{"id":65287,"date":"2025-12-15T21:45:53","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T21:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue"},"modified":"2025-12-15T22:22:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T22:22:15","slug":"economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue","title":{"rendered":"ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE TAKES CENTRE STAGE AT YOUTH DIALOGUE"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. <\/strong> <\/span>The Qacha\u2019s Nek Youth Centre in Thifa, Sehlekehlekeng, buzzed with energy on Saturday as young people gathered for the <b>7th edition of the Youth Dialogue on Economic Independence.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Participants discussed persistent challenges facing local youth, including limited employment and social opportunities, the absence of sporting and rehabilitation facilities, and the lack of higher learning institutions in the district.<\/p>\n<p>They noted that prolonged inactivity and limited engagement contribute to rising crime, alcohol and substance abuse, reflecting both personal choices and deeper structural and systemic barriers, while also exploring solutions to boost self-reliance and support the district\u2019s economic growth.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with the Agency, Tumelo Moteuli, a Qacha\u2019s Nek native and member of the Youth Dialogue Initiative, said the dialogue builds on similar engagements previously held in Maseru, Mohale\u2019s Hoek, Mafeteng, Berea and Leribe, making Qacha\u2019s Nek the sixth district to host the platform.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Lesotho<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. The Qacha\u2019s Nek Youth Centre in Thifa, Sehlekehlekeng, buzzed with energy on Saturday as young people gathered for the 7th edition of the Youth Dialogue on Economic Independence. Participants discussed persistent challenges facing local youth, including limited employment and social opportunities, the absence of sporting and rehabilitation facilities, and the lack of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":65286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[245],"class_list":["post-65287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE TAKES CENTRE STAGE AT YOUTH DIALOGUE - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Lesotho. The Qacha\u2019s Nek Youth Centre in ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE TAKES CENTRE STAGE AT YOUTH DIALOGUE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Lesotho. The Qacha\u2019s Nek Youth Centre in ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-15T21:45:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-15T22:22:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/12\/sm_1765837284.385113.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1307\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"919\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE TAKES CENTRE STAGE AT YOUTH DIALOGUE\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-15T21:45:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-15T22:22:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue\"},\"wordCount\":171,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/12\/sm_1765837284.385113.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue\",\"name\":\"ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE TAKES CENTRE STAGE AT YOUTH DIALOGUE - Lesotho\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/12\/sm_1765837284.385113.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-15T21:45:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-15T22:22:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"-article-header-tag\\\"> Africa-Press - Lesotho. The Qacha\u2019s Nek Youth Centre in ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/12\/sm_1765837284.385113.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/12\/sm_1765837284.385113.jpg\",\"width\":1307,\"height\":919,\"caption\":\"ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE TAKES CENTRE STAGE AT YOUTH DIALOGUE\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE TAKES CENTRE STAGE AT YOUTH DIALOGUE\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\",\"name\":\"Lesotho\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE TAKES CENTRE STAGE AT YOUTH DIALOGUE - Lesotho","description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Lesotho. The Qacha\u2019s Nek Youth Centre in ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE TAKES CENTRE STAGE AT YOUTH DIALOGUE","og_description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Lesotho. The Qacha\u2019s Nek Youth Centre in ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue","og_site_name":"Lesotho","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2025-12-15T21:45:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-15T22:22:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1307,"height":919,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/12\/sm_1765837284.385113.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE TAKES CENTRE STAGE AT YOUTH DIALOGUE","datePublished":"2025-12-15T21:45:53+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-15T22:22:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue"},"wordCount":171,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/12\/sm_1765837284.385113.jpg","keywords":["Lesotho"],"articleSection":["all news","economy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue","name":"ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE TAKES CENTRE STAGE AT YOUTH DIALOGUE - Lesotho","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/12\/sm_1765837284.385113.jpg","datePublished":"2025-12-15T21:45:53+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-15T22:22:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Lesotho. The Qacha\u2019s Nek Youth Centre in ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/12\/sm_1765837284.385113.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/12\/sm_1765837284.385113.jpg","width":1307,"height":919,"caption":"ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE TAKES CENTRE STAGE AT YOUTH DIALOGUE"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/economic-independence-takes-centre-stage-at-youth-dialogue#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE TAKES CENTRE STAGE AT YOUTH DIALOGUE"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/","name":"Lesotho","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}