Our Hopes for the Mo Ibrahim forum by Isa Mwaipopo

With only 5 days now  left before the long awaited Mo Ibrahim Discussion Forum kicks off in the city of darker, Senegal. Hopes and Expectations from the camp of youth delegates and communicators are high, though coming from different regions and walks of life, the theme under discussion is one that touches and  affects almost every African youth, after days and weeks of preparation and anticipation, we can’t wait for the golden opportunity to grab the microphone and engage with our policy makers and government representatives.

The Ibrahim Forum is an annual high level discussion forum facilitated by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. Participants are drawn from around the African continent to discuss and debate the African agenda as articulated by the Foundation in collaboration with key members of African civil society. Among other things, the foundation seeks to promote include good governance practices and exceptional leadership in Africa. This year’s Forum focuses on an interesting theme, “YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION AND CIVIC PARTICIPATION IN AFRICA". This rings a line on my mind on what is stipulated in the Zambian National Youth Policy which states and I quote “The best empowerment that can be given to the youth is education and training”.

Notable among the prominent people to grace the forum this year include the worlds celebrated Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, an inspiration for our generation. It is at this forum that he will get to officially receive the award that was recently bestowed on him by the foundation following his remarkable courage to speak to powers and authority. Out of the 400 estimated number of delegates to gather in Darker, 20 will be young people from around the African continent, thanks to Restless Development for lobbying to add the Youth factor, this goes a long way in securing our voice and ensuring that our concerns are heard.

As we gather in Dakar, we hope to learn more from every delegate that is part of this forum, we hope that through their experience and reflections we will make mile stones in addressing the issues of unemployment and education on our continent. After almost 50 years of gaining independence by most of our countries, we still remain greatly marginalized as young people from taking an active role in the running of affairs in our countries.

Though small in number at the forum, we still hope that our concerns will be heard, we hope that through this forum we will speak on behalf of the millions and millions of our brothers and sisters we have left behind in various communities whose voice is not otherwise recognized.

I think of our friends in Malawi whose eyes are filled with hopelessness at the thought of what the future holds for them looking at the prevailing economic hardships, brothers and sisters from Zimbabwe whose democratic and constitutional rights to participation in the affairs of their country still seems a farfetched dream, and  not forgetting, my own country of origin Zambia, were we still have young boys and girls who seat on logs in classrooms, university students who seat on the floor, all in the quest to get some education. These thoughts flash before me as I attend this forum, I hope that lasting solutions and recommendations would be reached to help in addressing some of these persisting challenges that have afflicted our countries for far too long.