TheCable

Some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) focused on youth development have called for increased collaboration towards actualising the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Some of these organisations are Junior Chamber International (JCI), Mind the Gap, Teach for Nigeria, West Africa Vocational Education (WAVE), among others.

At a virtual press conference, LEAP Africa organised ahead of the youth day of service (YDOS), the groups called for collaboration on SDGs.

The YDOS is a week-long event from August 12 to 18, 2020 in commemoration of International Youth Day celebration.

Femi Taiwo, chief executive officer of LEAP Africa, said the YDOS is an annual event which celebrates youth creativity and energy towards actualising the UN SDGs.

Taiwo urged volunteers to visit the organisation’s website to indicate their intention to start a new project or to join over 50 existing projects on the platform.

“We are championing this because we know to achieve the SDGs we need to utilize the energy of young people. We are happy with the effort of development partners and we believe that together we can achieve e a lot regarding the SDGs and supporting young persons,” he said.

“We need the private and public sectors to accomplish this heavy task. We need to coordinate our efforts. This is the beginning of a huge effort to rally young persons and agencies in achieving the SDGs over the next couple of years.

“One project I am volunteering on is painting a school which I gathered has not been painted in 10 years. We believe young people can start a project or volunteer for an existing project. Whatever project youths can think of is welcome. The purpose is for individuals to start or join projects in their various communities.”

In his remark, Sunday Dare, minister of youths and sports, represented by Oluwakemi Areola, special adviser to the minister on ICT and corporate communications, commended the initiative saying the government needs the support of private organisations as it cannot do it all.

She conveyed the minister’s endorsement for the YDOS, saying it is an avenue to reach out to several communities.

Areola said the ministry is open to collaboration with youth-focused organisations.

“We have 60 million youths to deal with, we cannot touch down on every single one of them, but with the help of private organizations, we can do a lot. Youth engagement is important. We can’t do anything in Africa if we don’t get everyone involved,” she said.

“The ministry is up for collaboration because we know we can’t do it alone. There is a great number of initiatives in the ministry that will help young people. We need to upskill them in many areas and we like the idea of bringing to them many options including the YDOS.

“The ministry endorses this youth day of service. We will do everything we can to ensure that every young Nigerian hears and be involved in the YDOS and we hope to bring a better future for our younger people and the whole of Nigeria.”

Representatives from the organisations said Nigeria needs to do better in actualising the SDGs across various communities.

They added that volunteers will be mobilized to engage in several projects during the YDOS, adding that Nigerians can also join the conversation online using the hashtags #youthdayofservice and #YOUTH4SDGs on social media platforms.