"Your Voice, Your Future" Report

The #YourVoiceYourFuture digital campaign is an initiative launched by the African Union, European Union and UNICEF to hear directly from young people about their opinions on key topics affecting their future and relevant to the partnership between the two continents.

#YourVoiceYourFuture aims to help children and young people in Europe and Africa raise their voices to inform policymaking, create interest around youth issues and bring youth and decision makers closer on both continents.

Between July and September 2020, some 450,000 children and young people across Africa and Europe aged between 14 and 35 responded to questions via the U-Report platform, a messaging tool used by UNICEF to empower young people and gather their opinions. U-Report used SMS messages and social media to conduct four polls on a range of topics important to young people. Questions related to climate change and the green transition; digital transformation and social infrastructure; education, skills and decent jobs; and governance, peace and security.

The recommendations from young people in this report aim to inform the agenda of the Africa-Europe Youth Summit 2021.

The Africa-Europe Youth Summit relates to the AU-EU Head of States Summit and is an integral part of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy. It brings together young people, youth organizations and diaspora youth platforms to present their views to European and African leaders on critical issues pertaining to youth on both continents. The youth summits aim to increase the participation of young people to influence policy in African-European cooperation and reinforce key areas of relevance to young people in both regions through an enhanced partnership.

The voices of young people in this report provide a foundation for a call to action for global, regional and national actors in Africa and Europe. They are calling on decision makers to work together to create better opportunities and a better future for every child and young person; to remove the barriers they face to supporting climate action; to build the digital skills they need to be shapers and creators of tomorrow; to access quality education and decent jobs and to increase their participation in decision making.