GSEF: « Empowerment of youth and territorial resilience »

In the context of the Global Forum for Social and Solidarity Economy (GSEF) and the Jeun’ESS pre-forum, UCLG Africa, through its network of Young Elected Local Officials (YELO), organized on 2 May 2023 a session on « Empowerment of youth and territorial resilience ». The aim of the session was to exchange ideas on strategies for empowering young people, to discuss youth entrepreneurship and the role of local elected representatives, and to raise awareness on the necessity to adapt entrepreneurial activities to local needs and realities. Around 70 people participated to the session, including young elected representatives (mayors, deputy mayors, local councillors), academics, young entrepreneurs, representatives of NGOs, national governments…

The session focused on 3 themes: “empowerment”, “territorial resilience” and “entrepreneurship” with 3 young local officials from the YELO network: Mr. Harouna Camara, Mayor of Dinguiraye (Senegal), Ms. Atayi Mepas de London, Deputy Mayor, Owendo (Gabon), et Mr. Abubakar Buba, Chairperson, Lere Local Government (State of Karuna, Nigeria). The session was moderated by Lionel Nzamba, Task Manager in the Gender and Youth Department.

Ms. Jacqueline Moustache-Belle, Director of the Gender and Youth Department of UCLG Africa, began by presenting UCLG Africa, emphasizing its role in promoting democracy and decentralization. The Director of the Department recalled the commitment of UCLG Africa to the promotion of gender inclusivity at the local level, but also to the promotion of African youth through its programmes and the various networks created, in particular REFELA and YELO.

The session was introduced by Lionel Nzamba, who presented the theme and the speakers. He recalled certain facts about youth and entrepreneurship on the continent. Young people now account for more than 50% of the population, with the 15-25 age group representing some 200 million people divided between rural and urban areas. Left to their territory’s challenges, these young people are particularly affected by unemployment, climate change… and are counting heavily on the implementation of appropriate public policies to get them through. In fact, the first speaker from Senegal presented a tool for supporting young people in their search for employment in local areas; Gabon’s second presentation focused on empowering women; and the final presentation focused on green jobs and the contribution of young people to job creation and environmental protection.

Mr. Harouna Camara, Mayor of Dinguiraye (Senegal), focused his speech on the “territorialization of public employment policies”, focusing on a tool set up in Senegal to empower young people and support them in their job search: the Pôle emploi. This tool has been set up in Senegal’s 46 departments to provide training, funding and access to information for young people and women.

Ms. Atayi Mepas de London, Deputy Mayor, Owendo (Gabon), spoke about entrepreneurship as a factor for success in empowering young women. She stressed the importance of promoting policies for the inclusion of women and young people at the national level. Through the creation of income-generating activities, entrepreneurship in Gabon enables women to contribute to the local economy, but it also gives them the means to overcome the inequalities and discrimination to which they are subjected. She emphasized the potential of young women in terms of innovation, creativity and impact on the local community. As Gabon is an African champion in terms of environmental protection, she stressed the importance of measures to ensure the creation of sustainable employment for young people and the resilience of regions.

Mr. Abubakar Buba, Lere Chairman (Karuna State, Nigeria), focused on green jobs. In his view, development players are not yet aware of the importance of the environment, particularly agriculture and food systems. In his view, agriculture has a central role to play, and can help solve a number of problems facing our societies, including youth employment, climate change and food production… It could enable the development of several localities and at the same time empower and emancipate young people. This contribution by the Chairman of Lere is directly linked to the objectives of sustainable development, in particular SDG 2 “Zero Hunger”. Like the speakers before him, the Chairman of Lere recognized the importance of national policies to promote youth employment. What is special about Nigeria is that the federal government promotes agriculture and green jobs. Several challenges were identified for the creation of green jobs: access to start-up capital (financing and equipment); access to skills to develop the business; and climate change. Finally, Mr. Abubakar Buba called on young people to take an interest in reforesting their communities and getting involved in agriculture.

The question-and-answer that followed the presentations provided an opportunity to delve a little deeper into the various themes addressed by the 3 speakers. The question of funding, for example, was one of the most recurrent elements among the participants, in terms of budgeting, access for women and young people, etc. The discussions resulted in one main recommendation which was incorporated into the “The Call from the SSE Youth” of the Pre-Forum, read out on May 6 at the closing of the Forum, namely to ask, “national and local governments to promote public policies that include young people, taking into account their needs in terms of economic opportunities”.

Read The « GSEF Call From the Youth »

Watch the session in live.