Youth Agency, Civic Engagement, and Sustainable Development: Ideas for Southern Africa

Faith Mkwananzi (PI), Glen Ncube (University of Pretoria), Melis Cin (Lancaster University), Seth Mehl (University of Sheffield), Tendayi Marovah (Midlands State University)

Funder: Changing the Story (University of Leeds)

Project description

The purpose of this proposed consolidation project is to establish and strengthen channels of engagement between youth, CSOs, NGOs, and other stakeholders within the region of Southern Africa. Using Zimbabwe and South Africa as case study countries, the project reconciles lessons learned from Changing the Story projects led in these countries (four in South Africa and one in Zimbabwe). The aim is to identify the cross-cutting issues that are significant in the region that work as either barriers or enabling factors for youth development. Consolidating the key learning themes from the five different projects will provide ideas for sustainable, inclusive, and participatory development for and with young people. The project will first review the individual projects to pull out common themes and key achievements, as well as challenges in each project. Then, it will bring together youth and stakeholders from each project to build cross-country cooperation and collaboration to develop an understanding of the regional dynamics of being a young person in the region. Youth and NGOs will co-produce a documentary film that could speak for and to the region. This process will allow for collective and participatory engagement for dissemination and community development work, but also provide an overall account of the intersecting inequalities, potentials, and achievements in youth’s lives. The engagement will also contribute to ‘how-to-do’ guidelines and practice of building inclusive, youth-led civil societies.