Timbuktu’s Youth Civic Engagement
the Timbuktu Land of peace and Culture Association conference on peace building, January 2017
Timbuktu’s Youth Civic Engagement means working to make a difference in our communities. And it doesn’t require special connections or power for youth. Anyone with ideas and a plan can do it! Civic engagement is about promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and nonpolitical processes. By combining our knowledge, skills, and motivation with those of others, we can make our communities better place to live and thrive.
“the future development of African grass-roots communities belongs to the new generation with an education in civic engagement to be the change maker in their communities. They will make the African continent, a continent of youth servant leaders with their hard work through civic engagement to become true partners to the rest of world. “
In the frame work of building the capacities of youth leaders in citizenship and civic engagement in Timbuktu, the Timbuktu land of peace and culture Association’s main goal is to build the capacity of youth leaders in civic engagement training and provide activities for positive social change across the region.
training in civic leadership organized by the Timbuktu Land of peace and culture Association May, 2017, with Amahady Yattara.
Coming back from the young African leader’s initiative, from Wagner college, Staten island, New York, I am eager to share with my fellow youth leaders of Timbuktu my experiences in the young African leader’s initiative (YALI) training. By organizing academic sessions with youth leaders across the region I will share the knowledge, resources, and materials I got from the YALI and my host institute Wagner College.
According to Mohamed Ibrahim Yattara, president of the Association: The Next leaders of Timbuktu
Mohamed Ibrahim Yattara, President of the Next leaders of Timbuktu
“youth civic engagement is the spearhead of our country development “
Timbuktu’s youth Civic engagement provides young people with opportunities to gain work experience, acquire new skills, and to learn responsibility contributing to the good of their grass-roots communities.
In the middle of armed conflict, while some youth join armed and violent extremist groups, the government and international partners must prepare all youth of Timbuktu for a successful transition to adulthood. This is both a responsibility and an important investment for policymakers for national and international partners.
Post conflict reconstruction means creating opportunities for young people to grow into thriving adults that will increase the well-being of the next generation in the northern region of Mali where the civil war in 2012 destroyed community’s life and made collateral damage. The only way to bring positive change and hope to these grass-roots communities is to empower youth in how better to be the change maker and bring peace transforming violent extremism on the edge of the Sahara Desert.
the youth leaders of Timbuktu with the coach in civc leadership Mr Almahady Yattara
Policy maker and partners must understand that community development can never be a reality without the involvement of youth. they can support, facilitate and fund youth- led organization activities in terms of building their capacities, promoting peace and developing space to discuss the future development of their communities.
The youth of Timbuktu are renowned for their pacifism in actions that tend to give the impression that young people are less active especially in terms of civic engagement.
Successful Timbuktu youth engagement strategies require that youth have genuine and meaningful opportunities to work with each other and with local policymakers to impact issues of importance. The government and international partners must respect the value of young people in conflict resolution and civic leadership and provide young people and adults with information, tools and support to work effectively together as partners, allowing opportunities for youth to take ownership of parts of the process, mobilize others and become powerful role models in their grassroots communities.
Recent incidents in the elections of the regional youth councils divided youth in the region of Timbuktu, because of the lack of training in civic engagement that incident highlighted the need for Timbuktu’s Youth Empowerment through Civic Engagement and Skills Development across the region to prepare them as ambassadors of peace, transforming violent extremism and promote good governance across the Timbuktu region.
Editor: John H. Sime
