African Youth Festival was big success with 13,800 youth from 22 nations

IAYSP Africa coordinated an online African Youth Assembly from August 12 – 14, 2021, under the theme, “African Youth Engagement for Prosperity and Planet Health.” The event celebrated the UN International Youth Day at the continental level.

On the first day, the opening ceremony was held to introduce IAYSP and the purpose of this event.

Mr. Koji Matsuda, International President of IAYSP, explained that the education of youth is going to develop the nation. And at the same time, he emphasized that Africa can become the most influential continent in 2030. After that, the service projects “Serve and Save the Planet” have been organized in various nations. Despite the difficulties incurred due to COVID-19 restrictions, twenty-two nations managed to host a wide array of service projects by mobilizing a plethora of youth in each location to highlight International Youth Day.

On the second day, the African Youth Leadership Conference was held, including the presence of eminent leaders.

Three sessions were conducted with the following themes:

• “Character education and peacebuilding: Raising good leaders for Africa.”
• “Conflict resolving in Africa: Family and intercultural values perspective.”
• “Global climate change, health and food crisis: Empowering youth for innovative actions.”

In each session, leaders working in youth education in their area introduced perspectives on how youth must contribute to society. Successively, youth leaders working for peace shared their experiences and insights.

The final day was designed as Youth Festival to celebrate the culmination of the three-day program. First of all, a video presentation of the African Youth Assembly was displayed, and activities being carried out in related nations were also shared. IAYSP Africa presented prizes for the best service projects to IAYSP Ghana and IAYSP DR Congo, and Mrs. Mica Amanlaman, the Regional President of IAYSP Africa, gave a closing message.

In total, online attendees reached 7,235, and onsite attendees procured 6,589 throughout the three days.

This assembly empowered and inspired a myriad of youth pertaining to the YSP chapters in Africa to “RISE” for the bright future of Africa.

As a followup, each nation will organize different education programs for those who attended the event.