TYC 3rd Pan-African Youth Camp

From:  27th – 31st July 2020,

Where; – Weruweru River Lodge Camping Site in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

The 3rd Pan African Youth Camp marks an important milestone in the roadmap towards having different youth empowerment and investment strategies in Tanzania and other East African countries. The camp is meant to be a youthful event and hence it will be fun and meaningful in terms of its content. It will enable youth to learn and improve different skills as well as having the best experiential sharing sessions during the camp.  The approach used to deliver the content of the camp is participatory in nature and hence all participants become part and parcel of shaping the content of it from the very initial stages. In order to ensure active participation to this camp, every participant will be required to prepare for pitching of their project(s) or initiative(s) during the camp. Also, as part of the preparations, visual meetings for planning prior to the physical camping in Kilimanjaro will be mandatory. TYC believes that youth empowerment is an integral part of mindset, attitudinal, structural, and cultural transformation for young people to gain the ability, authority, and agency to make decisions and drive the changes they want to see not only in their communities but also in their own lives and the lives of other people, including fellow youths and adults. This is the main reason as to why Pan- African youth camp for change makers is very crucial for TYC.

Tanzania Youth Coalition has been organizing such Pan – African youth camps for the third time since 2018 in the framework of African German Youth Initiative. This 3rd youth camp will enable participating youth and other invited stakeholders to reflect on different schemes for youth development that are designed to support youth in start-ups, formal and non-formal sectors as well as marginalized groups. Since this camp will be highly interactive event, it will provide an avenue for information sharing and working sessions on youth development, investments, empowerment through startups and youth initiatives and other developmental schemes such as apprenticeship, internships and youth exchange programs for employability skills. The event will also bring the government representatives to showcase how governments embed in national strategies and plans and investments that are carried out by government agencies such as National Empowerment Council (NEEC) in Tanzania that contribute to ensuring that no one is left behind as far as economic empowerment is concerned especially for youth. It will also provide an opportunity to refine commitments of actions and pledges from key stakeholders. It will encourage country’s leadership and learning in order to properly prepare the national plans to advance the implementation of youth development and agenda 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development Goals.

The camp will take place from 27th to 31st July 2020 at Weruweru river lodge camping site in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. The event will bring together Young change makers for youth development and empowerment from across Tanzania and different East African countries. TYC is responsible for planning, setting up and coordination of the 3rd Pan African youth camp. Over 50 participants comprising of East African nationals of Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan will be full funded to attend Pan-African Youth Camp. They will present illustrative practices as well as new developments in the field of youth empowerment, investments, apprenticeship and traineeship schemes.

Overall Objective

To discuss and finding new ways of supporting youth development in East African countries by collecting ideas and solutions of youth challenges from the young change makers.

Specific objectives

1. To bring together young East African multipliers in order to strengthen mutual understanding around sustainable development taking into special account the African youth perspective.
2. To localize the SDGs to an African context for better understanding at the youth level.
3. To involve change makers from within the East African region to design modules for community development
4. To stress the importance of regional integration for African development driven by youth engagement.
5. To develop a strategy for establishing sustainable networks of African youth change makers for African sustainable development.
6. To encourage experiential learning among African youth within the continent and give momentum to a pan-Africanism spirit.
7. Define the way towards the countdown of the SDGs implementation
8. To foster dialogue and experiential sharing among East African youth change makers on the impact of their own initiatives, ideas, and community start-ups to explore new perspectives and opportunities towards realizing an African sustainable development agenda driven by young people.

Eligibility Criteria for participation to the 3rd Pan African youth camp

1. The applicant must be a Tanzanian or East African national from Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and Uganda youth aged between 18-29 years
2. Must be fluent in English but ready to add towards diversity through a local language of Kiswahili (There will be no translation services)
3. The young change maker must be implementing any youth development project which has an impact in the society.
4. The project implemented must be innovative and should either encompass exchange program as a product or use an exchange program’s knowledge as an enabler in the implementation of the idea
5. The participant should be ready to come with the practical stuffs for his/her project in order to showcase them during the Pan-African youth camp
6. The participant must be ready/willing to live a camping life including sleeping in a Safari tent and using other camping gears during the camping
7. Be curious, open – minded, appreciate diversity and willing to learn from other’s initiatives
8. Preferably be involved in a start-up, organization or network, institution, formal or informal group as a multiplier of one of SDG or having founded his/her own startup as a change maker in a society
9. Posses a sense of responsibility for one’s own actions, a commitment to personal and community development and continue the engagement with other participants beyond the youth camp
10. Be motivated to learn and to apply the values and approaches for being a change maker in a society
11. Be involved in youth or community projects in their community and motivated to implement youth initiatives for SDGs
12. Alumni of different youth exchanges particular those between Germany and African countries and have impacted their local communities upon returning from an exchange or volunteer program are strongly encouraged to apply
13. Participant should be highly motivated, innovative, creative and independent thinkers with a pan-Africanism spirit. Knowledge of Agenda 2063 is an asset.
14. Participant should be a change makers with different actions that have great impact not only in their societies but potential to influence at the global level.
15. Should be available and be able to travel to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania during the youth camp time
16. Should be willing to share his/her username of social media platforms/accounts such as facebook, twitter, instagram, linkedin, and youtube if available.

Benefits of Participation to the Youth camp for young change makers

1. To learn from fellow East African change makers about best practices demonstrated in their initiatives and projects such as youth startups, youth exchange programs, apprenticeship and traineeship programs for youth development.
2. To utilize an opportunity to disseminate the results of successful Youth development programs such as youth startups, youth exchange programs, apprenticeship and traineeship programs
3. To meet fellow change makers and share what works and what doesn’t and identify synergies and ways of working together to help in the future of youth development in East African countries
4. To meet and network with relevant stakeholders in the field of youth development
5. To learn from great facilitators in youth development issues
6. To learn and better understand about the growth mindset towards realizing personal growth and country’s growth
7. Creating long lasting connections and networks with fellow like minded youth change makers
8. Getting the chance of youth mentorship through peer to peer consult
9. Learning more about youth problems and youth solutions especially to the global challenge
10. Understanding the ecosystem of youth start – opportunities and risks.

How to Apply for the TYC – 3rd Pan-African Youth Camp

Interested applicants must submit their applications to application@tzyc.org by sending the Motivation letter, brief description/abstract of their projects and CV.

Staff Writer

This article was written and edited by a staff writer.