The Global Connections for Women Foundation (GC4W) will be hosting a twitter chat in partnership with Social Good Lagos to honor International Youth Day. Guest speakers include Banky Wellington, Vivian Onano, Lilian Ajayi Ore, and Oluwatobi Aigbogun
Join us on Monday at 1 pm ET. on Twitter as we share more knowledge, discuss and create more opportunities for the Youth in Africa to thrive.
The Global Connections for Women Foundation (GC4W) is an award-winning not-for-profit organization headquartered in New York City, with a reach of over 3.5 million people worldwide. GC4W is one of the leading international non-profits of the millennium in the areas of gender equality, women empowerment, and youth empowerment. We pledge to support and empower 500,000 women and girls around the world by the year 2030.
According to a World Bank report, the youth account for 60% of all African’s jobless, 70% of African workers are working poor at the highest rate ever seen globally, and the number of poor working youth has increased by 80% in the past 25 years. The female labor force represents 22.5% lower than 73.8% of men. African youth will continue to be 3.5x more likely than to be unemployed, the
Unemployment in sub-Saharan African, total (% of the total labor force).
Image: World Bank
An entire session at the recent World Economic Forum was devoted to the theme “Delivering the Promise of Africa’s Youth“, at which the president of Botswana – whose 18% jobless rate is still far below South Africa’s 27% – called youth unemployment “scary”. “Having a youthful continent is a huge opportunity, but a huge threat as well,” warned Albert Zeufack, the World Bank’s Chief Economist for Africa. “It’s a threat if we do not get that population to start really working,” states Zeufack. And yet, the burden of the frustration of not being able to find jobs could easily be offset and cause such people to venture into other things that may not be as desirable,” he said.
“Every one of us has a unique responsibility to bring a change in prospectives in addressing the youth unemployment crisis in Africa. With this twitter chat, we have a great deal of responsibility to refocus, educate, and lead in the conversation on addressing the youth unemployment crisis in Africa. I trust that the thought leadership of our guest speakers on this matter will be received, said Lilian Ajayi Ore, Founder and CEO, Global Connections for Women Foundation.
The GC4W Twitter Chat discussion will focus on how to prioritize the needs and wants of youth in Africa. In doing so, GC4W and their partner, Social Good Lagos, hopes to increase awareness, recommend new solutions, and provide insight on how to address the challenges that the youth in Africa, especially Nigeria, are facing.
The topics of this twitter chat will range from youth employment and entrepreneurship to diversity and inclusion; all of which, however, will be addressed to support and raise awareness for Youth First.
The guest participants will be asked the following questions:
- What implications does the youth unemployment crisis in Africa have on their mental health?
- What impact does the youth unemployment crisis have on the rest of the world?
- Who is to blame for the Youth unemployment crisis in Africa?
- What immediate actions can be taken to prioritize the youth unemployment crisis in Africa?
- What can foreign investors and private sectors do to bring about solutions to assist with the youth unemployment crisis in Africa?
- What do we know about specific sectors with bankable opportunities to address the youth unemployment crisis in Africa?
- How can technology be utilized to address or curb the youth unemployment crisis in Africa?
- What is the existing mindset among the youth in Africa? How do we reinforce an entrepreneurial mindset in Africa?
- Is entrepreneurship a long term or a short term remedy to the youth unemployment crisis in Africa?
- What subliminal message about our leaders are perceived by the rest of the world when the youth unemployment crisis remains a crisis in Africa?
To participate in this chat and support Youth First, stay updated on the GC4W twitter (link to be attached) and tune in Monday, September 16th at 1 PM EST. Follow @GC4Women or #YouthFirst #GC4W #SocialGoodLagos #YouthDay – to follow or join the twitter conversations.
