By Ajua Salomon

The USIU-Africa Chapter of the World Youth Alliance (WYA USIU- Africa), one of the youngest clubs in USIU-Africa held a forum on Friday, March 10, 2023 from 2pm to 4 pm, around the theme: ‘Building Youth Capacity for Active Participation in Policy Formulation’.

The event was facilitated by three key speakers. One of them who was from the WYA headquarters in New York made an online presentation, while the others from the WYA Africa Regional Office staff were physically present. Dozens of participants attended the hybrid even, the majority of them joining via the webinar platform. Different nationalities were represented.

After an introductory overview of the topic “Advocacy”, participants learned through concrete examples how WYA empowers the youth and supports their participation in policy formulation at the national level (in the case of Kenya), in the European Union and at the United Nations.

The forum culminated in a very lively question and answer session on concrete ways in which youth can bring an effective contribution towards policy-making in their respective countries and at the global level. At the end, a QR code was provided to help participants share their feedback for further discussion.

As a club, WYA USIU- Africa is part of a global non-profit coalition of young people committed to building free and just societies through a culture of life, a culture based on the dignity of the human person, family cohesion and individual holistic growth.