Malawi Youth Charter Launched: 3rd April 2014

[YCF Malawi]

The Youth from across the country converged at Crossroads Hotel in Lilongwe on Thursday 3^rd April 2014 to launch the Malawi Youth Charter developed after wider consultations. The Charter was officially launched by Rt Hon Chimunthu Banda, the Speaker of the National Assembly who accepted the request by youth to champion the implementation of the charter as an Ambassador for the five year span.

The Charter is a policy engagement tool designed to facilitate dialogue on youth-related policies and programmes that should aim at promote meaningful investment towards youth empowerment and participation. The Charter was developed against a background of observations that the youth continue to face a number of challenges such as grinding poverty, high unemployment rates, poor access to education and training, and exclusion in decision and policy making processes.

Various Speakers applauded the youth for coming up with the initiative to develop a youth charter as an engagement to leveraging the 2014 tripartite elections. Speaking at the launch, the Guest of Honour, Rt Hon. Chimunthu Banda said that it is a great development to see young people realising their responsibilities and seeing them being proactive in lobbying for policy change in youth development.

The Charter is premised on national and regional policies targeting young people such as the National Youth Policy and the African Youth Charter to which Malawi is a signatory. Through the charter, the youth are making achievable demands calling for the depoliticization of youth programmes and youth service institutions, raising marriage entry age to above 18 years, increasing funding to youth development programmes, increased attention to marginalised youth groups (young women, street youth, youth with disabilities and the unemployed), delinking youth development from sports, a 30% youth representation in decision and policy making structures, and ending politically abusing youth as agents of violence and intimidation.

Speaking earlier, the YCF National Coordinator, Edward Chileka Banda said that the charter signifies a massive paradigm shift in youth work from “blame-game” and piece work approach to effective and proactive engagement towards meaningful youth participation and empowerment.

The launch was witnessed by government officials, development partners, youth leaders and MEC, and officials from major Political Parties including PP, MCP, UDF and DPP.

Meanwhile, the youth are planning engagement sessions around the charter with political actors, development partners, and government departments.

The charter is a five year engagement tool stretching from 2014-2019.

“Giving Back to Mother Malawi”