We are youth! This is the central aspect of our operations.
Each year on 12 August the UN, Stakeholders and Governments observe International
Youth Day by employing creative means to raise awareness on issues of young people.
The theme of International Youth Day 2019, “Transforming education”, highlights efforts
to make education more inclusive and accessible for all youth, including efforts by youth
themselves. Rooted in Goal 4 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – to
“ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning
opportunities for all”
International Youth Day 2019 theme is, transforming education, will highlight good
practices and lessons learned in efforts to ensure education is inclusive and accessible
as well as the road ahead for partners in this endeavor.
Young & Alive Initiative joined UNFPA Tanzania and other partners to convene a series of activities during the IYD week. UNFPA convened a preparatory meeting involving some key stakeholders including some of the UN Agencies and NGO’s on 11 July 2019 to discuss jointly on how we can commemorate the International Youth Day under the theme of “Transforming Education”. Theme has been localized to also reflect Countries’ Development Priorities. In Kiswahili Language it states that Kuelekea 2030, Tanzania ya Viwanda: Boresha
Elimu Vijana kwa Maendeleo ya Taifa. In addition, this year marks the 25th anniversary of the ground breaking International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), which took place in Cairo in 1994. At that conference, 179 governments adopted a Programme of Action, recognizing that reproductive health, women's empowerment and gender equality are the pathway to sustainable development. Therefore, planned activities for IYD will also be an opportunity to raise awareness among young people and various stakeholders on key issues
highlighted on ICPD Program of Action and will give a room to reflect on the progress.
Five activities were agreed to be conducted in line with the IYD commemoration as
follows:
• National youth conference
● Voices from the field
● Schools outreaches
● Youth festival
● Media and social media engagement
In Mbeya region, YAAI also conducted a couple of activities including school visits and media interviews.
Samora Machel Secondary School
We visited this school on 09th August 2019, we were able to reach more than 200 students, and 12 volunteers from Young and Alive Initiatives Mbeya Region, divided the students into 10 small grounds, where they raised awareness in the National IYD event in Dodoma, and had intensive discussion on the following topics.
1. Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights,
There was a general discussion around the challenges on adolescent sexual and
reproductive health and rights, where one big challenge was that the students thought
family planning was only for married couples, where it evolved more discussion on family
planning, and later some students urged that, it could be right for young people to be
taught the knowledge on family planning, since they know some classmates who got
pregnant while in schools.
2. Education
Also, there was a general discussion on how our education meet the requirements on
industrialization of Tanzania, where some students urged that, the education system
should be of skills-based knowledge and they mentioned there is a challenge with science
teachers, where they think number of knowledgeable science teacher should be added
in schools.
3. Unemployment and Entrepreneurship
There was an amazing discussion on entrepreneurship as one of the ways to cover
unemployment rate in Tanzania, on the discussion some students mentioned that,
poverty is one of the sources that makes young people not to take entrepreneurial
activities, since they lack capitals, and some mentioned more education should be given
to entrepreneurs on how to run their business, since less knowledge makes the stunt
growth of business among entrepreneurs.
Sebama Secondary School
We also visited Sebama Secondary school in Mbeya City, and we were able to visit
more than 100 students and our 12 Volunteers were able to divide the students into
small groups discussions, where they raised awareness on the National IYD event in
Dodoma, and later more discussion on the three themes of the National Event.
1. Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.
Where there was a general discussion on the adolescent SRHR, and as usual the
discussion later shifted to whether its right for young people to access family planning
services, and more interesting discussions on HIV/AIDs, where students were surprised
to learn that, the rate of transmission is high among young people and this reminded them
using protection to avoid HIV transmission.
2. Unemployment and Entrepreneurship.
Sebama Students, also were concerned about the unemployment rates in Tanzania, and
some insisted industrialization could be among the great ways to increase the number of
Job opportunities, but also entrepreneurship education could also be a solution for young
entrepreneurs to employ themselves.
3. Education
Students mentioned that they were impressed by the policy of free education in
Tanzania, that it helped many young people, especially from poor families to join schools,
as they thought this is one step in investing in the education sector, but also students
insisted that the education system should match the requirements of industrialization
policies.
MEDIA COVERAGE
The discussion didn't end in schools, Young and Alive, brought some students in the radio stations to continue raising awareness on the IYD, but also raising discussions in the communities on the IYD themes. The radio stations visited include Access FM, Bomba FM and Mbeya FM
For more information check out the video below!