued for other Commonwealth countries elections. Messages were targeted at Management and governance structures.

The Youth Caucus also advocated for the development of national youth policies in all Commonwealth countries. Most countries today have national youth plicies.

At national level, working with various youth organisations, we advocated for the speedy development of Zambia's National Plan of Action for youth after the review of the National Youth Policy of 2006. The Plan of Action was launched in 2009. Messages were targeted at government, specifically the Ministry of Youth and development agencies to support the process.