(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) African youth leaders have urged the continent's leaders to consider the future of African youth by promoting alternative growth models rooted in youth empowerment, human development and human rights.
"The youth of Africa have long been sidelined in discussions and initiatives relating to the development of their own continent," Simphiwe Dana, an award-winning South African Afro-soul singer and activist, said at the launch of the new #AfricaNot4Sale campaign in Johannesburg.
She said African youth had looked on as the spoils of their continent were divided and shared € with their own governments' approval € between multinational companies.
"They [African youth] have felt too powerless € and, in many cases, too disinterested € to intervene," Dana, who also campaigns for social and economic justice, said.
"Dispossessed and disempowered youth are saying #AfricaNot4Sale," the Afro-soul singer added.
The #AfricaNot4Sale campaign was launched jointly by international rights watchdog Amnesty International and the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa in Johannesburg.
"African political leaders and big business must stop selling the future of the continent's youth and start promoting alternative growth models rooted in youth empowerment, human development and human rights," Amnesty International and the Open Society Initiative said in a joint statement issued during Friday's launch.
The launch also featured a roundtable discussion at which attendees critiqued the "Africa Rising" narrative of a future rooted in economic growth alone and proposed alternative models.
"There is a clear disjuncture between 'Africa rising,' which frankly has become a rather hackneyed narrative divorced from the socio-economic realities on the ground. This, of course, begs the question: for whom is Africa rising?" Amnesty's Edward Ndopu asked.
Campaigners also noted that, although Africa is home to the world's largest youth population, the continent's young people remain largely disenfranchised in terms of social and economic rights.
"Despite the euphoria surrounding Africa's growth projections over the past several years, inequalities € fuelled by high unemployment and deeply entrenched poverty € continue to undermine the social and economic wellbeing of the youth," Ndopu said.
Roundtable participants, aged between 20 and 30 years, were drawn from diverse backgrounds and sectors spanning all of Africa's sub-regions.
Organizers said the primary goal of the Africa Youth Roundtable was to generate five recommendations to be taken to the World Economic Forum on Africa in June 2015.
The continent-wide #AfricaNot4Sale campaign calls for promoting corporate accountability in the social and economic lives of Africa's youth.
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