Recruitment and induction are key to meaningful youth engagement - UNFPA

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) recently organized a four-day national orientation workshop in Johannesburg following a competitive recruitment of the new cohort of the 2021- 2024 Youth Advisory Panel programme. The aim of the induction was to familiarize youth leaders to UNFPA mandate and their role as advocates on adolescents and youth health.

Recruited from UNFPA priority districts, with an inclusion of national advocates, 23 vibrant young people were selected as representatives from various youth-serving institutions, civil society organizations and citizen interest groups.

Dr. Agathe Lawson, the then UNFPA Officer-in-Charge, officially welcomed the new group of enthusiastic young people congratulating them as new Youth Advisory Panel (YAP) members. She urged the new recruits to take up the leadership platform and assert youth issues to ensure the inclusion of young people’s voices in South Africa’s youth development agenda.

Facilitated by UNFPA’s Adolescent and Youth Specialist, Precious Magogodi and the Communications and Advocacy Officer, Ziyanda Ngoma, the induction session served as a platform to share knowledge and to provide an overview of UNFPA’s work in South Africa, including advocacy and policymaking on sexual and reproductive health rights, youth participation in policy and on forming relationships with other youth networks.

Getrude Matshimane, the representative from the National Department of Health, shared information on government health programmes and interventions involving young people. UNFPA’s Gender Dynamics Specialist Sarah Reis took the youth leaders through key gender equality issues which generated robust discussions around gender norms and practices that expose adolescent girls and young women to gender-based violence.

“I have always advocated the importance of having young people being part of the decision-making panels,” said one of the youth advocates from the Eastern Cape Province. “I gained a lot of knowledge from this workshop, and I know we are on the right track. Young people’s voices will be properly represented by the YAPs.”

“This was a lovely experience as I got to interact with my fellow youth and speak about pertinent issues,” said another youth advocate from Gauteng Province.