Rebecca Ejifoma
In commemoration of International Youth Day, LEAP Africa is set to impact over 100,000 beneficiaries in the second edition of its Pan-African Youth Day of Service (YDoS) campaign across 20 African countries.
The youth-led social impact campaign, which is on the theme, Youthful and Useful, will be held from August 12 to 18 this year.
The YDoS aims to foster the spirit of service to community and encourage volunteerism among the youth population in Africa, with focus on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is also on the quest to inspire them to be active social change agents in society.
This was according to the Executive Director, LEAP Africa, Femi Taiwo, at a media briefing held in Lagos.
“We seek to rally young people, corporate organisations, public and social sector organisations to become advocates and renew the spirit of active youth citizenship with emphasis on spreading the culture of service and collective responsibility.
“The campaign will feature different projects championed by young people in various communities across Africa.”
The YDoD 2021 presents a unique opportunity to mobilise the energy, creativity, and agency of young Africans while collaborating with an ecosystem of like-minded organisations to support and advance efforts towards localising and achieving the SDGs.
“One of our strategic pillars as an organisation is to raise talents for the actualisation of the SDGs, the Youth Day of Service initiative is a demonstration that LEAP Africa remains committed to championing conversations on youth actions for Sustainable Development across Africa.
“The week-long campaign will bring together young people in different African countries, and communities to champion laudable community development projects.” Taiwo concluded.
On how people can participate, participants can either register their own project, volunteer for existing projects or sponsor the execution of a project as listed on the campaign portal, www.youthdayofservice.org. The registered projects can be physical projects or active virtual advocacy in different locations across Africa between August 12 to 18.
Youth Day of Service is personal leadership in action; intended to empower young people, strengthen communities and trigger collective actions that would move the continent closer to achieving the SDGs with 2030 in view.
The International Youth Day is celebrated annually on 12th August to bring youth issues to the attention of the international community and celebrate their potential as partners in today’s global society.
The day also gives an opportunity to celebrate and mainstream young peoples’ voices, actions, and initiatives, as well as their meaningful, universal and equitable engagement.
While the representative of Lagos Food Bank, Favour Dada, said they were impressed with the impact of the volunteers last year, she added that her organisation looks forward to a fruitful YDoS this year.
