Restless Development and YOTA (Youth Opportunity and Transformation in Africa) are pleased to announce the establishment of the Youth Task Teams of the Africa Youth Partnership. Launched in 2022 with funding from the Ford Foundation, the Africa Youth Partnership is a platform for engaging and empowering young people to play a leading role in continental efforts for an inclusive and equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Youth Task Teams constitute the main mechanism for effective youth leadership of the Africa Youth Partnership. They comprise 81 young African leaders altogether, selected from more than 700 quality applications, and representing Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Youth Task Teams will both represent and draw on broader youth constituencies in their respective countries to conduct youth effectiveness analyses and identify accountability gaps in key areas of national recovery programmes.
Announcing the Youth Task Teams, the Executive Director of YOTA said “we need to improve the capacities and skills of Africa’s youth so that they can do what they’re doing much better, but in particular, so that they can hold policymakers accountable”. With training, coaching and other technical and financial support throughout 2022, Youth Task Team members will prepare youth accountability reports, policy briefs and other products that capture the youth position on key recovery programmes, and spearhead national campaigns to advocate for the youth position.
Among the exemplary young leaders in the Youth Task Teams is Abdul-Hanan Saani Inussah, a Ghanaian medical doctor with over 7 years of experience in Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and youth development advocacy. He has worked with local, national, and international bodies to implement programmes and projects geared toward SRHR including HIV&AIDS and youth development.
Ida Faal, another remarkable young leader is a Gambian auto-mechanical engineer, who is also the Executive Director of FitaFaal, an automotive digital marketing platform. She also founded ClockTVET Foundation, a youth-led foundation that advocates youth rights and promotes access to technical and vocational skills.
