Author: Esther Aoko, former She’s the First Programs Intern

According to the United Nations, young people make up 60% of Africa’s population, yet we are rarely meaningfully involved in decision-making processes. These statistics show that more than half of our population continues to be left behind, unrecognized, and unappreciated. This is fueled by the belief that the youth are only beneficiaries; those in power believe that young people do not possess the skills and expertise to become partners and meaningfully contribute to the development of the continent.

Every day we continue to see social ills, retrogressive cultural beliefs, and exploitation that mostly affects the youth. These challenges greatly affect young people by hindering our ability to thrive and realize our full potential. This has been allowed to continue because the youth are rarely brought to the table as experts to share our views on ways that these threats can be curbed. Africa continues to face these problems because we keep using old methods to fix emerging challenges.

Young people have a lot of potential, but it can only be realized and explored when nations create a conducive environment for us to gain skills and discover our vast capabilities. There is also an urgent need to prepare young people for leadership roles because we are the leaders of today, not tomorrow.

Instead of sticking to the narrative that the youth do not have adequate skills, I urge governments to allocate resources in their national budgets to youth capacity-building through training, scholarships, and grants for businesses. This will go a long way in ensuring that young people are well equipped with different skills to enable us to secure job opportunities and start our own businesses.

We cannot move forward as a continent while more than half of our population is left behind.

About Esther: Esther Aoko, 21, is a sexual and reproductive health youth advocate, feminist, community volunteer, and a former STF programs intern. She believes that being a champion for women is her most important role in life. She has a certificate in Data Science and Software Programming and has been invited to present her abstract papers at several conferences. Esther envisions a world where one's gender is not a barrier, and women in all their diversities can enjoy their lives free from any form of violence.