The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) says it will work towards ensuring that youths across southern Africa are provided with opportunities to help them excel in life.
The remarks were made Friday in Luanda, Angola at a special meeting that brought together youth representatives from SADC region including Malawi.
Among others, delegates at the three-day meeting, which started Wednesday, have also validated the draft SADC protocol on youth which seeks to guide the implementation of programmes that will benefit youths.
In his remarks, Angola’s minister of youth and sports Rui Falcao Pinto de Andrade underscored the youth’s critical role in contributing meaningfully to the sustainable development of the SADC region.
“We want to see the youths in our region given platforms to excel and develop our region,” said Andrade.
Director of Programmes for the National Youth Council of Malawi, Joaquim Lumbe, who was also graced the meeting, urged youths to take advantage of the regional opportunities like the SADC internship Programme, SADC scholarship Programme and the SADC Free Trade Area, among others.
“Taking up these opportunities may help our youths to turn into agents of change,” said Lumbe.
Delegates from Malawi also attended a special session of the SADC youth forum in which participants shared various opportunities available for the youths in the region.
Meanwhile, Executive Director of the Citizen Impact Organization (CIO) Chimwemwe Banda, who represented the country’s youths at the meeting described the outcome of the gathering as “very beneficial”, urging the Malawian government to adopt guidelines that were adopted at the meeting.
