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By Reginald Tapfumaneyi in Antananarivo
African Union Commission Youth Envoy, H.E. Ms. Chido Cleopatra Mpemba is on a whirlwind trip to the African Island of the Indian Ocean, Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo.
Mpemba is set to make the most of her maiden tour. Killing two birds with one stone, she is hosting both a listening tour and a humanitarian forum with the intention of redressing challenges faced by youth.
During her listening tour, she has thus far managed to meet high-level government officials as she woos them into signing the African Youth Charter, which is part of her mandate as the African Youth Envoy.
“I am grateful to the Malagasy government for their warm welcome to me and my team as we are here conducting the listening tour.
“We managed to have some meaningful engagements with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Youth and Sports, and we also took some time to meet with young people having fruitful discussions with them,” explained an excited Mpemba.
To date, many African governments have successfully signed and committed to the African Youth Charter. These include Burundi, Ghana, Nigeria, Namibia, and others.
The Charter is meant to provide young people with a political and legal framework intended to support the development of youth activities at the continental, regional, and national levels in Africa.
Mpemba reiterates that: “The current statistics show that Africa has the highest number of youth in the world.”
Meanwhile, Mpemba, through her office, together with the local authorities working in the humanitarian, is currently hosting the humanitarian forum under the theme, ‘Harnessing youth potential in response to the humanitarian crisis.’
“Madagascar as an Island is prone to natural disasters as a result of climate change. Hence, we felt the need to bring this forum to this part of Africa.
“We believe that facilitating such forums will mitigate the population from the precarious situation of humanitarian crises and help develop their communities,” lamented Mpemba.
As part of the Humanitarian Forum, more than 70 youth also attended a digital skills training initiated by Mpemba as part of her digital campaign in partnership with Google.
Mpemba and her team are set to create positive change for oft-left-out young people in the island nation. The youth in Madagascar are upbeat about her tour.