YOUTH IN DEMOCRACY

Youth advocate and Journalist Stewart Thornicroft captured at Government Complex on 07th October, 2019 during a youth advocacy programme.

VOICES are getting louder and louder! The old saying that youths are the leaders of tomorrow is not just a delaying tactic, but an old and worn out adage because it has become clear that the youths should be the leaders of today. Youth participation in the drive to economic recovery for our country cannot be over emphasized.

It is noted from Zambia’s education system that the 15 to 25 years category of population constitutes largely of school dropouts at the levels of grade 7, 9 and 12 and to the extent, college level. In this view of school leavers, among which most of them are unemployed.

According to Zambia Department National Youth Policy a ‘youth’ is defined as male or female person aged between 15 and 35 years. This definition has been ideal to work in targeting support to the most disadvantaged population groups in society.

A youth friendly legal framework is crucial in enabling youth political participation. In most countries a candidate should be 25 years or higher to contest for a political position and this creates a gap between the legal age of the majority and voting age. On the other hand, the age at which an individual can serve in elected office.

Another important aspect that hinders the role of youths in a country is lack of participation in economic decision making. The Government of Zambia must play a critical role in prioritizing youth policy making and development.

Cultural attitudes can be attributed as one of the factors that has led to a mentality whereby elder people make decisions on behalf of the youth. This is one of the major issues that blocks the youths from actively participating in decision making.

To reverse the huge impact of low income, the youth should find other alternatives to fight poverty. To reduce the high levels of unemployment among the youth in Zambia it is necessary to effectively educate the youth on the benefits of entrepreneurship. It is a necessity for the youth to aim at becoming job creators rather than job seekers to stimulate economic growth.

Looking up to the government for employment opportunities has become one of the key features that have led to the increase of unemployment. When government fails to provide jobs for the youth they should be innovative to find other means of engaging in other business ventures.

It is important for the youths to engage themselves in skills and vocational training to equip them with talents that will increase their income. This failure of entrepreneurship can be attributed to a number of social-cultural factors that can be eradicated through sensitizing the youth on the need to be engage in small business development.

Young Africans need access to both decent formal education and opportunities to acquire a range of vocational training. Life skills help the youths to actively participate in all spheres of an increasingly knowledge intensive society. The youths are tomorrow’s leaders.

Unfortunately, the youths in Zambia struggle to acquire an education that provides them with the right set of skills and knowledge. As a result, the transition from school to work is a major challenge such that many young Africans end up either unemployed or underemployed in the informal sector with little protection and prospects.

Another issue affecting the youth is access to credit. Micro-finance can be identified as one the problems youths face in implementing business ideas due to lack of collateral and business experience. On the gender point of view in Zambia few women are engaged in running their own enterprises. This has an impact on national development and programmes should be formulated to engage more women in production to stimulate economic growth. The Zambian government, for example, has set up a Youth Empowerment Fund to provide capital to young people with sound business projects. More public and private schemes are needed to increase opportunities for youth.

Henceforth, established business leaders must also play a role by offering mentorship and internship opportunities to provide the youth with training. This will directly improve the skills of the youth and provide them with knowledge on how to effectively run a business and avoid pitfalls.

If government invests more in the youth this can help reduce poverty. This can be done by a number of ways such as investing in health and education of the youth. This is vital in Zambia because the youth are the majority of the population. We are the leaders of tomorrow therefore the youth must enhance their various skills to ensure that we effectively manage our country in the future.