AFRICAN YOUTH FORUM

Outcome Document: "On This We Commit and Agree"
by African Youth Forum 2011 on Wednesday, April 13, 2011

4 – 6 April 2011
Addis Ababa - ETHIOPIA


PRE-SUMMIT AFRICAN YOUTH FORUM

RECOMMENDATIONS
We the youth from the African continent and the Diaspora at the Pre-Summit, African Youth Forum on “Accelerating Youth Empowerment for Sustainable Development”, 04 to 06 April 2011 at the Headquarters of the African Union (AU):

Agree on the urgency of the following:
Prioritize the eradication of youth poverty, youth extreme poverty, hunger, gender inequality and discrimination by prioritizing education and decent employment for youth
Pay particular attention to marginalized adolescents, youth, including unskilled, out of school, unemployed youth, youth living in rural areas, youth living with HIV, youth with disabilities, youth in conflict situations and young women.
Recognize and provide for the special needs of adolescents in devising youth programmes.
Fight against human trafficking, exploitation of refugees, internally displaced young people (IDPs), substance abuse, social exclusion, early and forced marriages, unwanted pregnancies, malaria, gender inequality, maternal mortality, new HIV infections, STIs, TB, discrimination of marginalized groups and xenophobia.
Prevent the involvement of youth in conflict, use of child soldier, and adopt pragmatic and complimentary engagement of youth in conflict prevention, resolution and reconciliation
Take Advantage of the benefits of globalization as well as information and communication technologies to achieve the African Youth Charter (AYC), African Youth Decade Plan of Action and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
Promote, respect and defend all human rights instruments and conventions.
Reaffirm the importance of our natural resource-base and collectively undertake actions to protect the environment and mitigate the effects of climate change.

We commit ourselves to:
1. Promote youth development and empowerment and contribute to the achievement of the MDGs, NEPAD and the Plan of Action for the African Youth Decade.
2. Participate actively in development processes at continental, regional and national levels.
3. Combat among youth gender inequalities, sexual and gender based abuses and violence, human trafficking, Malaria, new HIV infections, STIs, TB, maternal mortality and discrimination of marginalized group.
4. Live and promote accountable, responsible and healthy life styles.
5. Protect our natural resource-base and collectively undertake actions to protect the environment mitigate and adapt to the effect of the climate change.

We call upon the AU Heads of States and Governments to:
1. Sign, ratify, domesticate and implement the African Youth Charter.
2. Ensure harmonization between the African Youth Charter, National Youth Policies and national development plans and budgets.
3. Monitor the implementation of the African Youth Charter and the Plan of Action for the decade through standardized tools, indicators and mechanisms for mainstreaming youth issues and monitoring progress towards development targets (ensure availability of youth comparative data for advocacy and programming.)
4. Utilize the African Peer Review Mechanism(APRM) and NEPAD to monitor and report on the implementation of the African Youth Charter
5. Establish or reinforce mechanisms that would facilitate and popularize active and meaningful youth participation in the development and implementation of global and national plans such as the MDGs and Poverty Reduction Strategy Programs (PRSPs)
6. Establish a “Youth Fund” for the implementation of the PoA, for the African Youth Decade and the African Union Youth Volunteer Corp (AU-YVC), youth entrepreneurship and innovation.
7. Endorse, mobilize and allocate resources for the acceleration of the Medium Term Priorities for the Plan of Action for the African Youth Decade
8. Urge for the establishment of a Directorate for youth development affairs in the AUC
9. Reaffirm that Pan-African Union (PYU) and its regional structures are accorded the status of AU special agencies at continental, regional and national levels as well as in the Diaspora.
10. Create Mechanisms that will enable African youth in the Diaspora to effectively contribute to sustainable development in Africa and facilitate and co-ordinate establishment of the PYU, NYCs and Diaspora youth institutions.
11. Establish a Ministry exclusive for youth development in all member states and strengthen the technical capacity of Youth Ministries through recruitment and employment of professional youth workers and volunteers.
12. Review or/and develop institutional frameworks for National Youth Councils
13. Strengthen the technical capacity of Youth Ministries through recruitment and employment of professional youth workers and volunteers.
14. Prioritize quality and innovative education (formal and non-formal) such as internships, volunteering and e-learning programs for the acquisition of knowledge, life-skills, livelihood skills, entrepreneurship and facilitate the involvement of Diaspora youth.
15. Prioritize and strengthen health systems to improve access to age and gender appropriate sexual and reproductive health information and care services including STIs, HIV and AIDS
16. Prioritize the prevention of new infections among adolescent youth.
17. Adopt economic and business policies to create and ensure an enabling environment for the private sector to invest in youth development
18. Advocate for the establishment of a UN (United Nations) Youth Agency
19. Implement the resolution calling on Member States to include youth as part of official delegations to relevant UN and AU General Assembly meetings and related activities
20. Develop strategies for strengthening Public Private Partnership (PPP) in stimulating domestic resources for implementing Youth Development Programs
21. Support youth with micro-finance and entrepreneurial skills development initiatives
22. Facilitate the involvement of Diaspora youth and repatriates with specific skills and experience in the educational process.
23. Fulfill the commitment to the Abuja +15 declaration to spend at least 15% of the national budget on health.
24. Develop programs that address discrimination, marginalization, human trafficking, exploitation of refugees, internally displaced young people (IDPs) and other most at risk youth.
25. Sign, ratify, domesticate and implement all treaties and conventions regarding climate change and sustainable environment.
26. Transit from brown economy to green economy based on green jobs and renewable energy (COP+17 and Rio+20).
27. Institutionalize Annual State of Youth of the Youth Report at the national and regional level.

We call upon the AUC to:
1. Collaborate with governments, non-governmental institutions and development partners for the effective implementation of the African Youth Charter (AYC).
2. Coordinate the efforts of all African governments in the implementation of the AYC through standardized tools, indicators and mechanisms for mainstreaming youth issues and monitoring progress towards development targets
3. Publish a progress report on the status of implementation at every Heads of States and Governments Summit.

We call upon the PYU to:
1. Popularize the African Youth Chater.
2. Advocate for the establishment and strengthen the coordination roles of National Youth Councils
3. Advocate for mainstreaming of youth development and empowerment in all initiatives


We call upon the National Youth Councils to:
1. Serve as umbrella national body for youth led organizations.
2. Mobilize youth to participate in national decision making processes.
3. Initiate and formalize relations with regional Diaspora youth institutions.
4. Popularize, advocate, and support the implementation of the AYC.

We call upon the Private sector to:
1. Partner with Governments in supporting youth development interventions.
2. Prioritize youth development issues as part of private sector’s corporate social responsibility including reducing carbon foot print
3. Support youth micro-finance and entrepreneurial skills development initiatives.

We call upon the Civil Society to:
1. Partner with AUC, Governments, PYU and NYCs in rendering services to the youth.
2. Harmonize and complement programs of the Pan African Youth Union, National Youth Councils and Youth led organizations in their activities both at continental, regional and national level
3. Advocate for the ratification, implementation and monitoring of the African Youth Charter.
4. Strengthen Youth led organizations to monitor the implementation of the African Youth Charter.
5. Popularize the AYC and produce shadow report on the implementation of the AYC.
6. Strengthen social accountability through a standard code of conduct.

We call upon the Youth-led organizations and networks to:
1. Lead in-country advocacy for the ratification and the implementation of AYC.
2. Increase awareness and understanding of in-country Youth on the AYC.
3. Mobilize and support in-country youth led organizations to participate in the operations of their National Youth Councils.

We call upon the development partners to:
1. Support African Union Commission, Governments, Pan African Youth Union, National Youth Councils and Non Governmental Organizations in implementing youth development and empowerment programmes and allocate specific issues at country level.
2. Support the AUC, PYU, governments, NYC, NGO’s, Diaspora youth institutions in the implementation of the AYC.
3. Align their development programmes with the targets of the Youth Decade PoA