Exciting update that 111 individuals applied for the Internship position with the Women of Distinction project. Interns have applied from all parts of Africa, including from Senegal, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda and the DRC. All interns will be instrumental in national leadership activities promoting women’s role in development on the continent, including working with national and international partner organizations in their countries.
There has been a great interest from the media to conduct interviews with AWOD staff and interns, including from the BBC and the United Nations media outlets. These interviews will be conducted starting next week. We hope that all interns will be available for media outreach over the next 6 months.
Much appreciation to Laura Fortinsky and DJ Bradley for their hard work in coordinating these internships.
Thank you,
Neema
Neema Mgana
Founder
African Regional Youth Initiative
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STATE OF YOUTH IN AFRICA AND HOW YOU CAN CHANGE IT TO BOOST DEVELOPMENT
By Fingani Annie Mphande
Africa a continent rich in culture and beautiful landscapes also harbours many serious issues. The mention of Africa elsewhere in the world outside Africa the first thing that people think about is the problems that have hit the continent. Much of discussion on Africa is always on wars and famine, unemployment, HIV/AIDS, and so many more. Amidst all these problems mentioned above that the youth of Africa are entangled in they are striving to survive to make a living and become a “somebody” in the society.
To begin with African youth have been overwhelmed by challenges in their education. This problem has cropped up from economic problems due to lack of school fees and governments failing to support their education which limits many children from going to school at the right age. Towards the end of the twentieth century beginning of the twenty first century some countries have resorted to free primary education in an attempt to give basic education to as many youth as possible. But is this a solution? Well what happens after the primary school, the youth will learn how to read and write, but is that enough for them to be self-sufficient and be productive enough to develop their respective countries? If we try to dig deeper into the source of these challenges in education for the African youth it goes back to the society where these youth have been brought up. There are some cultures, which have discrimination against girls’ education in that they are of the opinion that if they educate a boy he will be able to support the family. But one thing we forget is that if you educate a girl you educate the nation. This opinion has led to some girls dropping out of school early because their minds have been brain washed with this idea or because their parents have decided that due to financial constraints they would rather educate their boy child than the girl child because she will get married anyway and her husband will take care of her. But is this true? What happens if that husband dies, that means we are back to where we started no sound economic status hence if they had children their future is doomed. Another interesting aspect on this point of educating the youth is that for those youth who have managed to finish their education another problem comes in, unemployment. Scarce job opportunities have led to the youth to drift from Africa to Western countries to try and find “greener pastures” and a better life. This brain drain has also led to slow development of our lovely continent Africa. Also due to unemployment the youth have resorted to alcohol and drug abuse, prostitution, and vandalism, which have led to youth ending in prisons and untimely deaths in most instances.
Secondly HIV pandemic is another challenge facing our youth today. Youth between the ages of 15- 25 constitute a big percentage of those people living with HIV and AIDS, with more girls infected compared to boys. This is tragic because this has reduced the life expectancy of the youth drastically as such the youth will not be able to develop their countries. The major problem we are facing with HIV and AIDS among the youth is also due to lack of awareness. There are still so many taboos and things that the Government or societies pretend that the youth do not indulge in whilst deep down they know that the youth do that and they fail to address the problems. If we see teenage pregnancies in our societies that is an indication that there are even more youth who are engaged in unprotected sex risking themselves to contracting HIV and AIDS. How much awareness are we creating amongst our youth in Africa? Could awareness be one way of reducing the spread of this pandemic?
Talking about HIV and AIDS takes me to another huge problem child prostitution, which has come about due to poverty. Many young girls have been lured into prostitution by adults as a way to make money to meet their daily needs. The other sad part is that of children being abducted by soldiers in war torn countries at a young age to serve as soldiers as well as wives to soldiers. This is a very sad situation as these children lose out on education and psychologically they are affected. The worst part is that these young boys and girls also run the risk of contracting HIV. These youth who have been taken by soldiers, lose out on the development that is taking place in other areas around them, it’s a sad situation.
Are there solutions though to these problems, what are governments thinking, are there any plans to help the youth? What are the different countries doing to help and save the youth from these challenges? There are so many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that are working hand in hand with governments to try and help the youth. Some of these NGOs are trying to work with the youth who have dropped out of school by giving them vocational training so that these young lives can start their own businesses and thereby be able to support themselves. Other institutions are also there to provide financial support in forms of scholarships to orphans and non-privileged youth to finish their education. There are also NGOs who are working hand in hand with youth who are infected with HIV and those who are also virus free to create awareness in primary school, secondary schools and tertiary institutions to sensitize them on how protect themselves from contracting the disease and how to live positively with HIV.
Rehabilitation of youth who were abducted to serve as child soldiers as well as wives for soldiers is important to help these young people to get back to the “normal” life.
Those organisations helping the youth in all aspects of life I say keep up the good work, I know it is not an easy task. Governments lets support our youths for they are the future of Africa, let us find ways of educating our youth and reducing unemployment amongst the youth so that we can develop Africa. Remember the future lies in the hands of our youth, and if we don’t develop these youths the future for our mother continent Africa is bleak.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA
By Fingani Annie Mphande
Our continent Africa is overwhelmed by many economic challenges both in trade, industry and resources. African economy is comprised of trade, industry and the resources of people of Africa.
Africa is described as the world’s poorest continent. But why is this? What are the factors that have led to the poor economy of our continent Africa?
To answer these questions let us look back to the history of Africa. Most African countries were colonized by European countries, including Britain, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, and France. When these countries left Africa many of the colonized countries have struggled to keep their economy afloat after the transition. As such most of the countries have been overtaken by corruption and deposition. Corrupt practices by African leaders and those in power in governments have allowed for the plunge of African economy. Most people in power have managed to swindle government or sate funds which were supposed to help their countries and used them for their own desires. As such the rich people in most African countries become richer as the poor population gets poorer. This is a very sad development because in this way Africa can not develop fully.
Corrupt practices in Africa are not the only source of economic problems. Stagnated foreign trade and investment and per capita income have also contributed to the poor economic growth. Africa economy is dependent on agriculture exports of cash crops such as cotton and other grains which are exported to Western states including Europe, Japan and the United states. In order to boost their economy many African states have ended up over producing these export crops to compete on the global market where prices are continually reducing. This practice though sometimes has ended with less food to feed the community as most of the resources are transferred to growing cash crops for export. Civil unrest and poor climate though have led to a lot of economic instability in many African countries.
Mining is another source of income in some African countries. The problem facing the mining industry is that governments and large corporations squander profits from the mining hence contributing to poor economic growth. Poor investment and reluctance of investors due to close governmental control have discouraged international investment. This is a bad stand for economic development for Africa.
How can we boost African development? Can creation of employment reduce poverty in Africa?
Oil producing countries have experienced high economic growth compared to non-oil producing states. How about those poor countries whose inflation rates keep falling, is there any chance of improving their economy?
Tourism has boosted the economy of certain countries in Africa but is this enough to sustain these nations economically?
Debt relief has helped many African countries with their economy, this is a positive development to Africa but is this enough? Africa depends a lot on external aid, is this healthy for the development of this continent?
There are many unanswered questions surrounding the economic development of Africa. Is there hope for Africa’s economic development?
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