WORLD AIDS DAY PRESS RELEASE

As we commemorate the International World AIDS Day for 2007 we the vibrant youth of the newly established Southern Africa Youth for 2015! (SAY2015!) call upon the civil society in Southern Africa to continue in their efforts in providing necessary support to people living with HIV and AIDS and to those who are affected especially orphans. We commend them for the physical, emotional, spiritual, mental and social support they have extended to those who are infected and affected.

SAY2015! also acknowledges the respective governments’ efforts for the provision of anti-retro viral drugs though there are some challenges in providing alternative and effective treatments for all those infected.

In an effort to achieve Millennium Development Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases we urge the International community to fulfill their commitments and promises particularly on meeting the MDGs by the year 2015. Even with the present achievements we recommend State governments and individuals to pace up in behavioral change programmes to ensure eradication of the disease and improve prevention and treatment literacy for the region. As part of the effort we also advocate decentralization of health facilities to marginalized communities.

SAY2015!
1st December 2007
Gaborone, Botswana

YOUTH AND EMPLOYMENT IN AFRICA

For the majority of young people in developing countries the innocence and freedoms of childhood end early as the harsh realities of survival, gaining an education, and preparing for the responsibilities of adulthood take over.

Despite the yearly increase in the number of children attending school and those completing tertiary education, in most developing countries, millions of young people face bleak employment opportunities. They see their parents struggle to survive, and find it even harder for themselves.

Youth unemployment rates are stubbornly high. According to the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) most recent estimates, 88 million young people around the world (nearly 50 percent of the total number of unemployed) are struggling to find a job. How do they cope? And how can they survive without social security and family support?

Unemployment rates often hide more than they reveal: in this case, the huge numbers of young people working long hours in the informal economy for little pay, and without any guarantee of permanent employment or social security. It has been estimated that the informal economy provides all the new jobs for youth in Latin America, and almost 90 percent of those in sub-Saharan Africa.

At the root of youth unemployment lies serious problems related to illiteracy and lack of technical skills. According to the World Youth Report 2003, 113 million primary school age children were not in school in 2000. These children will become the next generation of illiterate youth, replacing the current group of an estimate 130 million.

However evidence suggests that education is not a panacea per se, and labour markets in many countries are presently unable to accommodate the expanding pools of skilled young graduates, according to the 2005 World Report.

In Kenya, in line with education, another factor affecting the school attendance is the devastating HIV/AIDS epidemic, which is the leading cause of death among young people. According to the US based NGO, Advocate for Youth, Young people infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS often face disrupted schooling due to demands at home for their help, the inability of sick or stressed parents to pay school fees and stigma and discrimination.

In 1995, the UN World Programme of Action for Youth, WPAY, established that for any intervention to remedy the unemployment question, 10 priority areas for action must be addressed. They comprise: education, hunger and poverty, health, environment, drug abuse, juvenile delinquency, leisure time activities, girls and women, employment and effective participation of youth in society and decision making.

The predicament of disenchanted youth is particularly striking in Africa , where millions have difficulty in making ends meeting. Living on the fringe of society, eking out a living on the black market, they are at an added risk of contracting HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

Rampant poverty and the lack of alternatives makes them more prone to fill the economic vacuum by enlisting in armed factions or gangs or become drawn to sexual exploitation. Even if they escape the pull of vice or crime, most will have no skills or training to help them contribute to the society, and will see them swell ranks of the low paid. In this context, the future of the next generation greatly depends on how the Kenyan government in transition will cope with a population explosion of young people, who have increasing demands and expectations.

The root causes of youth unemployment in Africa, include the global economy has entered a recession phase, and this has an effect to the national economy. As such the economy cannot absorb huge numbers to the workforce. This is exacerbated by the effect of the post conflict management. Secondly Youth employment is highly dependant on the over all status of the economy. Economic activity measured by GDP growth, is probably the single factor that influences the chances of young people finding jobs. Low or negative GDP growth, economic recession and low investment are direct causes in the shrinking demand far labour. At times of limited labour opportunities, young people are the worst placed to secure jobs, given their relative inexperience and lack of relevant skills. Also, their lack of training or experience means that they are the first to loose their jobs in the event of a down turn in the economy. Finally high unemployed rates have bred a vicious cycle. As unemployment remains high, there is less spending within the economy, the economy remains stagnant, production falters, no jobs are created and the state receives less revenue in taxes and cannot make reforms to boost the economy.

By: Mwaura Kaara
United Nations Millennium Campaign

AFRICAN YOUTH WAKE UP TO POVERTY

In our pursuit for Global Justice and creating a better world that will uphold our heritage, we have come a long way. We have seen bold and broad maneuvers and engagement to address the critical issue of global poverty and inequality, an inequality whose responses and backlash has been, and continues to be visited on us daily, with varying dimensions and tempo in its manifestation.

From the launch of the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) at the World Social Forum in January 2005, through the 2006 Stand Up campaign , to 2007 07-07-07 Blow the Whistle Campaign and ultimately the Stand Up and Speak Out Campaign; a vibrant voice that is interrogating the dominant discourse is gaining ground across borders. Social movements, trade unions, churches, NGOs, Women and more so the youth are taking to this bane.

The realization that the talk of 50,000 people dying daily from poverty is not mere statistic is rife and alive. A relation of the numbers to faces of friends, family, neighbors and other relation within the community are dominant. The picture of the Africa that seldom appears on the TV screens is being brought out, the Africa that is waging a determined struggle against poverty, as nations and as a continent. The African Union and the African Parliament, the symbol of a new Africa.

However the real transformation is taking place at the level of individual citizens in Africa, more so the youth, the youth of Africa are refusing to accept a life of bondage, poverty and injustice. Their message to the governments of Africa is loud and clear – no more excuses, no more poverty. Meeting the Millennium Development Goals, which virtually every African Government signed onto seven years ago, has to be a top priority. We will not tolerate corruption and inefficiency from our leaders any more.

Campaigns for achieving the Millennium Development Goals and poverty eradication have been embraced by the youth in more than 15 African Countries, the United Millennium Campaign and the Global Call to Action against Poverty are now a powerful voice of the people inside Africa holding African Governments to account. But on the other hand as much as the dominant discourse on poverty is developing world centric and sub – Saharan Africa specific, the so called developed world too has its stake, a big stake for that matter. Please listen to millions of your own citizens who are asking you to take action against poverty. Don’t tell us that you don’t have enough money to meet you aid commitments and cancel debts of all poor countries. You found a lot more money overnight for the war on Iraq and cancelling Iraq’s debts.

Looking at the task ahead of us; Our challenge: Voices for Peace, Partnerships and Renewal, it is obvious that we as a civilization are at a critical juncture that calls us to rethink our destiny. This is not a small task and will not be accomplished overnight. But its mere admission calls for us to dialogue and it is this dialogue that will usher us into a new paradigm.

Premised on the fact that the world is a shared heritage, we are saying that time has come when we have to free ourselves. In the context of our Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for all, we are reaffirming that we want freedom from want, freedom from fear and freedom from indignity.

At the intersection of developed and developing countries, what we call globalization today and its concomitant subjugation of whole societies and civilizations to the control and domination of others the very fibre of our commonality: Freedom is under challenge. I know the word freedom has been hijacked in recent times, but people from Africa who are under bondage know the true meaning of the word.

Let us join and listen to the voices of the world, the people who make the world, those who toil, those who nature, those who have continued to breathe life irrespective of the dispossession conditions they live in.

It is very ironical of the clear intentions and designs we continually put in place; each time history demands fundamental changes for human progress. It is my utmost hope that this premier dialogue is the first step towards breaking the rigid walls of the dominant enclosures.

This is why, when we the youth from Africa, embraced the October Stand Up and Take Action Campaign we stand up and declare that. “We shall no longer die, but live for Africa,” let the echo of this clarion call resonate at all corners of the world, and thus we will have secured the larger freedoms for us all, for ourselves, our children and our children, children. It is our heritage at stake!!

By: S. M. Ngotho