ENGAGING YOUTHS IN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

There is need to engage the youths in education, entrepreneurship and innovations in technologies, writes Noah Dallaji

The focus of this year’s International Youth Day obviously throws up some important conversations on the challenges of making the world a better place to live with particular attention on the Agenda 2030 as declared by the United Nations as well as the prime position of the youths and their crucial engagement.

While there have been advances in increased food production thereby enhancing sustainability in relative degrees, there are also concerns regarding other elements which could still hinder human and planetary wellbeing.

It is, therefore, salutary that the United Nations deemed it fit to put the pertinent issues into context in this year’s celebration with the theme “Transforming Food Systems: Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health”.

According to the UN, the substantive aim of the theme is to draw attention to the fact that the success of such a global effort will not be achieved without the meaningful participation of the young people.

Of course, this is sound reasoning when we realize that the number of youth between the ages of 15 and 24 is 1.1 billion, constituting 18 percent of the global population. Yet, youth and children together, including all those aged 24 years and younger, account for nearly 40 percent of the world’s population. Still, the world’s population is expected to rise by two billion in the next 30 years.

In Nigeria, the situation is more alarming. According to population projections by the UN for 2020, about 43 percent of the Nigerian population comprised children 0-14 years, 19 percent age 15-24 years and about 62 percent are below age 25 years. Invariably, the youths are not only the essential components of the future but quite key even in contemporary considerations for any purposeful ideas and policies for development.

Now, in examining the theme and its relevance, we should look at the two important parts, namely the issues in transforming food systems and levels of participation by the youths to enhance human and planetary health.

The food systems refer to the technical, economic, social and environmental processes and actors through which we feed the world’s population, which have also collectively helped significantly in mitigating the challenge of hunger and starvation, even though in relative terms.

Experts believe that the world has made tremendous progress in improving food security and nutrition in recent years. According to statistics, the proportion of people experiencing hunger fell from 14.7 percent to 10.6 percent between 2000 and 2015. It is also stated that progress has further been made on under-nutrition, with the prevalence of child stunting, for instance, dropping from 40 percent to 23 percent between 1990 and 2015.

However, recent effects of the food systems are scaling down these landmarks as they are also recognized to be at the heart of the global health and sustainability crises. For, it is reckoned that after a period of prolonged decline, world hunger is on the rise, millions of children are still too short for their age, and nearly two billion adults are overweight or obese. These different forms of malnutrition, it is also asserted, have become some of the leading causes of disease in the world.

It is further believed that activities of the food systems have led to water pollution and land degradation, with substantial effect on greenhouse emission.

In spite of all these negatives, experts think that the food systems are capable of fixing the problems, thereby helping to meet the UN development goals where poverty reduction (particularly unemployment), social inclusion (women empowerment), health care, biodiversity conservation and challenge of climate change are critical.

And it is here that the youths have a major role to play as relevant actors by using their innovative minds to influence our collective sanity in making the wellbeing of human and planetary health a possibility. But this won’t happen by chance, we need to engage them critically and actively in the process especially in our policies and programmes.

Indeed, such a step can only be in tandem with the 2021 ECOSOC Youth Forum where the youths highlighted salient issues and priorities which included the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human health, the environment and food systems. There were also issues relating to the importance of working towards more equitable food systems, making informed decisions on food choices, adequate capacity building and the reality that some externalities can be generated in the process of food system with great health consequences.

As summed up by the UN, a lot can be achieved through youth education, engagement, innovation and entrepreneurial solutions and I quite agree. Clearly, such engagements will have a relationship with innovations in technologies, policies and our institutions.

As we celebrate the International Youth Day, I am enamored to think about how we can leverage on our National Youth Development Policy which could have a major impact on the pace to delivering on the UN goals 2030. The policy, among others, seeks to promote and protect the health, social, economic and political wellbeing of all young men and women in order to enhance their participation in the development process and improve their quality of life. Overall, it focuses on key areas like education, health, agriculture, women and girls, peace-building, HIV/AIDS, migration and human trafficking, poverty and participation.

These are important areas of possible engagement of our youths which correlate with underlying concerns for innovation as espoused by the UN, thereby impacting on wellbeing of human and planetary health. Indeed, they could possibly align with the other half of the IYD theme in effecting desired change and balance in the overall food system transformation process.

The Nigerian youths constitute our real hope for a greater future and we must begin to identify and address issues that would enhance their lives and improve overall national development.

What is required is fidelity to the effective implementation of the basic contents of the National Youth Development Policy and affirming institutional oversight on the policy as it relates to the activities of the various stakeholders towards fulfilment and making life more abundant to the generality of our population.

At the African Children Talent Discovery Foundation (ACTDF), we realize the need to engage our youths principally on the challenge they face in maximizing their potential. This is why we have continued to place premium on talent hunt and youth empowerment through education, health and sport development as we believe this will help the beneficiaries to discover themselves and be useful to themselves, families and the nation. We also believe it is a major means of curbing crime and criminality in our society.

Generally, the contention will continue regarding the place of technology in addressing the inherent concerns in this year’s IYD theme but the reality as we can see it is that technology will be a major determinant of success in mitigating the challenge of transforming food systems and the role of youths in innovative methods towards a balance. The global community must necessarily resolve to leverage on emerging technologies and digital strategies to boost economies with the youth as major players via institutional framework. Lest we forget, the very key issue of climate change remains a major concern which should elicit interest across board with looming consequences on the attainment of UN goals 2030. Time to act is now.

Dallaji, founder, African Children Talent Discovery Foundation wrote from Abuja.