{"id":2961,"date":"2021-10-21T15:42:28","date_gmt":"2021-10-21T15:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/youthconnekt-2021-youth-urged-to-take-lead-in-africas-transformation"},"modified":"2021-10-21T15:48:23","modified_gmt":"2021-10-21T15:48:23","slug":"youthconnekt-2021-youth-urged-to-take-lead-in-africas-transformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/youthconnekt-2021-youth-urged-to-take-lead-in-africas-transformation","title":{"rendered":"YouthConnekt 2021: Youth urged to take lead in Africa’s transformation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Rwanda<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Africa is wealthy in many aspects but its most significant position is its young generation, Rwanda\u2019s Minister of Youth and Culture, Rosemary Mbabazi, has said.<\/p>\n

Mbabazi was speaking on behalf of President Paul Kagame at the opening of the YouthConnekt Africa summit \u2014 the biggest platform that seeks to connect the continent\u2019s youth for socio-economic transformation.<\/p>\n

The event, now in its fourth edition is hosted in Accra, Ghana, where 2,000 out of 17,000 participants have physically convened. The rest joined from across the world via virtual platforms.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfrican youth are full of potential, energy, skills, talents, and are well-positioned to take the lead of this continent\u2019s transformation,\u201d Mbabazi pointed out. \u201cYour generation builds on incredible strikes that the continent has made over the last couple of decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rwandan delegation at YouthConnekt Africa summit 2021 that is happening in Accra. \/ Courtesy<\/b><\/p>\n

This year\u2019s event is conducted under the theme, \u201cAfrica Beyond Aid: Positioning the youth for post-Covid Economic and Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTFA) opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the first time the annual gathering \u2014 which connects African youth with policy influencers, political leaders, public and private development sector institutions\u2014 is taking place outside Kigali. The last edition took place in 2019 before it was suspended in 2020 owing to the Covid-19 restrictions.<\/p>\n

Mbabazi urged the youth to leverage on regional integration gains made over the past couple of decades. Regional integration, she said, is stronger today more than ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement (AfCFTA) is at the pinnacle of our accomplishments because its implementation will reveal the true force that Africa is and has which is youth,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The realisation of \u2018One Africa\u2019 aspired through this agreement, she added, will only be achieved when young people unlock this potential as a generation that is more educated, empowered and connected than the previous generations.<\/p>\n

A delegation of 30 Rwandan business executives are participating in the summit and are expected to be exposed to business practices and opportunities in Ghana.<\/p>\n

The AfCFTA, which is so far ratified by 40 countries, aims at creating the largest free-trade area in the world by reducing all trade costs \u2013 eliminating 90 per cent of tariffs \u2013 and enabling Africa to integrate further into global supply chains.<\/p>\n

However, current custom procedures continue to be a hindrance for countries to benefit from the assistance the AfCFTA can bring in Covid-19 recovery. In addition to the AfCFTA, the youth can leverage regional economic blocs such as the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) as well as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).<\/p>\n

We have the capacity<\/b><\/p>\n

Patrice Mutsepe, the Confederation of African Football told the youth that; \u201cWe have the capacity as Africa.\u201d \u201cAnd the AfCFTA is a critical part of our potential to try and work together, to do business together because our growth for both the youth and respective economies depends on trade amongst ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

While donation and aid could be welcome, Mutsepe reckoned that there is no country in the world, yet again no continent that has succeeded based on the vice.<\/p>\n

Unemployment among the youth is alarming<\/b><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Ghana\u2019s vice president Mahamudu Bawumia said that the youth accounts for 60 per cent of all of Africa\u2019s unemployed people. In addition, he said, for those that manage to find work, they do not do so in a place that pays a good wage or develops their skills or even provides a measure of job security.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one needs to tell us that mass unemployment in Africa, especially among the youth is a ticking time-bomb.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Bawumia, the lack of employment opportunities can undermine social cohesion and political stability. YouthConnekt was initiated by President Kagame, the summit has grown to a network of 24 African countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. Africa is wealthy in many aspects but its most significant position is its young generation, Rwanda\u2019s Minister of Youth and Culture, Rosemary Mbabazi, has said. Mbabazi was speaking on behalf of President Paul Kagame at the opening of the YouthConnekt Africa summit \u2014 the biggest platform that seeks to connect the continent\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":2960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,30,761,28],"tags":[760,763,758,988,1963],"class_list":["post-2961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-files","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-rwanda","tag-rwanda","tag-youth","tag-youthconnekt"],"yoast_head":"\nYouthConnekt 2021: Youth urged to take lead in Africa's transformation - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Africa is wealthy in many aspects but its most significant position is its young generation, Rwanda\u2019s Minister of Youth ...\" \/>\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\/rwanda\/all-news\/youthconnekt-2021-youth-urged-to-take-lead-in-africas-transformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"YouthConnekt 2021: Youth urged to take lead in Africa's transformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa is wealthy in many aspects but its most significant position is its young generation, Rwanda\u2019s Minister of Youth ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/youthconnekt-2021-youth-urged-to-take-lead-in-africas-transformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-21T15:42:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-21T15:48:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2021\/10\/img-61718bad978c9.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"719\" \/>\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=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/youthconnekt-2021-youth-urged-to-take-lead-in-africas-transformation#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/youthconnekt-2021-youth-urged-to-take-lead-in-africas-transformation\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"YouthConnekt 2021: Youth urged to take lead in Africa’s transformation\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-21T15:42:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-21T15:48:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/youthconnekt-2021-youth-urged-to-take-lead-in-africas-transformation\"},\"wordCount\":637,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/youthconnekt-2021-youth-urged-to-take-lead-in-africas-transformation#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2021\/10\/img-61718bad978c9.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Rwanda\",\"Rwanda\",\"Youth\",\"YouthConnekt\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Community\",\"files\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/youthconnekt-2021-youth-urged-to-take-lead-in-africas-transformation#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/youthconnekt-2021-youth-urged-to-take-lead-in-africas-transformation\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/youthconnekt-2021-youth-urged-to-take-lead-in-africas-transformation\",\"name\":\"YouthConnekt 2021: Youth urged to take lead in Africa's transformation - 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