YOUTH ADVOCACY EFFECIVENESS IN AFRICA ! HOW TO REACH THE VULNERABLE, MARGINALIZED AND YOUNG GENERATION.
Advocacy is the foremost approach for engaging young
people in designing, implementing, and evaluating policies and programs that
address challenges that affect their well-being. Young people are the advocates
of change.
The complexity of social change, policy influence, and limitation of digital media create considerable challenges in achieving the expected advocacy outcomes of youth and children in society. Efforts at advocacy are often constrained by different institutional and pragmatic challenges such as the status of children in society, the hierarchical family, social and political structure, and the inherent intricacies of international development.
Children and Youth Advocacy in Africa: Context, Approaches and Lessons
UNICEF launches Youth Advocacy Guide, written by African youth
In Africa, the complicated human rights context and the perception of children in society create major challenges for effective advocacy by young people. The patronizing and patriarchal nature of society still affects the perception and participation of children and their civic engagement roles.
Moreover, despite the technological growth in the continent, this has not altered the status of children in society. The digital divide between parents and children often leads to greater parental control of the use of social media although major inequities exist in terms of access and utilization of digital media by a different group of young people hence hindering effective advocacy.
Moreover, other challenge's facing the achievement of the child's rights agenda and the ability of youths to be their spokesperson are poor lobbying and advocacy skills, lack of political space for participation, shortage of financial and human resources, lack of platform for the exchange of best practices, fragmentation and lack of coordination.
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