Sunday, January 19, 2014

The Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation to gather 120 youth delegates on ‘Accelerating Youth Employment in Africa’


The Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation is a UK based charity established with the vision of advancing human security in Africa, has committed itself to organise a two days session that will bring together African Heads of State, partner organisations, policy makers, experts, private-sector representatives, academics, members of civil society and youth representatives from Africa and other continents to discuss their experience, focusing on concrete examples to facilitate knowledge sharing with the theme “Accelerating Youth employment in Africa”.

The two days event will be held at the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa Ethiopia, The youth conference on 29th January 2014 and working lunch on the 30th January 2014 is jointly organised by the Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation and the Africa Union Commission.


Objectives of day one session is to listen to the youth of Africa voice their opinion as to how policy makers can help improve their prospects for employment while day two hold a panel discussion on the topics of: How government can create the right incentives to attract business investment to address the current infrastructure deficit, and as a channel for creating jobs and How governments can address the deficiencies of local expertise and strengthen institutions to support the implementation of infrastructure investment programmes.

Global Youth Innovation Network Ghana, Solomon Elorm Allavi wrote,” I've been invited and another GYIN member in Ghana by name Alex Tawiah ( who also represented GYIN Ghana at the AU Youth celebration in Tunisia: check GYIN website: http://www.gyin.org/new/african-youth-day-2013-gyin-is-participating/).

GYIN has established the basis of an effective networking, mentorship, knowledge sharing, and collaboration platform for both poor urban and rural youth entrepreneurs.

 In 2011, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Phelps Stokes partnered to organize a workshop/fair focusing on youth entrepreneurship and innovation. By capitalizing on this innovative idea and taking into account the wishes and desires of many rural young women and men, the two institutions recognized the need to provide a continuous “space” by establishing a platform now known as GYIN.

“There will be a blog post on it a week to the event and GYIN will also be actively involved in the discussion via twitter with the other youth representatives. It was a direct invitation sent to us since the GYIN Ghana team that went to Tunisia in November last year did an excellent work there,” ends.

The youth event will be conducted with 120 youth delegates, Heads of State, international organisations and the private sector attending panel discussions and direct feedback sessions to capture the prevailing thoughts of the African youth on how they can be helped in being employed.
 
The luncheon discussions will be led by President Obasanjo and H.E Madam Zuma, with the session deliberately designed to be interactive and allow for different sector participants to have their voices heard. Professional facilitators will ensure an organised structure to the conversation. A Common Position on the way forward will be developed on points of action prior to the dissolution of the meeting promptly at 15:00 hrs.

- See more at: http://olusegunobasanjofoundation.org/oof_event/accelerating-youth-employment-in-africa/#.UtxC2LTLfIU. President Olusegun Obasanjo has lived a life committed to service of humanity.

 “There are close to 239 million people (source: world hunger education service) in Africa living in extreme poverty. They suffer from chronic shortages of basic necessities such as food, clean water, shelter and sanitation. The Foundation partners with change agents, policy makers, global partners and visionary individuals worldwide to tackle critical problems in four critical areas of human security: Food and Nutrition Security: Feed Africa Initiative, Economic Security: Youth Empowerment Initiative, Gender Equality: Education for Girls Initiative and Health Security: Health Improvement Initiative”, according to information made available on its website.
Each area has a cornerstone initiative supported by three key functions: grant making, grant management and advocacy. The Foundation seeks to forge strong partnerships and work to raise public awareness of the issues focused on and also encourage inspiring action at all levels.

In addition to these initiatives, the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta –Nigeria, due for completion in 2013, supports the mission of the Foundation. The Center hosts a youth center and is collaborating with international partners to bring technical training for the Foundation’s Youth Empowerment Initiative. The Center will inspire the next generation of leaders and others to follow in President Obasanjo’s legacy of committed service.

In brief President Olusegun Obasanjo 

 
 President Olusegun Obasanjo
Olusegun Obasanjo served as President of Nigeria from May 1999 to May 2007. It was the culmination of a life spent on the front line of African politics. In 2008 he was appointed by the United Nations as a special envoy for Africa and has since overseen democratic elections on behalf of the African Union and Ecowas in countries across the continent. He has since emerged as an advocate for investment into the country and with the launch of his Foundation will tackle issues critical to advance across the Continent.

Obasanjo became President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1999, following the demise of the 
military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha. After fifteen years of repressive rule that saw Nigeria slip into pariah status internationally, Obasanjo quickly emerged as the front-runner to lead the country’s historic transition back to democracy. He had suffered firsthand the brutality of the Abacha regime, having been imprisoned in 1995 on fabricated charges of plotting a coup to depose him.

President Obasanjo is also Founder of the Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation, a UK based charity that has a mission of advancing Human Security for All. The Foundation has wide ranging initiatives of Feeding Africa, Youth Empowerment, Education for Girls and a health initiative focused on non-communicable and water borne diseases.

As Africa assumes an increasingly central role in international policy and business the continent will continue to have an unwavering advocate in Obasanjo.

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