Hundreds of young people from Stanmore in Gwanda Ward 4 who attended the sports and information cafes organised by Habakkuk Trust yesterday acquired requisite information on opportunities available for the youth to make sound empowerment decisions.
The event was a follow up to the youth leadership camp and youth hub meetings where young people bemoaned lack of access to information on academic opportunities such as scholarships and income generating projects that can improve their livelihoods.
Organisations such as Higher life Foundation, Bulawayo Projects Centre, Hand in hand Zimbabwe and Youth for Innovation Trust provided knowledge on youth related opportunities within their programming. Civil Society Organisations which include National Youth Development Trust, Women Institute for Leadership Development, National Aids Council, Masakhaneni Projects Trust also shared requisite information on human rights related information. Also present was the Ministry of Youth, Sports, Arts and Recreation together with the Department of the Registrar General.
The sports and information kiosks are creative spaces for young people to mobilise each other and also receive information on key human rights, livelihoods and academic opportunities happening in the region and the country.
Youths present at the event were encouraged to actively participate in community initiatives.
Participation of youth in development or decision making processes has been relatively low despite the demographic advantage that young people have in communities. Development committees and decision making platforms in most areas are dominated by the elderly.
Pro-youth mobilisation strategies which include sports and information galas have been adopted as effective mobilisation strategies that have the potential to enable more young people to be active citizens.