The African Union Office of the Youth Envoy (AU-OYE) with the support of Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the Department of Social Affairs launched the African Youth Front on Coronavirus, on the 6th of May 2020. This is a high-level policy and advocacy framework for young people to co-lead Africa’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. More specifically, the African Youth Front on Coronavirus will operate as a multi-stakeholder advocacy group of youth and intergenerational networks who will support the implementation of the African Continental Strategic Plan for COVID-19.
The main objectives of the initiative are to organize, mobilize and unite youth and grassroots civil society actors as well as convene and facilitate the Virtual AU Youth Consultations Series on COVID-19. These consultations are designed to inform and engage youth constituencies, address the needs of marginalized youth, and support advocacy and the implementation of the Africa CDC communication strategy, the African Continental Strategic Plan for COVID-19, and the work of the six working groups of the Africa Taskforce for Novel Coronavirus.
This initiative by the AU-OYE, will not only create more opportunities for young people’s participation and engagement but will also amplify the voices of young people. Moreover, it will help ensure that young people are co-leaders and are not just recipients of responses that they did not help conceptualise.
