{"id":15904,"date":"2022-09-29T14:37:14","date_gmt":"2022-09-29T13:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/?p=15904"},"modified":"2022-09-29T14:37:14","modified_gmt":"2022-09-29T13:37:14","slug":"energize-africa-initiative-advances-youth-and-women-to-lead-developmental-strategies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/energize-africa-initiative-advances-youth-and-women-to-lead-developmental-strategies\/","title":{"rendered":"Nardos Bekele-Thomas in : \u00ab\u00a0Energize Africa Initiative Advances Youth and Women To Lead Developmental Strategies\u00a0\u00bb"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nardos Bekele- Thomas, the AUDA-NEPAD Chief Executive Officer has remarked: \u201cThe Energize Africa initiative is about harnessing youths\u2019 creativity and skills into the continent\u2019s economic growth and development, whilst expanding income opportunities for the youth \u2013 through creation of jobs, innovation, and entrepreneurship.\u201d She was speaking on the margins of the 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York. The Energize Africa initiative recognises that Africa\u2019s youth and women \u2013 making up more than half of the continent\u2019s populations \u2013 must be at the core of Africa\u2019s economic growth and inclusive development strategies.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The African Union Development Agency-NEPAD in partnership with Afreximbank, co-launched the AUDA-NEPAD Energize Africa initiative last week. Moreover, Energize Africa\u2019s focus is on young professionals to enhance public sector efficiency; stimulate solution-focused research and development, through innovation hubs, and; Entrepreneurshippportunities for Africa\u2019s youthful populations for improved socio-economic well-being. Prof Benedict Okey Oramah, President and Chairman of Board of Directors, Afreximbank remarked that, \u201cThe Energize Africa collaboration is a demonstration of the partnership with AUDA-NEPAD towards ensuring that youth are at the core of our development.<\/p>\n

The youth are indeed the leaders of tomorrow.\u201d And recognising that the continent with the highest percentage of entrepreneurs among working- age adults is Africa, AUDA-NEPAD has designed the Energize Africa initiative as a continental platform of youth professionals, institutions, and facilities to strengthen innovative solutions, skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship. \u201cIf we do not harness the youth dividend, it will remain a \u201cpotential.\u201d Energize Africa is an opportunity to invest in the future of Africa,\u201d Dr Monique Nsanzabaganwa, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission said during the high-level opening session of the launch event.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy presence here today is meant to signal the political commitment of the African Union Commission to ensure we see change on the issue of youth employment in Africa, within the context of Agenda 2063,\u201d Dr Nsanzabaganwa added. Several messages of support from Energize Africa patrons and champions were delivered during the launch. \u201cEnergizing Africa is indispensable to leverage Africa\u2019s most valuable resource, its human capital. It is important for supporting start-ups to get on their feet and serve as long-term sources of innovation and growth \u2013 put simply, by giving young people a chance to design their future.<\/p>\n

Let us join efforts to energize Africa and build, the Africa we want, to ensure that no one is left behind,\u201d stated Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations in her message of support.<\/p>\n

Hailemariam Desalegn, Former Prime Minister of Ethiopia remarked that, \u201cReal consultation with youth to build viable programmes will be key to making Energize Africa a success.\u201d While Ambassador Dr John N. Nkengasong, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy, U.S. Department of State congratulated the AUDA-NEPAD CEO on the launch of Energize Africa. He concurred with Ms Bekele-Thomas in highlighting the fact that the initiative promises to mobilise young people across the continent and to transform the public sector.<\/p>\n

Elaborating on the context of Energize Africa in the African Continental Free Trade Area, the Secretary General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, Wamkele Mene said that \u201cThe African Continental Free Trade Area offers opportunities for seamless access to new markets, particularly in digital technologies.\u201d The importance of strengthening relations between the private and public sectors in creating a brighter future for Africa\u2019s youth was expounded on by Dr James Mwangi, CEO Equity Bank, who committed to also championing Energize Africa with AUDA-NEPAD. In addition, Messages of support for Energize Africa were also received from Jean Van Wetter, Director General of the Belgian Development Agency and Sebastian Ashong-Katai from Ecobank. The successful launch of Energize Africa concluded with the unanimous acknowledgement that youth are partners for the sustainable development, peace, and prosperity of Africa, with a unique contribution to make to the continent\u2019s present and future development, continental leaders added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Read the original article on the News Ghana website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nardos Bekele- Thomas, the AUDA-NEPAD Chief Executive Officer has remarked: \u201cThe Energize Africa initiative is about harnessing youths\u2019 creativity and skills into the continent\u2019s economic growth and development, whilst expanding<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12643,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[153],"class_list":["post-15904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-room","tag-153"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpolicyconference.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}