Back and Next - Back and NextYoung Gambian; delegate attends media advocacy workshop
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
A delegation of African children recently returned home after taking part in a two week’s workshop on advocacy and media training. Running from the 7-16 December, 2008, the program was held in Sandton City, South Africa.
Dubbed the Year of the African Youth Assessments, Advocacy and Media Training Workshop on Young People’s rights to Participation, the training was held alongside the 60th anniversary of the signing of the UN Declaration of the Human Rights Charter, under the auspices of Speak Africa which is a continental communication platform for children and youth recognized by the African Union.
The workshop brought together 35 young people from 14 different countries, representing the five sub regions of the African continent, and it enabled them evaluate the 2008 year of the African Youth and review major framework developed by the African Union, and also to familiarize themselves with process and structures of engagement at national and continental level as well as to sharpen their advocacy skills, explore advocacy strategies with special focus on the use of the media, and to engage in dialogue with elders/leaders and network with peers.
A Gambian child rights advocate and president of Young People in the Media, The Gambia, Abdou Jatta, was part of the young African activists that were selected from the 14 countries from across the five sub region of the continent to join the African Union in its call for urgent action to protect the rights of the Young People.
The young activists underwent a series of training on advocacy skills and on the utilization of the media and technology to be able to express their needs. The goal is to empower young people so that they can make their voices heard and make difference.
The young activists had a face to face inter-generational media round table dialogue forum with key African elders, featuring South African diva and Singer aka Princess of Africa, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, who serves, as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Kabelo KB Ngakane, UNICEF advocate for youth in South Africa, Bience Gawanas, AU Commissioner for Social Affair, Out Going UNICEF Country Representative for Ethiopia and UN Special Representative to the AU, Ida Mahajret, UNICEF Youth Advocates for youth in Madagascar; all of them sort to raise awareness about issues confronting young people on the continent.
The Gambia Youth Representative was selected to serve as a panellist alongside three other young people from South Africa, Ethiopia and Kenya, joining the AU Commission for Social Affair, Bience Gawanas, in an Inter- Generational Roundtable Discussion at SABC Channel O Radio Station, to reflect on the day of the 60th Anniversary of UNHRD. Jatta used the opportunity to highlight some issues surrounding the welfare of the African Youth, which he said has provided important opportunity for increased advocacy around the youth in 2008.
In his message of support to the young African activists, Mr Kofi Annan, former secretary general of the United Nations, noted that there is a need to recognize young people’s rights and responsibility to participate fully in all aspect of development. He maintained that young people continue to point the way and inspire everyone through their positive energy, passion and hard work, and that they also learn from "elders the wisdom and resilience that we share."
Annan observed that combined efforts will help to accelerate the many activities that are already taking place in the continent to ensure us all to have Africa free from disease, hunger, violence and armed conflicts. We are seeing positive results with such actions.
The YPM president joined other young African activists to visit memorable historical places in Johannesburg, such as the Johannesburg’s Constitutional Hill, which until in the middle of the 1980s housed one of South Africa’s most notorious prisons; the Apartheid Museum and Hector Peterson Museum in Soweto.
At the closured of the Johannesburg meeting, the young African activists urged the African Union and heads of state to immediately declare the Year of the African Youth to a decade of the African Youth in order to enhance the meaningful participation of young people in development of the continent.
Dubbed the Year of the African Youth Assessments, Advocacy and Media Training Workshop on Young People’s rights to Participation, the training was held alongside the 60th anniversary of the signing of the UN Declaration of the Human Rights Charter, under the auspices of Speak Africa which is a continental communication platform for children and youth recognized by the African Union.
The workshop brought together 35 young people from 14 different countries, representing the five sub regions of the African continent, and it enabled them evaluate the 2008 year of the African Youth and review major framework developed by the African Union, and also to familiarize themselves with process and structures of engagement at national and continental level as well as to sharpen their advocacy skills, explore advocacy strategies with special focus on the use of the media, and to engage in dialogue with elders/leaders and network with peers.
A Gambian child rights advocate and president of Young People in the Media, The Gambia, Abdou Jatta, was part of the young African activists that were selected from the 14 countries from across the five sub region of the continent to join the African Union in its call for urgent action to protect the rights of the Young People.
The young activists underwent a series of training on advocacy skills and on the utilization of the media and technology to be able to express their needs. The goal is to empower young people so that they can make their voices heard and make difference.
The young activists had a face to face inter-generational media round table dialogue forum with key African elders, featuring South African diva and Singer aka Princess of Africa, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, who serves, as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Kabelo KB Ngakane, UNICEF advocate for youth in South Africa, Bience Gawanas, AU Commissioner for Social Affair, Out Going UNICEF Country Representative for Ethiopia and UN Special Representative to the AU, Ida Mahajret, UNICEF Youth Advocates for youth in Madagascar; all of them sort to raise awareness about issues confronting young people on the continent.
The Gambia Youth Representative was selected to serve as a panellist alongside three other young people from South Africa, Ethiopia and Kenya, joining the AU Commission for Social Affair, Bience Gawanas, in an Inter- Generational Roundtable Discussion at SABC Channel O Radio Station, to reflect on the day of the 60th Anniversary of UNHRD. Jatta used the opportunity to highlight some issues surrounding the welfare of the African Youth, which he said has provided important opportunity for increased advocacy around the youth in 2008.
In his message of support to the young African activists, Mr Kofi Annan, former secretary general of the United Nations, noted that there is a need to recognize young people’s rights and responsibility to participate fully in all aspect of development. He maintained that young people continue to point the way and inspire everyone through their positive energy, passion and hard work, and that they also learn from "elders the wisdom and resilience that we share."
Annan observed that combined efforts will help to accelerate the many activities that are already taking place in the continent to ensure us all to have Africa free from disease, hunger, violence and armed conflicts. We are seeing positive results with such actions.
The YPM president joined other young African activists to visit memorable historical places in Johannesburg, such as the Johannesburg’s Constitutional Hill, which until in the middle of the 1980s housed one of South Africa’s most notorious prisons; the Apartheid Museum and Hector Peterson Museum in Soweto.
At the closured of the Johannesburg meeting, the young African activists urged the African Union and heads of state to immediately declare the Year of the African Youth to a decade of the African Youth in order to enhance the meaningful participation of young people in development of the continent.
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