American Friends Service Committee, Youth Peace Education and Leadership Development Program.
Report on the African Young Voices on African Unity and Development International Conference, March
19th – 21st March 2003, Nairobi, Kenya.
Report by Nachilala Nkombo and Anzetse Were
Report Summary
- Title: African Young Voices United on African Unity and Development
- Site of the event: Nairobi, Kenya
- Dates for the activity: March 19th -21st 2003
- Sponsor and co sponsors of the event
- AFSC Dialogue and Exchange Program
- Accommodation, travel and set up costs
- AFSC Africa Youth Peace Education and Leadership Development Program-
Part of travel and food expenses.
- UZIMA Foundation and Ngong Road monthly meeting.
- Friends Peace House (FPH), Rwanda and Mozambique Council of Churches (MCC)
Provide translation services for Portuguese and French speakers
* Total number of participants at event
44 participants were present
* Breakdown by sex of total participants
Total present 20 males and 24 females
* Break down by age of total participants (Youth = 25 and younger, adults 26 and above)
18 were 25 and younger and the rest were 26 and older mostly between 26 and 30
Background to Event
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Africa Youth Peace Education and Leadership
Development (YPELD) program in close collaboration with seven youth organizations from Central,
Southern and East Africa organized a development forum for African youth at Kasarani Sports
View Hotel in Nairobi Kenya from 19th - 21st March 2003. This gathering was aimed at projecting
African youth voices on their perspectives on African Unity and the direction of Africa's
development. The theme of the gathering was “African young voices on African Unity and
Development."
This meeting was aimed at initiating a dialogue among African youth around Africa 's common
problems such as conflict, poverty, and AIDS threatening its future and the lives of African
youth.
The organizing committee of the gathering was composed of the following organizations:
- UZIMA Foundation (Kenya) – Represented by Janet Ifedha
- Angola 2000(Angola) - Represented by Matias Capapelo
- Agenda Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe) - Represented by Retlaw Matorwa
- The Anti-Voter Apathy Project, (Zambia) - Represented by Bonnie Tembo
- Friends Peace House (Rwanda) - Represented by Zawadi Nikuze
- Vibe Core Team (Swaziland) - Represented by Mimi Nkoyeni
- YWCA (Zimbabwe) – Represented by Rejoice Matanga
- Safer Africa (South Africa) - Represented by Slu Hlongwa
- Quaker Peace Center (South Africa) - Represented by Derek Daniels and Christoph Bauman
This gathering was an implementation of decisions and commitment jointly made by the
organizing committee at a planning meeting held in Harare, Zimbabwe from the 3rd - 4th of
February 2003. The Harare meeting was arranged as a planning activity of the AFSC YPELD
program.
The four outcomes of the meeting in Harare were as follows. Youth organizations:
- Agreed to work together across national boundaries to raise awareness around youth issues. These
organizations agreed to work together and take initiatives to bring together youth across national
boundaries to discuss serious development issues such as universal health care, education and debt
cancellation.
- Agreed on priority skills requirement for youth to make impact in their communities as they seek
change-They identified the skills that young people coming from their programs and communities
need in order to take effective leadership in mobilizing their local communities and working in
solidarity with youth from other African countries.
- Prioritized on broad issues that affected youth such as HIV/AIDS, unemployment, and effects of
war and economic deprivation as key issues for discussion by youth and needing action by
policymakers and the broader community.
- Undertook the planning of this Africa Inter-regional youth gathering-taking place in Nairobi,
Kenya. Kenya youth gathering
This project is part of AFSC's intensive three-year leadership development and exchange
program for peace and social justice activists from Africa and United States.
The goal of the program is to build and strengthen the capacity of a corps of 240 youth leaders,
120 from Africa and 120 from the US to work toward and hold before Africa a new vision for
Africa's renewal that promotes peace, African unity and policies that foster sustainable
development.
The Nairobi youth gathering brought together 40 African youth activists desiring to see radical
changes in Africa's socio and economic conditions. These youth were representatives of human
rights, youth development and church based youth organizations from Angola, Burundi, Eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia, Kenya, Rwanda, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa Tanzania,
Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Participants from Swaziland, Botswana, Tanzania and Malawi were not
able to attend due to communication and visa problems.
Narrative Report
A. Problem
The 2002 United Nations Human Development Report shows that while a majority of countries of the
World are making progress towards the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDG), 11 Sub-Saharan
African countries are lagging behind with 6 slipping back.
In Mozambique, for example, which up to 1992 could not educate its people, the Adult Literacy
rate is at 0.37 percent, fourth from the bottom in rank of the United Nations Human Development
Index HDI country-by-country indicators. In Africa, young people are hungry for this education.
The reality of African Youth is that on a day-to-day basis they are greatly faced with challenges
of HIV/AIDS, unemployment, underemployment, lack of opportunity for education and skill building,
hunger, diseases, War, other effects of economic deprivation and lack of political power. It is
common knowledge that Africa is not able to meet the needs of the large majority of its people,
more critical is its inability to nurture, educate, train, feed, and provide health care for the
custodian of its future- African youth. The 1998 UNAIDS report says that of the 5.8 million new
HIV infections of 4.0 million were in Africa and of the 4 million in Africa 2.8 were youth under the
age of 25. This is the African crisis.
It is against this background the world has a moral imperative to support a more radical now plan
for Africa with short, medium and long term strategies focusing on youth and youth taking
participation at all levels of decision making and policy implementation.
In seeking solutions to Africa 's development problems, they have been on going discussions,
debates and decisions taking place on many levels about the direction of Africa 's development,
for example the launching and implementing processes of the African Union (AU) and New Economic
Partnership for Africa 's Development (NEPAD) programs at government level, and several civil
society fora addressing Africa 's development problems.
Despite African youth being disproportionately affected by the African development crisis, they
have to a large extent remained estranged from these processes, which must produce the much-needed
development.
The voice and opinions of young people are not considered when African governments make policies
and taking decisions that affect the country and youth in particular. Young African people want
to get involved concretely in adding value to the development process. They feel that it is now
more important than ever before for the AU, NEPAD decision-making processes and national
governments to consciously and deliberately draw on the wisdom of all the people who will be
affected by the decisions and policies that will be put in place by these entities, that includes
African youth.
Through the Africa Initiative, AFSC and Key partners will commit to working with equally
committed African youth (through their organizations, and groups) who have identified the need
for youth to be effectively organized to take action at local national, continental and
international levels to plan and address Africa's problems. Engaged organizations will shared
their strengths, connections and responsibilities in meeting clearly identified goals.
B. Goals
- To provide a platform for African youth to project their voice on their perspectives on African unity and direction
of Africa 's development based on their experiences.
- To establish a network and its working structure that will develop and support the work of the
African youth solidarity network contributing to efforts of a peace, African rights and sustainable
development movement in Africa.
C. Objectives
To provide a platform so that African youth can do the following:
- Share experiences of pressing socio-economic and political issued that affect them in
particular and their nations at large with the view to understand the current conditions
in Africa.
- Articulate their views on African identity and on steps to African unity, local and
national solutions to Africa 's pressing problems.
- Identify the source of Africa 's common problems with a view to reiterate the case for
African unity and determine priorities for action that will altar the direction in Africa's
development to a sustainable path.
- Develop and agree on strategies and process to strengthening youth, advocacy and implementation
of coordinated actions led by youth at local, regional and international level for mobilizing
communities in pursuit of those solutions.
- Agree on goals to be achieved by 120 youth leaders that will be trained over the next three
years by the AFSC / Quaker Peace Center (QPC) youth leadership training program to ensure wider
benefits to youth in local communities.
Conference objectives Assessment: Were the objectives met?
- Share experiences of pressing social economic and political issues that affect them.
This objective was met through drama presentations and poems that depicted Africa's common
problems i.e. conflict in Africa and forces at play, an example of the conflict in the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC) was given, effects of colonialism within the current education system and
as well as land disputes, economic insecurities, HIV/AIDS and gender violence and discrimination.
The dramas pieces were done to open discussions among participants to reflect on whether what
the drama pieces were saying depicted the realities back home.
After wards we had specific individuals with expertise of the core issues to be discussed at
the conference giving presentations and engaging participants in small groups discussions.
Core issues for the conference were: Conflict in Africa, Economic Justice and HIV/AIDS.
We had a speaker on Conflict in Africa by the name of John Katunga, the acting Executive
Director and peace trainer at the Nairobi Peace Initiative (NPI).
With respect to Economic justice we had a speaker from Agenda Zimbabwe by the name of Tawanda
Mubvumba who is a trained economist and consultant. He defined economic justice and went on
further to relate Africa 's latest economic development framework the New Economic Partnership
for Africa 's Development (NEPAD) to the concept of economic justice.
Professor Miriam Were a medical doctor, who is also the Chairperson of the National AIDS Council
in Kenya, gave a talk on Youth and HIV AIDS. Participants working in small groups addressed
provoking questions thrown out by the presenters would follow presentations. The small groups
discussions were aimed at giving participants a chance to share their personal and countries
experiences around the problems and identify solutions on the subject and report back in a
plenary to the larger group.
- Youth will articulate their views on African identity and on steps to African unity,
local and national solutions to Africa 's pressing problems.
Anzetse Were, a Volunteer with the UZIMA foundation, gave a talk on the contributions African
people have made in today 's civilization. This talk was preceded by drama pieces that pointed
out that African countries share the similar history of slavery and colonialism and are dealing
with the effects of these phenomena even today.
Brenda Mofya, a lawyer trained in European and International law who is also a debt
cancellation activist of the University of Bremen and KASA, presented an analysis on the
African Union and the role of youth. She shed light on the history of the AU, how it was born
out of The Organization of African Unity (OAU) and identified how the latter was developed in
the first place. She described the objectives of the OAU and what features within it were
contradictory thus weakening its power for effective intervention and mediation of internal
conflicts such as the Rwandan genocide and other conflicts on the continent.
Presentations were each followed by small group discussions where participants addressed
specific questions on the problem and the actions required, and then plenary reports to the
large group were made.
- Identify the source of Africa 's common problems with a view to reiterate the case
for African unity and determine priorities for action that will alter the direction in
Africa 's development to a sustainable path.
The issues for the conference: African identity, conflict in Africa, economic Justice,
HIV/AIDS, African Union, and NEPAD were the product of a process that identified causes and
manifestations of Africa 's common problems, as well are areas to be addressed for Africa's
recovery.
- African Identity
Racism and modernization have as an impact of rating African values and products as inferior. Education systems, government structures and modes of production still reflect the oppression of colonialism.
- Conflict in Africa
Most war-torn African countries such as the DRC, Sierra Leone, and Angola are victims of their own misfortune as well as of global trends such as colonialism and the cold war. Outside interests fuel the war because of existence of Diamonds, oil, Coltan and other precious minerals. Global trends such as the colonialism and the cold war added to the prevalence of conflict in Africa.
- Economic justice and Africa
The global trading and political system pushes for policies through institutions such as World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) that further empowers western economic interests at the expense of Africans needs and interests. African governments ability to respond to crises of hunger, AIDS and illiteracy are limited by the huge debt owed to International Financial Institutions.
- Health and HIV/AIDS
AIDS has infected and affected a majority of African youth. Participants committed to working together through information sharing and advocacy to policy makers to ensure the eradication of HIV/AIDS. The participants also identified concrete ways in which the infected and affected would be supported at community and policy level as well as make the continent AIDS free.
- The African Union and NEPAD
Youth in Africa comprise of an absolute population of 260 million people. The size of several African countries put together. Participants demanded that the AU and NEPAD as supreme policy bodies on the continent be more inclusive of the younger generation and grassroots people in policy formulation, implementation and information sharing.
With respect to NEPAD, the presenter applauded the NEPAD objectives but he added that adopting
African definitions of concepts such as democracy could strengthen the document. According to
the presenter 's definition, democratic leadership is defined by African people as leadership
which goes beyond one being elected by vote but having a leader who is with the people i.e.
sharing and understanding the peoples experiences. He added that NEPAD Should focus on internal
resource mobilization and developing of genuine partnerships and encouraging intra-Africa trade
as opposed to relying on outside resources. The presenters called on Africa 's debt to be
cancelled.
In the small groups discussions participants where tasked to look at the priorities
identified in NEPAD and make their contributions. They gave their input on select issues
that they felt were critical for Africa 's development. Due to time constraints they did
not discuss all NEPAD identified priorities. However they noted that youth development and
participation is missing from NEPAD priorities that they would like to see included as the
NEPAD develops.
The small group discussion enabled participants to devise specific courses of action that will
lead to improvements in each sector.
The participant also identified strategies they would take to help solve these problems back home.
Youth commented that they didn 't have enough time to extensively deal with these important topics
that affected them. They recommended more time for future conferences and the need for access
to information on these structures and the decisions made. There was an earnest appeal made by
one of the participants that we should promote the culture of seeking information and reading
as youth.
Youth committed to taking action to ensure that policy makers in decision-making include them.
-
Youth will develop and agree on strategies and process to strengthening youth, advocacy and
implementation of coordinated actions led by youth at local, regional and international level
for mobilizing communities in pursuit of those solutions.
Nachilala Nkombo gave a talk on the goals of the AFSC Africa Initiative (A.I) thereby giving
participants a clearer idea of what opportunities the Initiative offers for them to engage and to
contribute. The AFSC Africa Initiative is a three year capacity building vehicle whose goal is to
strengthen civil society efforts in Africa to contribute to peace and sustainable development
through effecting policy change, On the US side, the goal is to build a solidarity movement for
Africa with other civic groups that will put pressure on US government for just policy making
towards Africa.
With regard to strengthening youth advocacy - The Quaker Peace Center (QPC) representatives
Christoph Bauman and Derek Daniels gave a presentation on the draft leadership courses that
they will implement for youth leaders and activists from Africa and the US over the next three
years sponsored by the AFSC. This exercise was designed to build on two processes that had been
implemented in August of 2002 and February of 2003 where youth and youth stakeholders where asked
to identify capacity building needs that young people were faced with that these courses would
address. Youth by region identified what their priorities/gaps were in terms of capacity
required. Based on the identified needs the QPC will develop a curriculum that will enable youth
to confidently engage and drive peace and social change processes in their communities within
their organizations.
With regard to youth organizing themselves effectively. By the end of the conference an
organizational structure had been devised that would ensure the coordination of activities
and mobilization around the issues discussed at the conference from local, national and
regional levels. Due to time constraints the group did not fully explore beyond the QPC
leadership training and exchange for international collaborations.
- Agree on goals to be achieved by 120 youth leaders that will be trained over the next
three years by the AFSC / QPC youth training program to ensure wider benefits to youth local
communities.
Due to time constraints, the participants did not agree on how many other youth should be
trained by the trained 120 youth leaders trained by QPC. But the organizing committee
recommended that all the 120 should at least train another 50 young leaders in their
communities.
D. Conference Events
The Conference was divided into 16 Sessions with each session dealing with a specific issue
or holding a certain event
Session 1- Welcome Events
UZIMA Foundation chaired this session with various UZIMA Youth Groups performing pieces on
social issues such as Female Genital Mutilation, Gender Parity and HIV AIDS. Women in the village
organized themselves and firmly stood in solidarity with each other to challenge the vices of FGM
and other discrimination of women.
Session 2- Welcome Session
Nachilala Nkombo, Program Coordinator for the AFSC, Youth Peace Education and Leadership
development Program gave a presentation on the American Friends Service Commission (AFSC),
its goals and vision of its work on Africa in Africa and the USA.
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Quaker peace and human rights organization
that includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace, and
humanitarian service. Its work is rooted in the Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) belief
in the worth of every person and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice.
It has programs of service, development, social justice, and peace education in the US, Africa,
Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. It was founded in 1917 to provide
conscientious objectors with an opportunity to aid civilian's victims of war during world
war one.
Internationally, AFSC programs core business is building relationships within communities and
between nations; economic development, support youth efforts to address problems in their
communities, build bridges between people of different faiths; emergency assistance, Accompaniment,
Public education and quiet diplomacy in conflict. Much of the work includes creating opportunities
for dialogue and capacity building led by the affected communities. AFSC 's Africa regional office
is based in Harare, Zimbabwe.
The AFSC Africa Program
The Africa Initiative (AI)
This is a comprehensive three-year commitment running from 2002-2005 made by the board of
AFSC to “Stand with Africans" in addressing the prevailing conditions of conflict and economic
marginalization of African countries. The primary identified constituencies of AFSC 's AI work
in Africa are African youth and women. In close collaboration with partner organizations the AI
is platform for action to challenge oppressive policies in Africa and in the US on Africa. Women
and youth will be provided opportunities to take leadership and work in solidarity around specific
identified peace and justice issues.
AFSC Vision on Africa
An African civil society that is organized, and exercises its power to work across countries and
across differences to build a diverse movement for peace in Africa, use Africa 's resources for
Africa 's development and enable Africa to participate in global decision making as an equal
partner with dignity, and valued with respect. A well-informed, diverse US constituency-base
that ensures justice in US/Africa policy-making and that holds US government, corporations and
multi-lateral institutions accountable as we stand in solidarity with Africa. An AFSC structure
with organizational long-term capacity to witness for peace and justice in Africa. The three
goals of the A.I are:
- In Africa to strengthen the capacity of Africans to rebuild a culture of peace and
justice that fosters sustainable development.
- In the United States, build a solidarity movement for Africa that has a strong constituency base
to apply consistent pressure for just US policy making on Africa.
- Between Africa and the US create long term strategic links engaging those working for justice
peace and economic development in Africa and United states.
The goal of the AFSC, Africa YPELD program is to build and strengthen the capacity of a corps
of 240 youth to work toward and hold before Africa and the US a new vision for Africa 's renewal
that promotes peace, African unity and just policies that foster sustainable development.
Most participants had not heard about AFSC before the gathering. Thus it was important to
share what it is the principles and its intentions on working on Africa issues.
Session 3
Mrs. Malesi Kinaro, Program Manager of UZIMA Foundation, gave a talk on UZIMA 's vision and mission
as well as telling the story of how the UZIMA Foundation was founded. She explained that the
founding members, Dr. Miriam and Mr. Humphreys Were had been challenged by God to ‘use what was
in their hand ' and change the course Kenya was taking by using the resources they already had
available to them.
Mr. Humphrey 's Were then gave the keynote speech and elaborated on the African challenges that
drove him and his wife to set up UZIMA foundation. He challenged the youth in stating that youth
are often used to incite violence thereby making them tools for bad governance. He stated that it
was up to the youth to decide which course Africa was to take with what they had now. He emphasized
the need for youth to have a clear vision and plan of action of what they want to do. Without a
vision and plan of action problems persist.
Session 4
The UZIMA youth gave a drama on common African Problems that took the audience through the voyage
Africa has gone through from colonial, independent, self-sustained Africa to the current troubled
continent.
The drama on Africa 's common problems was really for young people to agree and exchange on the
existence and manifestations of these problems in their communities and also share their
understanding of the causes of the problems and identify connections where they exist.
Anzetse Were spoke on African Identity. Her goals were to give participants an understanding into
the African identity by looking at the history of African people and looking at the contributions
Africans have made to civilization, she gave examples of the important contributions Africans have
made in the fields of science, technology, medicine and education.
With regard to facts on Africa, she pointed out the following: Fossil records show that the origin
of human race is in Africa; The mitochondrial DNA analysis show that African homosapien ancestor
is the most variable and oldest DNA in the world. The presenter made linkages to the origin of
other races Caucasian and Mongolian to the African black race. Thus Africa played a pivotal role
in the nurturing and development of the human race.
With regard to contributions Africans have made to civilization she shared the following examples,
In Astronomy,
1.The Nomarutanga II in Kenya made contributions in the area of astronomical observatory - 300 BC.
2. The Dragon of Mali- the West African people have plotted the orbits of stars circling the
Sirius star
In Science and technology,
1. The Yoruba people developed a number system called the Zaslaky. A system of computations
that involves addition, subtraction and multiplication to express one number.
2. The Egyptian number system- The Egyptian value of PI was the most accurate ancient
time 4 X (8/9) 2
Medicine
1. Imhoptepe who lived in ancient Egypt around 2980 BC is considered the first physician.
2. The performance of caesarean section in Banyoro, Uganda 1879 using banana wine as antiseptic.
Steel making
1. The Haya of Tanzania designed iron-smelting furnaces. The Ancient Egyptians were
experimenting with flying machines as early as 3-4th century.
In Philosophy and Education
1. It is documented that Pythagoras, a native of Samos traveled to Egypt for the purpose of education.
She also detailed some of the negative effects that slavery and colonialism had on Africa.
The topic on African identity was put on the agenda as its importance is unequivocal as the debate
on African unity and development is put on the table. The issue of identity is important in
understanding the status quo and how the perceptions on Africa reproduce the existing status
quo that discriminates against Africans.
The participants then broke up into smaller groups and discussed two questions with reference to
the drama and the presentation. Below are the questions that address present day effects of
colonialism and actions participants will take to address them.
Question 1: What do you see as the present day effects
of colonialism in Africa?
Participants felt that colonialism pushed Africans countries into economic and political dependence
on the West. Colonialism drew artificial lines in Africa, which have led to current border conflicts
in Africa as well as ethnic violence. The system of assimilation used in colonialism led to a loss
of African Identity as can be seen in Euro- centric/ western-oriented education system, the extortion
of African food eating habits, dressing and the erosion of African languages. Colonialism has
facilitated Western exploitation of Africa leading to the depletion of Africa 's resources.
Neo-colonization has crippled Africa economically as can be seen in Structural Adjustments Programs
imposed by the International Monetary Fund, Free trade, promotion of multinationals, privatization
and globalization at the expense of Africans dying of hunger, AIDS and curable diseases such as
Malaria and Tuberculosis.
Question 2: How can we address these effects as
African Youth?
Participants felt these issues would be best addressed by building a sustainable platform as
African Youth to promote democratic governance. Participants also felt it important that youth
share exposure they have acquired with other youth as well as having small projects that will
enhance community unity and alleviate poverty. Youth should know what is happening around them
and get interested in politics and encourage positive peer pressure. The youth also felt it
important that they identify and strengthen already existing networks in order to create
dialogue and exchange of ideas among themselves and use technology to communicate with others.
The participants were determined to change Africa minds on African identity, revive positive
African traditions, identify with African products, build an African lifestyle, instead of
imitating and trying to catch up with western lifestyles and support African products by using
their income to purchase African products. Participants also stressed the importance of building
consensus among Africa youth about the evils hurting Africa and building social movements to
influence Africa governments to change the dependency mentality. In order to change the economic
dependence on the West, participants felt that intra-African trade should be a focus among
African countries.
Session 5: Conflict in Africa
John Katunga, a Congolese national from the Nairobi Peace Initiative gave a brief overview of the
conflicts on the African continent. Four million people died in the Congolese war, one million
Africans died in the Rwandese genocide. 40, 000 children are child soldiers in Africa. He also
pointed to the fact that most wars were rooted in conflict over land and/or resources. The role
of youth in all this is that they are used in promoting violence. Despite the role youth play in
creating havoc no youth are brought to the negotiating table in peace processes, he gave an
example of Sudan peace process. He explained that youth empowerment is key in ending the conflicts
in Africa as empowered youth will be able to refuse to join militia groups that provoke and fuel
various wars. He mentioned that youth are manipulated because they lack role models and clear
vision. He identified Lumumba of the Congo, Thomas Sankara and Gerry Rawlings as examples of
young African people on the continent who had vision and made sound contributions to the struggles
of African people.
Katunga, urged youth to prepare them for nationalism and to gain knowledge and be informed; T
mentioned that youth need to prepare themselves and have an agenda to act on; pointed out that
youth people should fight for inclusion in government processes. They needed to research and explore
opportunities presented by government and UN to include civil society. He gave an example of
resolution 1325 on Women in the United Nations, which gives women 30% representation on the decision
making table; mentioned that Tanzania is paying 25% of its budget for debt service, which is
unacceptable and emphasized on the need for Africans to strategize on the economics so that we
can come out of the perpetual catch up mode.
The participants then split into groups and were asked to answer the following questions on
Conflict management.
Question One: What are the concrete steps for youth to
participate in peace process?
In response to the first question participants felt that as youth were the main group that were
used to provoke violence it was important to equip youth with skills through basic vocational
training and employ the youth in labor oriented work. E.g. road building. In addition, youth
should advocate for behavior change among them and that the government should re-visit the idea
of the army and find a way to use the youth energies more productively. It was felt important for
the youth to initiate programs for active non-violence and educate each other on voting rights,
political rights. There should be youth advocacy for peaceful resolution at local, national,
continental and international levels. They also suggested that courts or some other law- mechanism
be created were conflicting parties could redress the differences leading to conflict. Ethnic
conflict is a major problem on the continent therefore participants felt it is important to break
tribal barriers. They also pointed out the importance of identifying peace organizations and
strengthening them so that they work better.
Question two: Concrete steps for youth participation
in new structures emerging on the continent.
Participants felt they should educate the youth on emerging structures e.g. in the African Union
and New Economic Partnership for Africa 's Development NEPAD and identify a collective role in
these structures. Participants also pointed out the importance of demanding a youth national
policy since the youth are currently not included in the new structures. This awareness could
be achieved through workshops and seminars and creating spaces for youth at the inter-governmental
agency secretariats. It was also felt necessary to network with youth-serving organizations to come
up with a platform to enable them speaks with one voice at local, national and regional levels.
This topic was relevant to participants from Burundi, Democratic Republic Congo, and Rwanda, which
are African Countries that have been experiencing war for a long time. The presenter further said
that the depth of poverty and economic insecurity in Zambia and Zimbabwe has potential of political
instability.
With regard to relevance to AFSC, one of AFSC 's goals in Africa, for its central Africa QIAR
program is to work with partners who are working towards new definitions and approaches to peace
and security.
Session 6- free time
Session 7: NEPAD, Economic Justice and Africa
Tawanda Mubvumba explained the New Economic Partnership for Africa 's Development (NEPAD) document
and the implication it has for all African states. NEPAD is the economic development framework
launched by African statesmen at the AU summit in Lusaka July 2002.
The goal of NEPAD is to extricate Africa from the malaise of underdevelopment. The speaker
identified the following as the positive sides of NEPAD: Its recognition that Africa resources
be used for the well being of its people; Acknowledgement of the effects of colonialism; Recognition
of the need for self-reliance. Before giving a critical diagnosis of NEPAD, the presenter noted
previous attempts to address underdevelopment in Africa. The OAU Lagos Plan of Action (1980), The
UN Program for Accelerated African Recovery and Development (UN-PAA ERD) 1985,The UN Economic
Framework for Africa 's alternative African framework to Structural Adjustment Program for Social
Recovery and Transformation (AAF-SAP) of July 1989. The speaker pointed out that the 1989
initiative was blocked by the World Bank 's position on Sub-Saharan Africa namely “ from Crisis
to sustainable development, along term perspective".
Before NEPAD, the background to African economic policies is the Structural Adjustments Programs
(SAPS) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) as main donors asking
for implementation of SAPs.
In terms of the flaws of NEPAD like the Modernization paradigm of the 60s and SAPs of the 1990s
NEPAD is seen as top down approach to development, lacking consultation of grassroots, It is an
economic framework that keeps Africa under the cloud of neoliberal mystery.
This Neoliberal economic framework within NEPAD as SAPs is premised on the achievement of the
goals of classical economics. An increased reliance on the market to supply good and services
and simultaneously sharply reduce state intervention in the economy and management of resources.
Despite the high hopes by the IMF, WB and some African leadership in the implementation of SAPs,
SAPs created a series of economic crises in African countries. In Zimbabwe alone, about forty
thousand workers lost their jobs during the WB/IMF SAP induced reform period between 1990-1995.
Accompanying the failure of Saps was the burgeoning debt in Africa.
The problem with continuing to implement neoliberal agenda is that the government is asked to
continue to cut down on social spending in national budgets, where spending on basic services
that benefit the poor primarily result in abysmal conditions also indicate in this report.
The speaker closed by pointing out alternatives, he called on the Africa policy makers to focus
on the following:
- Devising a partnership with the west based on mutual trust, which concentrates, on technology
transfer not development AID.
- Fostering people centered development framework based on popular participation and African value
systems.
- Revisiting national constitutions to ensure that they have mechanisms that facilitate the
matching of Africa rich endowments with the aspirations of its people.
- Standing ground on the debt issues. Cancellation of Africa 's wrongful debt. The western
governments owe Africa reparations for slavery, colonialism and continuing looting of Africa's
resources; A united front of Africa leaders with one collective voice at the World trade
Organization) WTO) and similar negotiating tables.
Tawanda challenged conference participants to take NEPAD home to the people for analysis.
He said, “The donor community uses the term democracy as a means of control yet we all know that
democracy cannot thrive in a situation of hunger, poverty and conflict-African people are not at
peace. Peace does not just mean absence of war." He added.
He called on youth as custodians of Africa 's future to be active players in the present to
liberate Africa from poverty. In terms of taking concrete actions, he further challenged the
youth to set up a debt task force that will critically study and educate on debt issues.
Participants were given an opportunity to discuss the NEPAD document in more depth during the
session on ‘Task forces on the NEPAD document ' this was done in smaller groups.
This topic relates to AFSC 's goal to work with partners doing cutting edge work on economic
justice, this is the focus of Southern African QIAR program.
Session 8:The Role of African Youth in the African Union (AU): Lessons from the European Union (EU)
Brenda Mofya then gave a talk on the role of African Youth in the African Union (AU): Lessons from
the European Union (EU).
The presenter wanted to be noted that drawing reference to the EU should not be understood as an
import of theories or structures from former colonial masters but a recognition of the fact that
despite highly divergent situations young adults along as with women and children are the most
affected by rapid economic change and cultural diversity and always struggle to achieve their
aspirations. The EU has deployed concrete policies oriented towards hearing the voice of its
youth.
The speaker began with the history of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and how it led to
the formation of the AU. “Today, despite the fact that Africa 's youth have a lot to say about
African unity and development, they continue as insignificant actors. “ She said.
Brenda pointed out that while the pan African movement of the 1950s, which led to the
establishment of the OAU and liberation of the rest of Africa from the yoke of colonialism,
was mainly driven by youth, the OAU systematically abandoned the youth. This trend continues
under the AU. Despite sweeping statements made by the AU Secretary General, Amara Essy on
including women and youth, no commitment has been made so far to include youth in managing its
national and institutional issues in Africa.
According to the founding documents of the AU, AU takes on the EU as a model for the integration
of Africa; the presenter therefore examined the place accorded to the youth by the EU.
A recap on the pan African movement of the fifties and sixties and a study of the fifty years
of historical experience behind the EU provides lessons as well as insights into policy approaches
that recognize youth as powerful forces in development and social change processes.
The EU has in place a white paper on the role of youth in the EU developed through massive
consultation with youth. This paper is a policy framework all EU member states have to mainstream
at national and local levels intended to build capacity of youth to meet today 's challenges.
Examples of concrete EU sponsored programs implemented, as direct products of the youth policy
are policy-debating foras for youth, educational and exchange programs between schools and
universities in Europe. This presenter believes such examples will serve as insights to the
African political leadership on types of programs and policies with respect to youth that would
facilitate processes for making young people stakeholders in the development process.
She emphasized that through implementation of concrete programs such as outlined above would the
AU would serve to promote youth involvement in unifying and developing Africa.
She emphasized the need for youth to air their views in their participation as stakeholders in the
AU, play a significant role as youth did in the OAU. She notified the participants that the AU has
its office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Opportunities of plugging in or lobbying the AU exist through the foreign affairs ministers at home
and the permanent representatives from the member 's countries to the AU (these are like advisers to
the heard of states). She emphasized the importance of youth having a position on the matter.
The participants then split into regions groups of Eastern Africa, Southern Africa (3 groups) and
Central Africa. These groups then discussed what actions they will take with regards to making the
voice of youth heard in the AU.
The participants answered the following questions:
Question one: What role should the youth play in influencing
Africa unity: its formulation and implementation.
In response to this question participants felt it important to establish networks with foreign
affairs ministers and lobby them and invite government officials to youth platforms to address
inclusion of youth in national development and regional integration. It was also deemed necessary
to present local youth programs addressing local areas of needs/interests to government as well as
review national youth policies and ensures they respond to today's needs and challenges.
Question two: What points can we use to rally other young
people in our communities on African unity?
The need to sensitive the youth on the existence of the AU was identified i.e. its purpose, who
was behind the formation, and that youth organizations should take it upon themselves to raise
awareness among youth as well as in mass mobilization to actively participate in decision making
on development issues. Youth will organize to put massive pressure on government and AU structures
to include them in decision-making.
The topic on the role of youth in the AU was particularly important now because this process is
moving forward in the articulation of its policies. The heads of government are meeting in July
2003 in Mozambique at their annual AU summit thus as they move forward it would be important that
concerted efforts have been made by young people to have a position on Africa 's development.
This topic was important for AFSC 's vision for its work in Africa, Africa staff envisioned “An
African civil society that is organized, and exercises its power to work across countries and
across differences to build a diverse movement for peace in Africa, use Africa 's resources for
Africa 's development and enable Africa to participate in global decision making as an equal
partner with dignity, and valued with respect."
Upon hearing that there was a meeting of representatives of youth organizations from several African
Countries, the meeting was joined by Yvonne Khamati Regional Director of the African Youth Conference
based in Addis Ababa, which has 41 offices in 41 African countries. She commended African youth for
coming together to tackle issues of African development and how they could be players. She
emphasized that her organization takes Pan Africanism as a vital value that should be enforced
by African states to meet Africa 's development challenges today. She talked about HIV/AIDS from
a regional perspective; she added that reverting to African modes of moral behavior would
contribute significantly in combating AIDS.
In terms of developing a position on the AU, Brenda was tasked to work on a declaration from the
conference thus she invited at least one member of each of the regions to work with her to produce
the draft to be approved by the house.
Session 9: Health, HIV/AIDS and African Youth
Dr Miriam Were, chairperson of the National AIDS Control Council in Kenya gave a talk on Health,
HIV/AIDS and the role of African Youth in combating AIDS. She opened by saying “ youth can promote
African unity and development through taking leadership in health promotion and control of HIV/AIDS.
She defined youth as ranging between 10-34 years of age. She talked of the health issues of youth.
She pointed out a number of factual demographic information about youth and the positive attributes
of youth that stood for the significance of youth in promoting development in Africa. These were;
the fact that most Africa 's populations are 50 or almost 50 percent youth, the largest population
of literate people are youth, most exposed even to .com, youth are optimistic enthusiasm, and
energetic and were the healthiest before the advent of HIV/AIDS. She gave various statistics
showing how HIV/AIDS is systemically ripping the African continent of its future productive
generations. She pointed out areas of health that youth can take leadership at. Such as lifestyles
diseases, cigarettes, drugs and alcohol and eating habits.
With regard to HIV/AIDS she mentioned that youth were particularly vulnerable due to factors
such as adolescence, youth receive mixed messages that were confusing for example society puts high
value of virginity, yet they are also exposed to a barrage of adverts where sex images are used to
sell goods in the media.
However, she ended with a note of encouragement showing how African countries like Uganda, Zambia
and Senegal have managed to keep HIV/AIDS down. However she also pointed out that youth need to do
more, to rise out of hopelessness and mobilize communities and the political leadership to invest
in youth with particular goal to kill AIDS dead.
She pointed out that those in doubt of the statistics depicting the levels of decimation of
communities should visit the graveyards and hospital as these places tell the story.
With regard to the importance of this topic the speaker also pointed out the following" In the
UN study of 2000, out of a population of 4.0 million infected Africans 2.8 million were youth.
The impact of HIV/AIDS in Africa has been to reduce life expectancy, increase number of orphans".
Participants then broke up into groups to discuss the two questions below.
Question one: What is the power to enable you, your country and
the continent to stay AIDS free?
Participants felt it important to educate youth on self-worth in order to prevent youth from
engaging in high-risk behavior due to low self worth. It was also felt necessary to have open
discussion amongst people, leading to inter-generational support groups as well as doing away
with traditionally beliefs such as female genital mutilation. Participants also thought that it
would be good it youth could learn lessons from other people 's experiences on AIDS and use
role models to help guide their actions.
E.g. those who have come out on their status like Magic Johnson. Instilling moral values being focused on achieving our future as well as ending idleness
through recreational centers were other ideas given. Some participants advocated abstinence as an
option and that governments should put in place specific HIV/AIDS policies. It was also felt that
youth would find it helpful if prominent people took on active role in the fight against AIDS e.g.
Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia.
Question two: What can be done to those affected and infected?
As far as the infected are concerned participants felt that it was important they receive
counseling, visit the doctor have good eating habits and encourage them to continue with what
they used to do (if possible). Those uninfected should avoid stigmatization, encourage and show
love to HIV + individuals and avoid showering too much pity on them. In addition governments should
allocate more funds to HIV programs or have a set HIV/AIDS policy such as in Zimbabwe where
there is an AIDS levy of 3 % of taxes.
For those affected participants felt they should help in creating awareness, counseling, pushing
for Policy making and cheaper drugs. The affected should have access to nourishing food and
supplements. The community should set up support groups for the affected. The community should
avoid stigmatization, advocate for change of behavior and encourage widows/widowers and children's
support groups. This topic is important because it has affected all sectors of Africa's
development through the losses in manpower; expertise and hours by care givers.
Session 10: Task forces on NEPAD
This is a continuation of the session on NEPAD. Participants divided into groups with each group
tackling a specific priority area identified in the NEPAD document so as to create a collective
youth response to the NEPAD document. Sectors are not placed in a particular order of importance.
1.Culture and Education
- Allocate more annual budgetary funds to education sector and culture programs sector.
- Encourage use of local language in local media, schools, meetings and seminars.
- Train teachers and increase compensation of teaching staff.
- Promote the learning of the history of other African cultures in schools. And mainstream
histories of other African countries in all African countries school curricula.
- Provide more technical training to youth.
- African countries should be put under pressure to adopt legislation that protects
indigenous knowledge.
- Contact key institutions (UNESCO, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Culture) to develop
concerted efforts in the area of education and culture.
- Government should subsidize education for the poor to so as to fight illiteracy.
- Attention should be paid to meeting education needs of people with special needs that
includes training their teachers.
2. Health, HIV/AIDS, Water
- Water
- Need for regular cleaning of rivers
- Training on sanitation e.g. encouraging boiling of water
- Promote cleanliness in communities
- Enforce pollution control regulations for cars, trucks and factories
- Drain stagnant water
- Enforce environmental protection laws
- Government should subsidize for the health sector through increased allocation in national
budgets.
- Incorporate youth in governance issues on development
- Seek rural people 's advice on where to put boreholes and dams.
- Health
- Create a malaria loan fund as well as educate people on the causes of malaria
- Implement pre-natal care, especially in rural areas
- Create programs designed for behavior change to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS
- Give sufficient compensation to trained specialists so as to prevent the brain drain phenomena
- Formalize and invest in indigenous African medicine
- Undertake scientific research on indigenous herbs SEE discussion on HIV/AIDS.
3. Agriculture and Food Security
- Government to subside farms
- Stop bio-piracy – nobody can claim ownership. Mobilize and challenge government policies
that allow bio-piracy.
- Create seed banks to ensure sustainability
- Institute protection for falling prices of raw materials that Africa sells
- Mechanize Agriculture to ensure mass production of food
- Eradicate exploitation of women and children in agriculture
- Empower youth through ownership of Agricultural projects and environment (natural resources)
- Address the land issue to improve food security
- Consider permanent agriculture as an opinion
- Build networks with agriculture ministries and departments of labor so as to develop harmonized
policies among African countries
- Set up funds in budgets to support small scale farmers and create employment in agriculture
- Promote organic farming
4.Industry, Trade and Debt
- Governments and civil society should push for cancellation of Africa 's debt
- Analyze benefits and cost of trade relations
- Encourage shared benefits
- Establish an African banking center
- Plan for processing of raw materials in Regional and continental development plans
- Encourage Intra-Africa trade
- Promote one African voice in multilateral talks by our government representatives through
organized meetings on matters of common economic interest such as the Paris club
- Create forums for African business people to plan and strategize to counter negative effects
of big foreign business.
5. Youth Development and Participation in Democracy and Governance
- Integrate African definition of democracy in policy-making processes.
- Develop a very clear policy on youth development and participation.
- Lobby to get youth representatives in NEPAD process i.e. youth to help tackle each issue.
- Create uniform youth structures among member 's states whose goal is to include youth.
- There should be section that includes youth participation in the formulation and implementation
of NEPAD and AU.
- Articulate a specific youth capacity building agenda for youth at National levels, within NEPAD
and AU.
- The authors and custodians of NEPAD should immediately engage the grassroots and academia in an
effort to come up with real African ideas based on experiences.
- Government should establish mechanisms at national level beyond media comments to share
deliberations and decisions at AU and NEPAD to their nationals as a means of accountability e.g. hold
press conferences when they discuss AU and NEPAD.
- Establish an African youth desk that will engage youth and youth organizations on matter of
democratic participation.
6.Information and Communication
- Create strong African media house covering and informing the whole of Africa effectively and
efficiently.
- Critically analyze the viewing of western media.
- Set up of an all-African media institute in either electronic, print or both with established
networks on the ground.
- Initiate a proper plan and time frame pertaining to creation of linkages to open up every
country to each other.
- Government should include provisions in the constitutions where civil society groups, youth
in particular facilitate dissemination of information to grassroots.
- Liberalize airwaves so that information pertaining to development is communicated to the
grass roots especially in local languages.
- African countries should be put to task to provide for electricity and proper infrastructure
to all citizens especially in the rural areas for effective implementation of ICT.
- Introduce and invent ICT in schools. How can you promote what never was?
- An African initiative can only be successful if we have a homegrown alternative to come up
with finances for project.
- Eliminate all travel visas between African states.
7. The Network Structure
A final group worked on the organization structure that should be put in place in order
to coordinate and monitor the actions taken by all the participants in he conference. The
participants agreed that the network would be called African Youth Initiative Network
(AYINET). See annex for mission statement and structure for AYINET.
Session 11: Free time or viewing of the video "Lumumba"
Session 12
All the participants adopted a Declaration of African Youth on African Unity and development.
See Annex for declaration.
The participants also drafted and adopted a statement against the US-led war against Iraq.
See Annex for statement
The conference was joined by the coordinator of the African Youth Parliament (AYP) that was
to take place from the 24th-29th of March 2003 in Nairobi. Their goal was to launch the AYP
network. Devise strategies and action plans of including youth in social economic development
and governance issues in Africa. Their macro strategy in all the 53 African countries was to
work and mobilize young African parliamentarians to push for youth issues and youth representation
in governance issues. This representative invited members of the AYINET network to participate at
the AYPO as observers. AYINET was represented at this meeting b y the Kenya chapter.
Nachilala Nkombo then gave a short presentation on the opportunities that exist within the
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Africa programming on peace and justice issues. She
pointed out that the AFSC could be of use to African youth in the following ways:
- Providing facilitation and leadership training through the courses implemented by the Quaker Peace
Center
- On the US side-community educating and mobilizing against unjust US policies imposed through the.
World Bank and IMF and arms industries.
- Bringing together the marginalized groups affected by the same policies to share strategies
on ways to solve these problems internationally. The Africa Social Forum, World Social Forum,
African and African Descendant meetings and the 2007 AFSC International Youth summit against Racism
and all forms of Intolerance as likely foras.
- They are plans to work with partners and set up internships at the AU that will provide up to date information on decision processes that are taking places to the youth network established, AFSC and wider networks.
Session 13
Christoph Baumann from the Quaker Peace Center (QPC) gave a talk on the services being offered
to us by the QPC. He explained that the QPC intends to have a series of 2-week long workshops on
pressing issues on which African youth feel they need training. The participants in small groups
based on region were asked to answer the following questions:
- To identify the priority thematic issues they feel should be dealt with in their region.
- What common skills should every young leader acquire in the training?
Central Africa identified the following specific needs (Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic
Republic of Congo)
Question one
- Felt that Conflict resolution should be a training priority. This should involve learning and
sharing of conflict resolution strategies and methodologies. This is because Central Africa is a
particularly vulnerable to conflict thereby the need to strengthen youth capacity to build peace
in their communities.
- Strengthening the leadership capacity.
Question two
- Counseling
- Trauma healing
- Mediation
Southern Africa Zone (South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Lesotho)
Question one
- HIV/AIDS
- Resource redistribution and prevention of human rights violation. The history of apartheid,
human rights violations and unequal distribution of wealth in Zimbabwe and South Africa also
led to the feeling that this is an issue that should be discussed and youths should receive
training on these issues
- Review of IMF and World bank policies on Africa
- Anti-discrimination
- Food security
- Human rights education
- Crime prevention
Question two
- Leadership and communication skills-report writing, public speaking/giving presentations
- Basic computer skills
- Entrepreneurial skills business management
- Basic Human rights Awareness
The Eastern African Zone (Kenya and Uganda)
Question One
-
HIV/AIDS, economic integration, and community outreach should be focus areas for training. Due to
the relative peace this zone has experienced, it was possible for participants to think about issues
such as concretizing economic integration to strengthen African economies. Also, the number of deaths
in Africa caused by malaria, TB and HIV/AIDS led to the desire that training be given on community
outreach so that youths could then go into villages and help educate people on these issues and
others.
Question two
- Delegation skills
- Develop outreach tools such as theatre
- Facilitation skills
- Communication skills
- Lobbying skills
- Initiative skills
- Proposal writing
- Research skills
- Self management skills
- Public relations skills
The discussions on the training was important because without training and exchange of ideas
the youth remain challenged in taking consistent leadership in addressing these pressing issues.
The AFSC within its Africa Initiative (AI) will implement a leadership training and exchange
program for 240 corps of youth leaders peace and social justice activists of Africa and African
descent from the Africa and the US over the three years of the AI. Thus this session was a third
layer of consultation of youth to identify the capacity building needs that should form the
basis of the leadership ands training program that will shape them to have more impact in
their community activism as leaders. Out of the training each participant will come out with a
plan of action to implement back home.
After consulting the beneficiaries-youth- QPC will develop and implement courses that will
meet the identified the needs.
Session 14
E. Evaluation
* Open large group evaluation
* Individual evaluation using evaluation forms
1. Open large group evaluation of the conference
The conference was evaluated using two methods. During the closing session, Zawadi Nikuze
facilitated a session where she asked the participants to evaluate the 3-day conference by
giving feedback on the following:
- What worked and what didn't?
- What did you learn from the conference?
- How will you implement what you learnt when you return to your home countries?
The comments received from participants were as follows:
- One of the participants from Angola said she learnt a lot from the conference. She felt that
there was a lot of information that she received that she would be able to take back to her
community. However, throughout the conference she was extremely frustrated by her inability to
fully engage in the discussions because of her limited ability to express herself in English.
There was only one person available to translate for her from English to Portuguese. This
translator, who was also a participant, was not willing to translate during the entire conference.
A participant from Burundi echoed her sentiments.
- Several participants said they gained a lot from Brenda Mofya 's presentation on the AU. Most
of the information shared in this presentation was new to many people. Thus participants felt
challenged to do something when they get back home. One of the participants from Zambia urged
participants to continue to follow closely issues, such as the AU and NEPAD, where the voices of
young people have not been included. He said that as African youth, “we need to develop a culture
of reading".
- A number of participants said they learnt a lot from Tawanda 's presentation and paper on
NEPAD. His analysis on NEPAD was clear and concise.
- Many of the participants said the presentation on African Identity provided them with new
information on the accomplishments of black people. Participants were keen to find out how to
effectively share this information with other youth people back home. A participant from Zambia
asked Anzetse to provide her with additional information, which she can use to educate other young
people in her country. Another participant, from Namibia, said hearing this information made her
proud to be an African. It reminded her that there is nothing that we as Africans cannot do.
- Participants were impressed with Mr. Were 's speech on “ youth need to have vision“.
Emphasized the idea that if you don not have a plan you won 't be able to move forward. He urged
participants to seek to effect change with what they had not wait until they have more. It 's the
vision and plan that makes a difference. UZIM A started with 15 youth now they have 11,000. In a
group of 40 you can reach more youth as long as you have vision.
- Conference helped to open up minds for youth to engage with decision makers. One of the
participants commented that “ information is power“.
- One participant commented `this is the first conference I have been to that is solely
organized by youth! And it is so successful“.
- Impressed with the UZIMA model of community mobilization of youth e.g. the dramas and poems
as means of communication. The implementation of income generating activities as a means of
members sustaining their work and reducing external dependency.
- Thanked Nachilala for the clear vision she brought of the operations of the network in
the network task force.
- Gained a lot in group work.
- Pleased with conference that brings youth people from different countries and all walks
of life to share and plan together.
- Made lots of friends.
2. Feedback from the individual evaluation form.
Positive points of the conference
The participants felt that the issues presented were very relevant to African youth.
They greatly enjoyed the issues discussed and learning from people from other countries
in Africa. They were inspired by the example of UZIMA Foundation stating that they
appreciated the example of UZIMA as tangible proof that the youth can take their future in
their own hands and change the course of their own lives with great possibilities of
changing their nations and therefore the whole continent.
Many participants appreciated the humility of the organizers of the conference saying that
they felt that the organizers were very approachable and were open to holding discussion with
ell participants.
Participants stated that they felt the conference was focused and they went into the conference
having a clear idea of what the objectives of the conference were and therefore were able to
address the issues with the objectives in mind. In addition, they commended the constant
reminder that everyone had to leave the conference with a specific acting plan for themselves
and their organization in order to ensure concrete follow up action came out of the conference.
Points of improvement for future conferences held
As far as organization of the conference was concerned, many participants felt that the conference
was fairly well organized, meaning that there is room for improvement. Participants expressed
frustration over the fact that there was not enough time allotted to discuss each issue. They
felt that they did not have enough time to fully discuss and get to the heart of the issues
presented and therefore recommend more time for large and small group discussions in any
subsequent conferences. This sentiment was especially expressed with concern to the discussion
that followed the speech on the African Union and African identity.
A number of participants felt that the presentation n on Conflict in Africa did not really
provide them with anything to work immediately in terms of finding concrete ways to help prevent
and end conflict in Africa.
Participants also commented on the lack of entertainment provided as a part of the conference.
They would have appreciated a specific time allocated as time for site seeing and getting to know
the Kenyan culture and way of life.
Organizers recommended that future conferences should be organized way ahead of time.
There was also the general feeling that the conference was too short and that it was already time
to go home when everyone was just beginning to get to know each other. Therefore, there was a
desire for longer conferences to be held to allow participants to form stronger bonds with
each other.
F. Impact
Participants were positively impacted by this conference. By the end of the conference, many
participants expressed their appreciation and delight at being invited to the conference. They
were encouraged by the example of UZIMA Foundation saying that it gave them the fire to continue
with their work since it was proof that Africa youth can make a difference in the lives of their
peers and nation.
Participants learnt about the AU and NEPAD initiatives which, both of which will greatly impact
the lives of African youth.
They were challenged by one of the participants to go home and read more and be better informed.
They expressed determination to learn more about both initiatives and educated their communities
on both of these initiatives as a part of the follow up action in each of their countries.
Participants also learnt new facts about African identity and the often-ignored important
contributions that Africa has made to civilization.
This conference will have positive short and long-term impacts on the communities of the
participants.
This program contributes to a three-year goal for the youth leadership development and
exchange program for youth leaders, peace and social justice activist from Africa and the US.
The time frame for this goal is 2002-2005.
The goal of the program is to build and strengthen the capacity of a corps of at least 260 youth
from Africa and the US to work toward and hold before Africa and the US a new vision for Africa's
renewal that promotes peace, African unity and just policies that foster sustainable development
in Africa. Under this goal before the training and exchange youth in Africa and in the US are to
organize themselves separately. Youth in Africa setting the agenda and direction for social
change in Africa and for Africa and youth from the US will work in solidarity with the Partners
from Africa. This meeting was setting in motion a process to concretize the organizing of this
program in Africa.
Session 15-Free time
Session 16: Culture Night
The Culture time was a wonderful night of song dance and laughter. The Culture night was held
and the Friends International Center (FIC) in Nairobi. Participants streamed in, food was served
and the entertainment began. Each country put on a presentation of song, dance or poems. There was
an all—male acapella performance by the Kenyans and the audience was impressed by the skills
demonstrated by the singers. The Rwandan and Burundians put on a dance and everyone got a chance
to sample the dance skills of two the female participants as well as gain awareness of the types
of dance movements found in that region of Africa. Other countries performed a mixture of dance
and song. All these performances ended with a traditional Kenyan song that got everyone on their
feet and danced for a good 10 minutes.
Finally, Mr. Fred Ojiambo, lawyer and member of the Board of Trustees of UZIMA Foundation,
gave a speech where he called on the youth to carry with them a conviction about Africa. He c
hallenged the participants to find something that they feel so strongly they would die for it, but
even more important that they would live for it and to do something about it.
Roles carried out by AFSC staff.
1. Nachilala Nkombo - Program Coordinator for Youth and Women 's Program, Africa Region Zimbabwe.
Nachilala facilitated and was part of the planning meeting for the conference held in Harare,
Zimbabwe from the 3-4th of February 2002. She played the role of bridging between the planning
meeting decisions and the UZIMA conference planning committee in developing the conference
program. With four other members of the Conference organizing committee they arrived a week
before the gathering in Nairobi to provide support to the UZIMA team. A Meeting to concretize
the agenda, media and other logistics was held the Harare advance planning team, the organizing
committee of UZIMA foundation as well as the UZIMA Foundation Board of trustees were part of
the meeting. During the conference she played the role of articulating AFSC, its goals and
vision for its Africa work.
2. Anyango Reggy- Director for the International Affairs Program, St Louis Missouri, USA.
Anyango 's program is responsible for organizing youth coming to Africa for the training and
exchange. She was part of the conference organizing committee. The planning for the youth exchange
between Africa and US youth in the US will be informed by the process-taking place in Africa.
annexes
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