October 7, 2021
By Hafsatu Z Bangura
The Ministry of Youth Affairs together with the United Nations Family in Sierra Leone at a presser held on the 6th October, 20201 at Youyi Building in Freetown, regarding the official launch of the two (2) days National Youth Summit in Commemoration of the Africa Youth Day at the EBK University, Tonkolili District.
Present at the Launch was the Minister of Youth Affairs Mr. Mohamed Orman Bangura, Mr. Jocelyn Fenard officer in charge United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Coordinator Mr. Babatunde Ahonsi AND Representative from THE United Nations Development Program
The Summit will be organized by the Government of Sierra Leone, under the leadership of the Ministry of Youth Affairs. In Partnership with the United Nations County Team and other development partners in Sierra Leone.
Speaking at the press conference was the Minister of Youth Affairs, Mr. Mohamed Orman Bangura who spoke about the upcoming youth summit and the role of youths in our society. In his statement he said the national youth summit is as a result of the 2030 youth strategy requirements that young people needs to be engaged in. He said the summit will highlight progress made by the government on the national youth policy implementation and on the operationalization of the Africa Union road map on harnessing the democratic dividend through investments in youth, in line with the medium-term national development plan (2019-2023), the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, and the UN YOUTH 2030 strategy.
The Summit is aimed at elevating the voice of young people and places their experiences at the center of all discussions and decision-making as well as provides youth with an opportunity to engage with a range of duty bearers and development partners on development priorities’. The Summit will consist of a Mix of political commitments, substantive sessions, and Cultural events.
The objective of the Summit is to provide the evidence base necessary to design multi-sectorial National Youth Empowerment Partnership through which a variety of partners can work with the Ministry of Youth Affairs to implement programming related to four pillars of the AU Road map on Harnessing the Demographic Dividend.
The Minister of Information Mr. Rahman Rado Swaray thanked the Minister of Youth in the involvement of the Ministry of Information in the Permanent Programs of the Summit. He praised the Minister and praised the initiative as he said is a stepping stone on improving the lives of Youths in this Country as this is the Goal of the Minister of Youth Affairs.
The National youth Summit aims to convene youths around the country to deliberate on issues that are genuinely affecting them, the discussions will be based on the 4 pillars African Road map that can harness youth Empowerment and work towards demographic dividend.
The population of Sierra Leone is estimated at 8,16,126 in September 2021, with eight out of ten people under the age of 35 years Old, and about 41.6% under the age of 15 and 74.1% under the age of 25 years old. The large portion of young people contributes to a high population dependency-ratio which the Government of Sierra Leone has committed to address through the development of a road map to support the achievement of a Demographic Dividend which consists of four key areas; Education and Skills Development, Good Health Provision, Employment and Entrepreneurship, and Good Governance.