This year's celebration made to be symbolic as it was celebrated at the Reunification monument, chosen to house the activities marking the commemoration of the 22nd edition of the International Youth Day, in the presence of the Minister of Youth Affairs and Civic Education, Monouna Foutso.
This year's celebration, established by the United Nations General Assembly every August 12th since 1999, helps draw attention to issues concerning youth, while celebrating their potentials as partners in society.
The occasion was an opportunity for the Minister of Youth Affairs, to call on young Cameroonians to seize all these multiple opportunities offered to them, both by the government and by its development partners; the Agencies of the United Nations System and others, in order to make their dreams come true.
"Dear young people, believe in your country, believe in yourself, belief in your enormous potential. Create, innovate and engage resolutely in the transformation of our society for the emergence so desired by the Head of State", recommended Mounouna Foutsou to young compatriots.
The 22nd edition of International Youth Day was celebrated under the theme "Transforming Food Systems: Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health".
According to the Minister, it appears implicitly for the United Nations that young people in Africa, because of their creativity, their energy, their significant capacities for innovation, their demographic importance, their enthusiasm and their dynamism, represent the epicenter or the keystone of the food systems of our States.
For the president of the National Youth Council of Cameroon, it is also an opportunity to look at the key problems of the society like; difficulty in access to land, agricultural inputs, financing, research and technologies, related to food production.
Fadimatou Iyawa thanked the government for all the initiatives undertaken to enable young people to be a true actors of transformation.
In particular, the Special Youth Triennial Plan, which enabled young people to put their know-how and ingenuity at the service of the transformation of food systems.
To commemorate this International Youth Day 2021, several activities were organized during the dedicated week. In particular the International Youth Fair, whose exhibitors, coming from various horizons, presented the fruit of their creations to visitors throughout the week on the site of the Reunification monument.
A special “Youth Dialogue” Hang-Out was organized by the National Youth Council under the theme: “Innovation and voluntary commitment of young people for health, food and well-being through the promotion made in Cameroon”.
This physical and virtual platform for the exchange of experiences between various young people, partners and their models enabled Success Stories from the 10 regions and the diaspora to share their experiences with their peers both indoors and online.
In addition, a webinar was organized at the United Nations National Information Center, which also provided a platform for discussion between stakeholders.
The Representative of the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations system congratulates the Minister of Youth for "the multisectoral dimension given to the event and in particular for the relevance of the activities undertaken and the emulation of this mobilization among young people for several days and in the ten regions of the country ”.
Jean Jacques Massima also reiterated to the government the determination of the United Nations System to support it in its strategic choices aimed at the empowerment of young people, as well as in their mobilization in order to bring their innovative genius to mitigate the associated risks; food production systems on human and planetary health.
by Ndefru Melanie
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