The Second Nigerian Youth Leadership Summit held in Enugu has ended with a call for increased funding to the health sector. Organised by Development Partnership International, the summit is an annual national youth capacity building meeting and inter-generational dialogue, which brings together young leaders and professionals from various backgrounds to discuss critical issues on youth leadership and sustainable national development.

This year's summit focused on youth leadership towards better health and sustainable development, and brought together youth leaders from 17 states and the FCT, young Nigerians in the Diaspora, international health development experts, private sector and representatives of the United Nations system. In his opening speech, the Executive Director of Development Partnership International Mr. Dabesaki Mac-Ikemenjima, reiterated that the year 2006 was the most strategic year for youth to focus on health and development issues, owing to the overwhelming emphasis that has been laid on health during the year 2006 through the Abuja +5, the UNGASS +5 events in New York and the World Health Assembly. He said young people hold the key to national health and sustainable development planning, considering their roles in raising awareness and focusing attention on critical policy issues on health development. Chair of the Opening Ceremony Prof. C. O. Nwaorgu, emphasised the need to empower the youth in order to assist them in taking appropriate decisions on issues that relate to their sexuality.

Keynote speaker at the summit, Chief Dumo Lilu-Briggs, CEO of DLB Concerns, underscored the importance of education in developing youth who can take effective leadership and ensure better health for all. He wondered what level of leadership the nation expects from youth who are poorly educated and in some cases illiterate. His position was corroborated by Dr. James Garofalo Vice President Academics of the ABTI American University, who highlighted the importance of an enabling environment for young people to access education and stay in school until they graduate, as a key to effective learning and intellectual development. Education is the key to sustainable national development. Dr. Viola Onwuliri, Africa's representative to the governing Board of the International AIDS Society emphasised the need for youth to abstain from sex the surest measure to protect themselves from HIV infection.

The summit featured key speakers from UNFPA, UNAIDS, Mr. Rosanwo Tunde of the Nigerian Youth in the Diaspora Network and Mr. Martins Ilo, Economic Adviser to the Enugu State government. In declaring the summit open, Enugu state Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Bethel Onyenyiri, praised the organisers for putting the summit together and expressed hope that the summit will yield desired results.

The summit ended with the adoption of the Enugu Youth Declaration on health and development, which called for a public-private sector partnership to improve funding for health infrastructure and medical supplies. The declaration also called for increased funding from the National budget to health, with particular reference to the African Union Declaration on AIDS, TB and ORID of 2001, which recommended 15 percent of national budget and called for the establishment of mechanisms to ensure that young people access the resources to implement their innovative programmes to ensure better health for all. The date and venue for the next summit will be posted on www.developmentpartnership.org in the coming months.

From July 4-5, 2006, young leaders, activists and professionals from accross Nigeria, the diaspora and the international community, will gather in Enugu for the second Nigerian Youth Leadership Summit.

Theme: Youth Leadership towards better health and sustainable development.

The Summit is an annual inter-generational gathering of youth and experts to address specific national development issues, with a view to finding the best solutions that meets our needs and yet fit into the international development agenda, as enshrined in the various international development goals and frameworks. During the first edition in 2005, the focus was on the NEEDS, this year the focus will be on health.

Registration: N3,000 for Nigerian Participants
$30 USD for International Participants and diaspora.

(This fee covers Lunch for two days, snacks and conference materials, participants will be expected to cover their own transportation and accomodation costs). We are currently in discussions with state governments and will explore other avenues to support youth to attend the meeting, however, we will encourage potential participants to seek their own funding to attend the summit.

Call for abstracts and workshops: We are calling for presentations and workshop sessions in any of the following areas: e-health, HIV/AIDS prevention, care, support and treatment, adolescent sexual and reproduscive health, maternal and child health, malaria prevention, health policy, international health agreements andframeworks and national health development research. We will greatly welcome workshops and presentations on innovative practices in Africa, Asia, Europe and the America's, on these issues.

More information will be available at www.developmentpartnership.org

For queries and enquiries, please contact DPI offices:
4 Eleme Road, off Eleme Junction, Port Harcourt 500001
Email: dabesaki@developmentpartnership.org or
Fax/ Phone: (+234) 084 751 002.
Mobile: +234 805 518 2526

See you in Enugu.

Addis Ababa, May 28, 2006 - The African Union today witnessed a landmark event with the official adoption of the African Youth Charter. The charter is both a political and legal framework and
serves the purpose of providing a strategic framework and direction for youth empowerment activities at both continental and national levels. It provides the basis for youth advocacy and supports young
people's efforts in achieving their rights and obligations from their governments and society.

The African Youth Charter has undergone various stages of development. An initial youth and experts meeting was held in January 2006, to discuss the first draft of the document and various recommendations were made. After the initial discussions, the draft charter was sent to member states for consultation and discussion at the national level. During May 22-28, youth, experts and ministers met at the AU Headquarters to discuss the final draft of the charter to make amends and adopt the charter. After critical discussions, the charter was adopted by youth, experts and ministers. The charter will be forwarded to the AU Heads of state summit in July for final adoption.

The Charter draws from various international agreements and commitments particularly: the International Conference on Population and Development Platform for Action, the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action, the World Programme of Action for youth to the year 2000 and beyond, the Millennium Development Goals, the Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and other such documents. It commits African governments to ensuring that issues affecting youth the areas of employment, sustainable livelihood, education, health, youth participation, national youth policy, peace and security, law
enforcement, youth in the Diaspora and youth with disabilities, among other, are adequately addressed within the framework of national youth policy and youth development programming initiatives. The charter also puts to rest the issue of defining youth in Africa.

Many African countries define youth based on their own circumstances, and what they consider most appropriate. However, the Charter defines a youth as any person between the ages 15-35. While the upper level seems on the high side, it creates adequate space to accommodate all the peculiar challenges that African youth face in their development process and in the process of integrating effectively into society.
The definition also creates space for younger generations to participation in decision-making and development processes.

Although the charter has been adopted, fundamental challenges remain that of its popularisation, ratification and implementation at the national level. The African Union has put in place a strategy for the popularisation of the charter and is working towards strengthening a youth structure that will support its implementation. However, the ball lies with member states and what they like to do with the charter at the national level. The AUC is working to strengthen the Pan African Youth Union (PYU) in order to ensure that it is functioning in its
optimum capacity and is most positioned to lead the process of implementing the charter. This will mean that the PYU will require some structural adjustments with its political and administrative structures and will work around absorbing new and dynamic membership in order to ensure that its activities are proactive and embrace all youth in Africa. The African Youth Charter is a unique opportunity to unite the youth movement in Africa to speak same language and move along the same strategic programming lines, it is hoped that this will be embraced.

DPI will be working with the broader youth movement in Africa to popularise the charter and to ensure that its components are integrated into the work of young people. A process to ensure that the Nigerian government ratifies the charter will be carried out in collaboration with the national youth council and other relevant youth bodies including the government. DPI will also work wit the PYU in its transition process in order to ensure that its restructuring and reformation process comes up with the best in order to position
African youth for effective leadership towards the renaissance of the continent.

At last African youth have a document they can call their own. It is hoped that this sense of ownership will drive action around the charter, and drive community level youth action to change the tide and support sustainable development efforts in Africa.

Last Friday, I was the keynote speaker at an interactive symposium, which was supported by DPI and organised for final year students at the Rivers State College of Education, Port Harcourt. I have always wanted to have such an opportunity to speak to those who will be shaping Nigeria's future in the days ahead. Before the symposium, I was not very clear what direction to take my presentation. I had thought of looking at leadership then later politics. Interestingly, just a day before the symposium, I decided to look at the e-revolution and national development.

I talked abit about how ICT has transformed social systems globally, and what opportunities exist if people effectively harness it. I also looked at issues related to migration. I am particularly concerned that African youth will always leave home for other lands where they are unsure of, yet the people from these lands also always come to Africa to look for jobs and greener pastures. It seemed like an exposition to me, as I also learned abit of new things from what I was saying. You know sometimes, that you learn alot when you say things in new ways from how you have previously percieved them.

This symposium was a test run of our youth leadership initiative. We will do similar test runs in th months ahead, and will finally come-up with a youth leadership programme which will run on a monthly bases. You can look over our website for more http://www.developmentpartnership.org/dpi/news/expanding_horizons.html

I was in Lagos this week, after a few hours in Abuja on Wednesday. I met Azubike and Onyiye at the airport and we moved together to Okota to meet star actress Hilda Dokubo at the Olympic Hotel.

Hilda is in Lagos doing what she likes doing, training young people who would become stars in their life time. She had been star and celebrity movie actress in Nigeria until she was called upon by the government of her state to become special assistant to the governor on youth matters. This appointment seemed like the major inspiration for street to star. She expleined time without number that as adviser to the governor, she met many many young people who have diverse problems on a daily bases, but noted with regret that these problems are always revolving around the same issue. This became the major force behind her new initiative.

Street to Star is her new project and it seeks to identify talented young people in the fields of music, arts and drama, groom them in various skills needed for effectiveness and provide the deals for outstanding ones among them to start their lives. The training will address all aspects of the fields being addressed including Crowd management, money management and fan management. This is indeed a way to move very many young people from the cradles of mediocrity to the palance of fame.

Since I was there, Hilda gave me the chance to address the young people at the meeting. First, I thought that I would tell them about HIV/AIDS, later, I thought that it might not be very relevant to what their immediate activity was, so I decided to tell them about street to star. I had worked with Hilda in developing the action plans, so at least I had a full knowledge of what the programme was about. I could not hold it! mANY stars were coming to address the young people, although it was mainly because of Hilda and her husband, it meant alot for these young people as they could never possibly meet these stars all their life time. I made sure I let them know that this was a life time opportunity, and they needed to make the best use of it!

Later on the same day, I was reflecting on the importance of Hilda's project. I soon realised that it was possibly the only practical way that people with some level of influence can contribute to the lives of others and make the world a better place to live in. My sister HILDA is moving street kids to stars, and I am very proud of her for this.