WYF’s pre-forum workshops took off with 'Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want’

CAIRO – 1 November 2018: The World Youth Forum’s (WYF) pre-forum workshops took off earlier Thursday with a session titled, 'Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want’.

Other workshops are scheduled to take place Friday and the opening ceremony is set to take place Saturday evening. The forum’s second edition will convene in Sharm el-Sheikh between November 3 and 6, 2018.

With youths from 20 African countries participating, the workshop today focused widely on how individuals can play a key role in the development and branding of the African continent. Participants were divided into five groups, each of which took on a specific topic and worked to decipher it and find recommendations, with the aim and goal of creating initiatives to better their countries.

The workshop covered a wide array of topics from Information and Communications Technology, to combating terrorism at state and non-state levels, to small- and medium-sized enterprise, to marketing the African continent.


During the workshop on November 1, 2018 - Courtesy of official WYF Facebook page

A look at the issues discussed

Perhaps one of the most important topic that was discussed today, especially given the American First lady, Melania Trump’s, recent visit to Africa, was technology and the internet.

Mrs Trump had taken on the issue of cyber bullying and the responsible use of internet, and somewhat building on this, the workshop today looked at a ‘Digital Africa’.

“We are putting a framework for an initiative to promote technology and create ‘Digital Africa’ or ‘AfriTech’; this could be a trend for African companies, SMEs and such, to use so we can attract big names and encourage technology transfers and the sharing of information,” said the team.

Putting education at the forefront of the solutions that would ensure innovation, the team stressed the importance of ensuring at least lower-level education. The team suggested that to ensure that technology is developed and that Africa is able to produce more high-tech solutions and products, there is a need for activists to lobby for higher standards of education. This will ensure individuals are able to innovate and create.

The team spoke of the importance of ensuring that we do not simply innovate but that we also share expertise and learn from one another in order to become the best version of ourselves.


During the workshop on November 1, 2018 - Courtesy of official WYF Facebook page

Taking a hard turn to look at terrorism, how it expands, the challenges facing efforts to curb it, the role of states in reducing it and the role of individuals in combatting it, the third team was able to come up with a list of possible reasons why the children of the continent turn to terrorism and attack their own countries and people; among these reasons: poverty, lack of education, and unemployment.

Sharing their countries’ experiences in combating terrorism, Ahmed Sabry, an Egyptian on the team, said, “Some youths in Africa are facing financial challenges because they cannot find work and so they are sometimes attracted to terrorism in exchange of money.”

This suggests, as plenty of academic and on-field evidence did in the case of Syria, that sometime people commit terrorist acts in return for money not.

“Unemployment, like poverty, is a way to take advantage of the youth, making them commit terrorist acts for money,” suggested Sabry, adding, “Africa, in general, is not very good at utilizing its natural resources. Terrorists often take advantage of a lot of our natural resources. We need to take control of the resources and use them well.”

Education was also brought up by the group as a main factor as to why individuals may be lured towards terrorism.

The solution, Abdelhamed from Nigeria, part of the third group, explained is to better education levels and to push for individuals to be part of the policy-cycle.

“Part of the solution was policy-approach: Young people need to be part of the policy-cycle.”

Abdelhamed argued that it is vital for individuals to take on the responsibility of becoming part of the policy-cycle by lobbying those in charge and in office and telling them what they think should be done.

“Also, creating intelligent information to state actors. This is sharing information with state actors because we know ourselves and we know our neighbours and if we know that there is something wrong and they are starting to go the other way, we need to take action,” Abdelhamed stated.

Part of the solution, the team suggested, is to use the tech-savvy nature of millennials and their almost constant presence online and create an anti-terrorism campaign on different social media platforms. They also suggested creating an online advocacy group to raise awareness on terrorism’s effects and its negative impact.

Another solution, the team argued, is to distribute resources evenly. The issue of resource distribution has long haunted Africa; many people and groups have long felt marginalized or that they are treated unfairly due to the small share of resources they receive. The team suggested that this leaves individuals angry, pushing them to commit violent acts. Thus, fair distribution of resources would “make sure they are not angry and do not undertake terrorist acts,” according to the group.


During the workshop on November 1, 2018 - Courtesy of official WYF Facebook page

The fourth team spoke about small- and medium-sized enterprises and social projects and how to fund both instead of waiting for international aid.

After doing their research and discussing the issue, the team suggested crowd funding as the primary solution to the issue. “Crowd funding is when you encourage a lot of people to contribute to a community issue. You reach out to individuals to get them to give a little bit to your project,” the first speaker from the group said.

The team went on to suggest ten top-notch ideas to ensure that Africa is self-sufficient and self-sustainable. These are: social enterprise, membership registration, social development funds, charity and fundraising, development banks (for agricultural and industrial projects), soft grants, corporate social responsibility, competitions and awards, community development organizations, and Savings and Credit Cooperative (SACCOS). These ten solutions, plus crowd funding, can help Africa rid itself of its need for international aid.


During the workshop on November 1, 2018 - Courtesy of official WYF Facebook page

The fifth, and final, group spoke of branding the continent; a topic that the panellist described to be “not an easy task at all.”

“It is all about the global image for Africa and we made up a theme: ‘Proudly Made in Africa’,” said the fifth group’s primary speaker, echoing a theme that was pushed earlier this year by COMESA Business Council’s Amany Asfour, ‘Made in Africa’.

“When people think of Africa what usually comes to mind is disease, famine, war, terror, so we are looking at how we can right this narrative.” The group believes that there is a need to combat that narrative to change it, one of the measures they suggested is making individuals more aware of the effect their use of social media has on the image of Africa. One of the team members explained that if one is to post an image of something that may be upsetting them on the street in Africa or whatever, this could lead someone—who has never been to Africa countries—think that this is what Africa is like. This becomes increasingly more likely, the team member explained, with those who are less educated.

“We want to change Africa from one that relies on external grants to being self-sustainable. … We are looking at an Africa that is resourceful.”

Furthermore, innovation is key, the team explained. “Internally, there is a need to innovate in individuals’’ knowledge to be used all over Africa.”

“We have so much that we can give but as long as it is at the crude level, we cannot do much with it. But when we innovate it and make it marketable, it is profitable.”

For the fifth team, marketing a new image of Africa is key for a new, self-sustainable Africa. “Branding for Africa is one of the toughest topics because we need some hefty efforts to re-brand the continent,” Maged Talaat, Secretary of the Egyptian Political Education Committee

“Africa is home to many resources. It is home to the world’s food needs during the next period, and it is rich in its resources.”

“Africa is rich in renewable energy. In Europe, they are substituting fuel for solar energy and I think this is something we can make use of and we can export to them,” Talaat said.

Wrapping up the pre-forum session, the panellist thanked all the participants for their ideas and their fruitful suggestions.

As a result of the excellent ideas presented in the session, the panel decided to develop initiatives in order to give the youth a chance to lead continental change.

Nearly 122,000 youth from 195 countries register in the second edition of the World Youth Forum (WYF), set for Sharm el Sheikh city on November 3-6.

The forum's managers decided to close registration for the 2018 forum, which is held under the auspices of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.

They announced that 122,000 youth aged from 18 to 40 registered online in the forum. Out of 122,000, 68,000 persons registered to participate in the forum and 13,000 others to take the chance to speak up loud.

Also, 5,000 artists registered to participate in the forum's theater.

The forum also decided to host 5,000 youth from 145 countries to participate in this year's forum, compared to 3,000 participants last year.


The WYF in its second annual version will tackle two main axes: peace and development.

The first axis will discuss reconstructing post-conflict countries and societies, the role of world leaders in achieving peace, the duty of the international community to provide humanitarian assistance, counter-terrorism issues, and Euro-Mediterranean Partnership.

The theme of the development will include topics related to energy and water security, empowerment of people with disabilities, the role of voluntary work in building societies, the agenda of 2063 African Sustainable Development, digital citizenship, the role of art and cinema in shaping communities, ways to build future leaders, and the means of shrinking the gender gap in the work force.

An Arab-African Summit Simulation Model will be held on the sidelines of the Forum, as was recommended during the African Union Simulation Model held in May 2018 as part of the activation of the recommendations of the 2017 World Youth Forum.

The first edition of the World Youth Forum was launched from Nov. 4-10, 2017 in Sharm el-Sheikh. It was attended by 3,200 participants from 113 countries. The forum was a platform for 222 speakers from 64 countries with expertise in various fields, gathered in 46 sessions.

In the 2017 edition, the participating leaders and experts discussed various international and regional issues, including crises of migration and refugees, democracy and human rights, African stability and development, and globalization and cultural identity, as well as the technology and social media and their impact on the population.