What is Africa Youth Day?

Purple Lipstick is so excited to be joining the rest of Africa in celebrating Africa Youth Day 2016! The day is officially set for the 1st of November.  This year the African Union is encouraging young people to commemorate Africa Youth Day in their communities under the theme, ‘Promoting Youth Mainstreaming as a Catalyst towards Harnessing the Demographic Dividend’. This may seem a bit hard to understand so I'll try explain it as best I can :D

 The demographic dividend can be defined as the benefit that can arise when a country has a relatively large proportion of working-age population due to declining fertility. Africa, Zimbabwe included can be categorized as having a demographic dividend that results in a large number of youth. The importance of the demographic Dividend has been repeatedly acknowledged by African and global leaders. Investing in the young people produced by the demographic dividend is super important in order for Africa to achieve our economic, social and sustainable development goals!  The African Union is thus encouraging its partners throughout Africa to accelerate the youth agenda, with youth, under four key pillars that are part of what they are calling "the Demographic
Dividend Road-map."

Helping raise awareness for this is one of the reasons the Africa Youth Day has been put into place. The purpose of the celebrations is to promote an increased recognition of youth as key agents for social change and economic growth in all aspects of the African society, to contribute and channel the youth motivation, energy and idealism, and to reinforce the efforts towards the achievement of a sustainable development in the Africa.

 

 This Thursday our team will be celebrating by sharing a video focusing mainly on the 4th pillar of the road map, Rights, Governance and Youth Empowerment.  We will also be posting about African women who we think have been changing the trajectory of Africa. Make sure you keep an eye out for our video and posts by going over to our Facebook, Instagram and YouTube pages.

How Can You Get Involved?

Love Always,
Marlene