Three Malawian youth represented the country outstandingly at the 2019 African Forum for Youth Initiatives in Egypt where they won an award.
The three Malawian youth are Linly Dumuka, Foster Mafiala and Steve M’bayeni who attended the event from 1st March to 6th March, 2019 in Aswan, Egypt.
Speaking in an interview with Malawi24, one of the youth Linly Dumuka who is a hub coordinator at SRHR Africa Trust (SAT) said that the award is an aspiration to many people.
“The award is an inspiration to not only us as Malawi delegates but a mass of amazing young people championing different ideas in Malawi. I know it will motivate many to take further steps in amplifying our Malawi youth voices in pushing for meaningful young engagement in the nation’s development programs.
“The award was about the initiators: best practices on advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights programs, championed by young people.” Dumuka said.
She explained that the forum was not just about them showcasing what they do and wait for results from the judges but also a learning space from all other 19 countries that presented on Sexual and reproductive health related solutions to the common challenges that African adolescents and young adults are facing especially the African girl and woman.
“We got the chance to engage with the judges who assisted us with how we can sustain the project as they considered it one of those that should replicated in many countries in Africa.
“We received expression of interest from a number of fellow initiators willing to replicate the idea which I believe will continuously offer a platform for learning and growing to contribute to the achievement of the nation’s and the continent’s sustainable development goals as well as the AU agenda 2063,” she added.
Dumuka asked all youth who are working in various fields to be determined.
“I have worked with great teams of young people in many programs and I know the hunger that many Malawi youths have to change the narrative around youth employment, health and other social issues. I would love to say to all who are championing different programs that the work will not be finished until we develop a strong collaboration among ourselves and much as we are in different platforms, let us not forget if we always work as one organised youth movement, we shall achieve more.” She said.
Foster and Dumuka are young people who are leading a platform for a diverse group who have great individual ideas.
Steve is currently managing U-Report Malawi, a platform which enables young people to speak out on issues that matter to them. The forum was such a great learning experience for him to understand what youths and their desire to solve the current problems Africa is facing. This will assist him to take U-Report to the next level by scaling up youth engagement but also adopting new approaches which will enable young people in Malawi to take action towards solving the problems.
