Youth Pre-Forum to the Fourth High Level Dialogue on Democracy for Political Affairs , Elections and Governance in Africa Closing Remarks By H.E. Dr. Aisha L. Abdullahi
Commissioner 6 December 2015, Kigali, Rwanda

Chief Executive Officer, Rwanda Governance Board,
Development Partners,
Youth Participants,
Gentlemen and Ladies of the Press,

Good Evening.

With great sense of gratitude and appreciation, I would like to express my utmost gratitude to all the young men and women as well as the youthful participants who have been part of these conversation over the last three days. Though I only joined physically this morning, I have followed the robust exchanges online for the last few months since we started the buzz for this year’s DGtrends and I must say that I have been impressed.

Since I was unable to join you for the opening ceremony, permit me to share some of my thoughts with you on theme of the youth pre-forum.

The overall goal of the 2015 youth pre-forum is to provide a collaborative, open and inclusive space for young people involved in different spheres of political life across the continent to discuss the current state of youth political participation and the prospects that they envision for strengthening young people’s leadership and service in political parties and governments on the continent.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As democratisation continues to take firm roots on the continent, political parties provide a window of opportunity for young people’s conscription into political leadership. Political parties as foundational elements of political culture and power, form the common base for political activity and the primary entry points for those who wish to become involved in the political process. This role of political parties as an entry point to the political system is especially important particularly for groups – youth and women - that are often highly affected by the actions or inactions of political parties as well as other institutions of political power.

It is my belief that political participation of young people provides opportunities for robust public policy engagement, intergenerational exchange, leadership recruitment and more importantly ascension into political office. This is premised on the fact that the current youth bulge being experienced on the continent holds the prospect of a bright future for Africa if the bulk of these young people are adequately encouraged, prepared and incentivised for political leadership.

However, this potential cannot be realized fully with the current trends we are observing on the continent. Reports from some of our recent election observation mission points to low turnout of young people during elections even though they often play important roles in the build up to the elections. Through active participation in elections, you will be able to use your numbers to impress the change you need in Africa.

As many of you who wish to join political parties must ensure that you do so. Those of you who have chosen the life of social activism must also continue to keep the pressure on. There is no one-way solution to the myriad of challenges we grapple with. You must engage at all levels.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Closely related to this is the debate on the effectiveness of the modern mobilization and advocacy strategies. I am a social media enthusiast myself. I appreciate and recognize the opportunity they provide for feeling the pulse of the people and to relate with them on a real time basis.

Hashtags are good, they are trendy and effective. Nonetheless, they should be complemented with structured engagement that ensures a sustainable resolution of causes. We must reflect on ways to explore the links between both our impressive online activism with effective offline advocacy engagements. Protests, whether electronic or physical are important but they cannot be an end in themselves.

I was very happy when one of the panelists earlier today spoke about the need for organization around a common agenda. Your generation must own the African Union Agenda 2063. It is the continent’s common agenda for unity, prosperity and development. It is for you and you must lead the process of its implementation.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my hope that this dialogue has broadened the discourse on youth participation and will reenergize existing structures in various political parties across the continent and inspire change in various Member States where inclusion remains a challenge.

As the African Union, we will continue to galvanise various stakeholders towards providing the enabling environment, political will and leadership required for the attainment of effective youth participation and leadership in Africa.

On our part as the African Union, we will continue to provide you the platform and opportunities to air your views, influence policy and lead change in your various communities. Through the African Governance Architecture Youth Engagement strategy, we will be focusing on advocacy, capacity building, knowledge generation as well as a platform for sharing of comparable lessons.

I am very excited that the pilot of the capacity building programme was well received and it is our hope that it will become a permanent feature of our youth engagement work henceforth. This capacity building course is dedicated to improving the capacities of African youth for civic engagement, democratic leadership and development on the continent. It is our hope that this will contribute significantly to building the required human resources to drive the attainment of the African Union Agenda 2063.

I thank you for your attention.