Africa-Press – Seychelles. A three-member delegation represented Seychelles at the recent Commonwealth Youth and Student Summit for African countries, held from May 9 to 11, 2023 in Abuja, Nigeria.
Seychelles’ delegation comprised Marie May Larue who was representing the Youth department and Abigail Joubert and Julio Freminot representing the Youth Council.
Miss Joubert from Beau Vallon secondary school is an active young person within the Seychelles National Youth Council (SNYC) and Mr Freminot is a young leader in the Everlasting Love Ministry, also an affiliated group to the Youth Council.
They joined other young people from 21 African countries to address five key thematic issues which they said required urgent attention from policymakers, civil society organisations, and governments across the continent. These were the digital divide, the economy and creative industries, gender-based violence, the decolonisation of education, and child labour.
At the end of the conference the Commonwealth youth and students reaffirmed their commitment to address the critical challenges facing the continent and urged the institutional partners to recognise the importance of co-creating with them for the progress and development of the African continent.
They stated that young people and their governments must work together to address the challenges that hinder their growth and potential.
“The digital divide must be addressed to ensure equal access to education and opportunities. We must eradicate child labour to protect our future and promote education. Gender-based violence must be addressed to ensure a safe learning and working environment for all. The decolonisation of education must be accelerated to promote inclusive and diverse learning environments, which enable us to learn about our cultures and identities. Finally, the economy and the creative industry must be promoted to create job opportunities for African youth and to promote economic growth and development,” they agreed.
It should be noted that at the 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kigali, Rwanda, Commonwealth Heads of Government declared 2023 a year dedicated to youth-led action for sustainable and inclusive development.
The year provides an opportunity to reinforce the fact that young people are at the heart of the Commonwealth’s work to promote peace, democracy and development; and to mark the 50 years since the establishment of the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) in 1973.
2023 also marks the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Commonwealth Charter which sets out the values and aspirations that unite the Commonwealth and the commitments made by member states to its peoples.
The 2023 Commonwealth Youth and Students summit hosted by the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development served as a significant step in progressing the CHOGM 2022 mandate on propelling increased meaningful representation of youth in decision-making processes.
Other than debates on emerging youth development issues, during the summit, participants also took stock of existing policies and programming, allowing for an assessment of current approaches to youth development. Through these discussions, pragmatic actions were identified and agreed upon to enhance youth development efforts. It should be noted that young people comprise 60% of the population of the Commonwealth.
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