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Importance of Youth Empowerment

Benefits or Advantages of Youth Empowerment

Introduction

A youth is any individual within the age of eighteen and thirty five years irrespective of gender or sex. The definition of youth vary. Do you as a reader think that youth empowerment will do our world any good? The definition of youth is dependent of any particular nation or country as some have the definition as lady or young man between the age of 18 and forty. To be a youth is good but empowering the youth is better. Empowerment can be defined as the means of encouraging or assisting somebody. What is youth empowerment? In a nutshell, youth empowerment is the means through which the youths of any country are assisted to succeed in life. It is shameful that when youth empowerment is mentioned, people think that it is only the function of the government to empower the youths. This is not so as you, as an individual, can empower the people around you.

Youth empowerment is of good importance to both nations and the empowered. With youth empowerment, the future prosperity of nations is secured because these are the people that are, and will take care of many offices and functions in the country. I meant that there are youths who are running many managerial functions in many institutes. There are also those who are going to manage top offices in the future in accordance with the popular statement “the youths are the leaders of tomorrow”. The importance of youth empowerment is so many that all of them cannot be detailed out in this write-up.

What Are the Importance of Youth Empowerment?

Empowering the youths is like saving in bank that cannot be affected by any theft of any kind. The good outcome of the investment cannot all be consumed in totality. Note that there are types of youth empowerment.The importance of youth empowerment is discussed below:

Poverty eradication:
Youth empowerment can help reduce the poverty standard of any nation. The question may be how? When any youth is empowered financially, he uses the profit he makes from the business he does to sustain himself and his household. He may start-up businesses for his relations who were poor before and if this continues to grow to some extent, poverty will be eradicated from that vicinity. Empowering the youths with skills can go a long way in reducing poverty percentage of many societies. When a youth learns skills, he can use the skills learnt to feed, assist others, and even invest for future use. One kind of long lasting empowerment is skills empowerment. The skill one learnt can assist him till the end of his life. A youth who is empowered on how to repair automobiles can earn from it till he dies.

Good education standard: 

One of the problems that many nations are facing in their education sector is because the youths are not empowered. But when the youths are empowered, they will support the education sector of their nations. The empowered youths can donate educational facilities to primary, secondary and even to tertiary institutions. The challenges many tertiary institutions in Africa are having today is lack of practical background. The machines and other equipment needed for this practical can be provided by youths who were empowerment by the government. They do this in appreciation to what the government did for them. Empowering the youths academically accelerates the spirit of patriotism in education sector. The empowered youth knows the importance of education. This is why many individuals issue scholarships to student, because they understand the value of education due to the empowerment which were given to them academically.

Good governance: 

Good governance is attainable with youth empowerment. An empowered youth stands to empower the masses. Any youth who was empowered in his time of hardship will lead his people through the right path. He does anything possible to see that he meets up with the demand of the society. Again, youths who were empowered on leadership skill will do well in leadership positions. This is because he has been trained on how to lead people. He applies what he learnt and makes his governance acceptable to the citizens. Unlike those leaders who do not know their left from their right, a well empowered youth on leadership skill gives “first class” rule to his nation. With youth empowerment on leadership, embezzlement of public fund by top governing officers becomes a history. Through empowering the youths on leadership skills, they understand the danger of fund embezzlement.

Crime reduction:
Crime is offensive act against individuals or states. Many people indulge in 'dirty' businesses because they lack empowerment when they were youths. Government have spent a lot in the name of fighting crime without understanding that the formula or solution is in youth empowerment. If your nation wants to fight crime, it should start with youth empowerment. Many youths take part in illegal activities because they were not empowered morally, academically as well as financially. Example, when youths are taught well on the danger and punishments behind arm robbery or dealing in drugs, there is every possibility that they will not take part in them. What concerns a young man who does well in his business because he was empowered and carrying gun, stand on high ways and steal from people? The two has no relationship because the young man's business is booming and expanding. In summary, youth empowerment reduces social crimes.

In United States of America, many youths cannot do without hard drugs. Many smoke weeds which become harmful to their body system in future. There is population explosion in United States, and one of the causes is inadequate moral youth empowerment which is a Class of youth empowerment. They go about impregnating young ladies because the could not control themselves after taking hard drugs. But with proper youth empowerment, the issue is addressable.
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National Growth:
According to Biology, growth is the irreversible increase in the body size and weight of organisms. On this topic, growth is the increase and improvement in many areas of the country. It is hard for banks to fold when the workers were empowered in their youthful ages. The financial managements and other 'things' that are needed to be put in place will be well organized. The infrastructures of many nations are built with the tax paid by the citizens. Workers who earn much because they were empowered contribute more of their money through tax payment. When the taxes are gathered, they are used in national development. The banking, educational, agricultural, and industrial sectors are developed with the money generated from these empowered youths. Top footballers make the names of their nations to be heard. Some who are playing as footballers today is because they were empowered in their youthful ages on how to play well. These footballers help in national development as some clubs that the footballers play, assists the country, may be by building one or two structures for the nation to show their appreciation. Some of these footballers also promote their nations by establishing organizations. A typical example is that of Kanu Nwankwo who played for Nigerian National team, Portsmouth, Inter Milan, Arsenal, Ajax and West Bromwich Albion. Today, Kanu has many heart treatment hospitals known as Heart-to-Heart in Nigeria in appreciation for the support that the nation gave to him in his football carrier.

Security: The security departments of many nations have the youth as the larger number. This is because the youths are full of energy and ability. Standard security jobs are made for the youths and not the weak. They are always ready to confront challenges. The truth of the matter is that the youths were empowered before they picked security functions. When the youths are empowered, the spirit of patriotism increase in them and that is the reasons that make them security young men. Think of how the army department of many nations will be without the youths. Youth empowerment results to national protection. When youths are trained on security skills, the affairs of nations are protected. Also, with the empowerment, Law offenders are brought to book.

Technological development:
Youth empowerment increases and improves technological standards as agreed by technophiles. Development in machines and other important discoveries is because the youths are empowered. They take their time and dig deep into science, reason out some important things and make them real. Many inventions today are because the youths were empowered. They are encouraged to use their initiatives to bring out what will help the society. Cutlasses in their crude state are not sharp until they are sharpened with files. In the same way, youths when empowered makes technological development to accelerate.
Employment Creation:
This is another importance of youth empowerment.A youth empowered society will not seriously suffer from the problem of unemployment that many nations are battling with in the current time. A skill empowered youth is a job creator. This is because from the acquired skill he got through the empowerment gained, he can expand his business and employ more citizens which in return help in solving unemployment challenges in the country. Any nation that wants to typically solve unemployment challenge should first understand the importance of youth empowerment. Unemployment is likely to be a history with the help of youth empowerment.

Conclusion

No nation can do without empowering their youths. This is so because the youths of today are elders of tomorrow. Youth empowerment and importance have been discussed. All should empower the youth. Youths are to empower their fellow youths. Note that youth empowerment is every body's function. Understanding the importance of youth empowerment by both the government and the citizens will go a long way in achieving national dreams. Permit the author to make use of first person pronoun at this point. I as the author of this topic, I am a youth and I personal understand what we pass through. For the importance d
Opportunity

Barclays L’Atelier is one of South Africa’s most prestigious art competitions. Held annually, it is open to artists  aged 21 to 35. Historically, this award has not only ensured that South Africa’s young and emerging artists were recognised, but has also afforded them the opportunity to develop their talents abroad. A look through the list of previous winners will testify to this.
For the first time, the competition will be opened to some of our neighbouring countries across the African continent in 2015.
Entries
Online entries open on the Barclays L’Atelier website on 19 January 2015 and close on the 6th of March 2015 at 16:00. Entrants can make their drop offs at their nearest collection point between 2 and 6 March 2015.

http://lateliercompetition.com/about.aspx

#Global Goals

(Borrowed from Ashoka's blog)The Global Goals have arrived. The Goals outline 169 targets, which, if delivered upon, will end extreme poverty, fix climate change, and realize equality and justice the world over.
The Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, Ashoka, and Unilever want to discuss what they really mean for the future of the planet.
Can we get the seriously big job done? Do the Global Goals make good business sense? Why should they matter to you? And how can we hold both companies and governments accountable? After all: Accountability is “the one knot we haven’t tied,” according to Amina J. Mohammed, Special Advisor to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
We invite you to share your reactions, reservations and excitement in a one-hour Twitter chat on Thursday, October 22, beginning at 10 a.m. EDT / 3 p.m. BST / 4 p.m. CET.
Join our expert panel of innovators, business leaders and sustainability professionals, including Dr. Nicky J. Dee and Dr. Lisa Smith, who will offer insights and help guide the conversation.
You’ll need a Twitter account to participate, but joining the chat is easy:

1. Log in at 10 a.m. EDT / 3 p.m. BST on Thursday;
2. Search the hashtags #GlobalGoals and #BrightFuture;
3. Look for questions being tweeted from the @changemakers account;
4. Tag your tweets with the hashtags to contribute to the conversation;
5. Have fun!

THE FIRST ADOLESCENT SYMPOSIUM

THE FIRST ADOLESCENT HEALTH SYMPOSIUM. 

On the 27^th and 28^th of November 2015, the first adolescent health symposium was launched at Hilton Hotel, Nairobi.

 The symposium would address the evolving challenges in adolescent health: reflecting on the post 2015 sustainable development agenda and show case the efforts and contributions of relevant stakeholders to the health and wellbeing of adolescents, and provide a platform for sharing innovations and strategies towards improving adolescent health. The symposium brought together Government of Kenya officials, development partners, learning institutions, adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights/HIV experts, public and private practitioners, implementing partners and other relevant organizations.

Adolescents, young people between the ages 10 and 19 years, are often thought of as a healthy group. Nevertheless, many adolescents do die prematurely due to accidents, suicide, violence, pregnancy-related complications and other illnesses that are either preventable or treatable. Many more suffer chronic ill-health and disability. In addition, many serious diseases in adulthood have their roots in adolescence. For example, tobacco use, sexually transmitted infections including HIV, poor eating and exercise habits, lead to illness or premature death later in life.

‘’We invest so much in keeping children alive in their early years of life, let us not lose them in the second phase . We run into this risk by not paying sufficient attention to adolescents. ‘’

Let us prioritize the second decade of life by addressing the challenges that adolescents face because, #EveryAdolescentCounts , this was the hash tag used and the twitter handle @AHS2015Ke for a follow up of this amazing event which we, as youthcaffe were honored to participate in.

Non Communicable Diseases

             DID YOU KNOW...?
 Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) kill 38 million people each year?

      These diseases are driven by forces that include ageing, rapid unplanned urbanization, and the globalization of  unhealthy lifestyles. For example, globalization of unhealthy lifestyles like unhealthy diets may show up in individuals  as raised blood pressure, increased blood glucose, elevated blood lipids, and obesity. These are called 'intermediate risk  factors' which can lead to cardiovascular disease, a NCD.

NCDs threaten progress towards the UN Millennium Development Goals and post-2015 development agenda. Poverty is closely linked with NCDs. The rapid rise in NCDs is predicted to impede poverty reduction initiatives in low-income countries, particularly by increasing household costs associated with health care. Vulnerable and socially disadvantaged people get sicker and die sooner than people of higher social positions, especially because they are at greater risk of being exposed to harmful products, such as tobacco or unhealthy food, and have limited access to health services.

In low-resource settings, health-care costs for cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes or chronic lung diseases can quickly drain household resources, driving families into poverty. The exorbitant costs of NCDs, including often lengthy and expensive treatment and loss of breadwinners, are forcing millions of people into poverty annually, stifling development.

In many countries, harmful drinking and unhealthy diet and lifestyles occur both in higher and lower income groups. However, high-income groups can access services and products that protect them from the greatest risks while lower-income groups can often not afford such products and services.

An important way to reduce NCDs is to focus on lessening the risk factors associated with these diseases. Low-cost solutions exist to reduce the common modifiable risk factors (mainly tobacco use, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity, and the harmful use of alcohol) and map the epidemic of NCDs and their risk factors.

Leading a healthy lifestyle will help reduce the risk of getting this diseases.

YOUTH AND ICT

Youth is the period between childhood and adult age.

A youth is a person between the age of 18 and 35 years according to the constitution of Kenya.

ICT, (information and communications technology - or technologies) is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application, encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications.

Education is a key pillar to fostering youth employment. Considering the large youth population, youth empowerment remains a critical element of sustainable development and should be a top priority on every government agenda. ICT represents an opportunity for governments to enable socioeconomic development. ICT   can help improve education, prepare the youth with the skill sets to find employment in a knowledge based economy and provide career opportunities in the ICT sector itself.

ICT should be considered an important tool in creating employment opportunities for youth .But ICT expertise itself is typically not sufficient to ensure long-term satisfactory performance in the work place. ICT education for youth should be accompanied by life skills education including competences such as making informed decisions, solving problems, thinking creatively and critically, communicating effectively, and building interpersonal relationships. Compared with older people youth face particular entrepreneurship and employment challenges, as they are more likely to have more limited business networks and contacts.

Equipping youth with ICT skills provides them with higher chances of acquiring employment. This will lead to the development of the nation’s economy, a healthier youth and a healthier nation.

CONNECTING CAPACITIES WITH AFRICA YOUTH TRUST

Just from out of the blue we meet an old acquaintance, David Momanyi. He says he works with Africa Youth Trust (AYT). And suddenly we got to know that AYT harness the productivity of youth towards peace, equality and prosperity within and across communities in Africa. The organization majors in provision of GBV, economic empowerment and resolution 1325 UN women program. Other programs include the Mashariki Campaign that provides opportunities from EAC and EAC union as a whole to Kenyan youth. They work to secure employment opportunities for the youth and they have perfected this by working in cluster committee for employment.

YouthCaffe remains looking forward to meeting Africa Youth Trust team and to host Steve in our State-of-the-art training center.

SELF ESTEEM

Self-esteem is confidence in one’s own worth or abilities, self-respect. Words that can be used to describe self-esteem are; self-respect, pride, dignity, self-regard and faith in one self.

People often find themselves with self-esteem issues, they find themselves not being confident in themselves, having no self-respect, no dignity, no self-regard and they have no faith in themselves.

Some of the causes of low self-esteem are;

1. Systematic punishment, neglect or abuse.

2. Failing to meet parental standards.

3. Failing to meet peer-group standards.

4. Being on the receiving end of other people’s stress or distress.

5. Belonging to a family or social group that other people are prejudiced towards.

6. An absence of praise, warmth, affection or interest.

7. Being the odd one out at home or at school.

People with low self-esteem are more likely to have negative feeling. They find it hard to put in lots of effort in what they do. They end up having relationship troubles with family, friends and even spouses since them and stop looking after themselves. They hence end up finding comfort zones or solace in drugs since they can’t live with facts and cannot cope with change.

People can improve their self-esteem by celebrating the small stuff, being their own best mates and thinking of things they are good at.

The following are steps to improving our self-esteem.

1. Having positive self-talk

2. Not comparing ourselves to others

3. Doing exercise

4. Not striving to perfection

5. Focusing on the things we can change

6. Doing things that we enjoy

7. Surrounding ourselves with supportive people.

People with high self-esteem become accomplished in life because they have confidence in themselves and actually know their purpose. They know what they want in life and they know how to get to it.They are respected and embraced by the community that is the people around them. It is really important for us to be self-aware.