ADDIS ABABA (ENA) – The African Union Commission (AUC) has launched “1 million by 2021 Initiative” that aims to create direct opportunities for the development of a million African youth in the coming 32 weeks. The initiative was launched yesterday at the Second Pan African Forum that brought together hundreds of African youth.
Employment, Entrepreneurship, Education and Engagement are the key areas of opportunities and interventions to concretely reach the youth to accelerate socio-economic development in the continent. African Union Commission Chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat said that Africa has mainly youth population will genuinely embark on youth centered development.
“We have decided that 35 percent of all our offices will have youth composition and we are launching this initiative here,” the chairperson said, adding that “it is within this context that we are saying 1 million by 2021.”
The African youth has been marginalized and illegally migrated and died. So a lot needs to be done ahead, Mahamat stated. “For two years, I have visited about 43 countries of the 55 member states of our commission and seen enormous potential of the youth, a dividend we need to exploit to achieve the Africa we want,” the chairperson pointed out.
