MEETING OF THE YOUNG LEADERS NETWORK OF THE GERMAN PARTNERSHIP WITH AFRICA

MEETING OF THE YOUNG LEADERS NETWORK OF THE GERMAN PARTNERSHIP WITH AFRICA

PARTICIPATION REPORT
BY Collins Magalasi
30 January 2008

A. Introduction

I attended the meeting of Young Leaders (YLs) network of the German Partnership with Africa (PwA) held in Germany from 23-26 January 2008 with support form GTZ. The PwA is an initiative started in 2005 by the Federal President of Germany His Excellency Horst Köhler in partnership with the Zeit Foundation. My participation in the network activities dates back to year 2006 when I was nominated by the Bucerius Summer School of Global Governance that I attended with support from ActionAid International.

The meeting was held in Berlin Germany and was follow up to similar YLs meetings held in November 2006 in Germany and January 2007 in Accra Ghana. Thirty five Young Leaders attended the meeting representing Germany, Madagascar, Ghana, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Cameroon, DR Congo, Burundi, Kenya, South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Nigeria Togo and Malawi.

Conference moderators were Dr. Bruno Wenn and Dr. Andreas Proksch - Director of the Sub-Sahara Africa Department at KfW Entwicklungsbank and Director of the Africa Department at GTZ respectively.

B. Meeting Progress

B.1 Day 1: Meeting with President Horst Köhler

On day one, the Young Leaders met the Patron, the German Federal President Horst Köhler, at his residence – the Schloss Bellevue.

The meeting looked back to the origin, objective, procedures of the YL Network, and also took stock of what has happened since Accra.
Specifically the YLs had to update the President on the activities and projects they have been involved in since Accra. I, Collins Magalasi (Malawi), together with Lars Allenstein (Germany), made presentations on behalf of the YLs.


In the evening the Young Leaders were welcomed by Andreas Proksch, GTZ GmbH and Bruno Wenn, KfW Entwicklungsbank at the GTZ Haus Berlin.



B.2 Day 2: Deliberations

Day 2 started with sessions that looked back in detail to what has happened since Accra at the global level in the fields of (a) Environment and the Natural Habitat, (b) Education and Employment opportunities, (c) Violence in Everyday Life and Armed Conflicts, and (d) Political Participation in Society. Experts from KfW (employment and conflict) and GTZ (environment and participation) facilitated the sessions and presented inputs about recent developments in the respective field of interest, taking into account the YLs’ Accra-Declaration.




Working Group1: Environment and Natural Habitat

Working Group 1 was chaired by Dr Rolf Mack, GTZ GmbH. The discussion was on the UNFCCC conference in Bali, Indonesia last year. The group recognized that huge steps were marked in connection with slowing down global warming. It is scientific consensus that rising temperatures could cause glaciers to melt and sea levels rise sharply, threatening islands and coastal areas, storms, droughts to become more intense. All effects cause serious harm to economies, societies and life sustaining ecosystems worldwide and lead finally to mass migration of climate refugees. In our discussion we looked at what happened in Mozambique at that time. Without any attempt to reduce the green house gas emissions, hundreds of millions people will be affected.

“Urgency of action on climate change has provided a political response to what science has been telling us that are needed”. Negative consequences of climate change, such as droughts and floods have brought new ways to reduce green house gas emissions, ways to widely deploy climate friendly technologies and financing both adaptation and mitigation measures into action. Poor countries are to be rewarded for protecting their existing forests and sell carbon credits to rich countries that want to compensate their carbon emissions.

At the UNFCCC conference a fund was agreed to help poor countries to adapt to the negative impacts of climate change, but no figure was mentioned. Despite the great achievement the UNFCCC agreement brought forward, it still leaves ample scope for scepticism and much more has to be done.

Working Group 2: Violence in Everyday Life and Armed Conflicts

Starting point for working group 2 was a presentation by KfW-Representative Patrick Rudolph about the conflict(s) in Sierra Leone and KfW’s engagement in Sierra Leone that helps to support constructive conflict resolution. In response members of working group 2 discussed the use of the Accra Declaration in the present situation in Sierra Leone. They came to the conclusion that two steps should be followed up on the process of inclusion of the CRC and its optional protocols into national legislation as well as the new gender acts. A monitoring process by the Working Group should be possible as some members are active in Sierra Leone.

Apart from some fundamental subjects regarding the structure of the Young Leaders' Network, working group 2 discussed the possible succession of the current President Kufuor of Ghana by Minister Akufo Addo. He participated in the 2nd Forum in Accra and should be approached by Young Leaders in Ghana referring to the Accra Declaration and reminding him of his participation in working group 2.

The last but strongly discussed point was a statement on the Kenyan crisis. As the Working Group was convinced of the urgent need for action, they deemed a statement to be useful for the Kenyan side, youth associations etc. as well as for the Presidential Office, BMZ etc. It was decided that this statement should include a brief analysis of the situation as well as suggestions for the steps to be taken by different actors from a young peoples’ perspective. Its focus should be on solidarity with youth organisations calling them to a non violent way of influence. It was important for working group 2 that the statement should not put the Kenyan members at risk. Their consent and contribution were regarded as indispensable. The Kenya Statement was then referred to the plenary.

Working Group 3: Education and Employment Opportunities

The third working group was chaired by Ulrich Jahn of KfW. Mr. Jahn opened the discussion with a presentation on the “Programme Based Approach in Education for All”. Throughout Mr. Jahn’s presentation the members of the working group articulated numerous comments and criticism initiating various discussions. The given financial approach was somewhat new to the working group members and consequently quite informative. Among the discussed issues were problems of public finance management and its necessary monitoring, organizing and distribution of funds through the Fast Track Initiative (FTI) for the implementation of Education For All (EFA) as well as the hypothesis that says increased access to education tends to lower quality. Most important reasons identified for the latter are still the lack of teachers, their bad payment resulting in low motivation, as well as problems caused by untrained or inexperienced teachers.

Woking Group 4: Political Participation in Society

Working Group 4, which was chaired by Ingo Imhoff, GTZ GmbH, looked at some events that have occurred since the Accra Declaration. These included the “Weltwärts Programme,” and the follow up of the African Youth Charter. Of the countries in the group it was learned that in Ghana the youth policy is still at the drafting stage and the youth of Ghana still face the question whether the in-coming government will continue with the youth policy process after the current President John Kufour has left office. Zambia has a youth policy in print which is accessible to a minority of Zambian youth mostly to those living in urban areas, while Malawi has a Youth Policy that is under review. Tanzania and Benin have their youth policies undergoing the ratification process though Benin has no concrete dates for the ratification, and Tanzania may discuss the fate of their Youth Policy in the next Parliamentary sitting.

The working group also discussed to coming AU Ministers of Youths meeting in Addis Ababa from 12-15 February, 2008. members agreed to negotiate for participation in the meeting. Members therefore agreed to take up the request with their Youth Ministries, German embassies and GTZ for support.

The working group also looked at various conferences that occurred in 2002 involving youths. These included the Africa-Europe Youth Summit, Junior G8, and the Pan African Youth Leadership forum. There were also some leadership programmes such as “Go Africa-Go Germany”, a German-African Scholarship Exchange Programme which is also an initiative of the German Federal President in cooperation with the Federal Agency for Civic Education. Last year’s exchange programme was held in Berlin, Germany and Windhoek, Namibia.

EU-Africa Policy

Later in the day, the YLs engaged discussions on European Africa Policy with inputs from respected panellists of Matthias Mülmenstädt, (Federal Foreign Office); Wolfgang Kroh, KfW Bankengruppe; Bruno Wenn (KfW) and Wolfgang Schmitt (GTZ)

After a hard day, we headed for a good meal and a dance




B.3 Day 3: Network formation and visioning

This day was dedicated to formation processes of the Young Leaders Network. Previously the YLs met at the programme and invitation of the Federal President’s and Zeit’s invitation. A decision was made that the Young Leaders be given the space to decide their own future and operations.

At the end of the day, the following were agreed as YLs Network Profile:

Who we are
We are the Young Leaders Network affiliated to the Partnership with Africa Initiative started by the Federal President of Germany, His Excellency President Horst Kohler in 2005.

Our Objective
We aim to contribute to sustainable development through fostering partnership between Africa and Germany bringing in a young people’s perspective and promoting the interest of young people though not exclusively.

Our Thematic Focus
We address a range of development issues bringing the perspective of young leaders working in a variety of sectors and advocating for the interest of young people though not exclusively. Our starting thematic areas of interest are as shown in our 2006 Accra Declaration namely:

§ Environment and the Natural Habitat
§ Violence in Everyday Life and Armed Conflict
§ Educational and employment opportunities
§ Political Participation in Society

In future we hope to expand to cover other themes of common interest.

What makes our network unique?
A number of features make our network unique. While in and of themselves, the individual items may not be special, the combination of all these elements makes our network distinct from other networks:
· Patronage from the German Federal President, which gives us access to influential policy makers in Germany and Africa. It is our intention to continue with high-level patronage beyond the term in office of the Federal president.
· Our network is made up of young people who are high achievers in their respective fields
· Our members are from a very wide range of professional, personal and national backgrounds ensuring a diversity that leads to innovative ideas.
· We work towards a common positive vision for Africa and Germany
· We function as a partnership of equals


Our methods
Our objective as stated above is met using a range of methods including:
§ Regular communication and exchange of ideas amongst ourselves using our online platform and occasional physical meeting
§ Joint activities involving members of the network including common projects, joint authorships of articles, meetings etc
§ Interaction with and influencing people who make policy in both Germany and Africa through advice, advocacy and lobbying
§ Support each other in striving for excellence in our respective fields of work
§ Advising each other and our external partners on a range of personal and professional issues


B.4 Network Management and Action points

The meeting elected people that would manage the affairs of the network as follows.
Messrs Collins Magalasi and Lars Allenstein were elected Coordinators for Africa and Germany respectively.
Peter Steudtner (Germany) will be responsible for Internal Relations.
The Public Relations team consists of Mwila Chansa (Zambia) and Miriam Haar (Germany).
Apart from the Steering Committee other group members have volunteered to take other responsibilities that the Young Leaders considered essential for a successful network with a long-term perspective, such as, for example, the legal status of the network and its constitution.The Fundraising Committee will be coordinated by Rodgers Atuhaire (Uganda) and Julia Pfinder (Germany).
Michael Kimmel (Germany) will be in charge of moderating the new internet platform

On Friday in the late afternoon after the official closure of the meeting the newly appointed Steering Committee and other group members continued the work on the structure of the Network and decided to undertake concrete steps.

Communication guidelines were set up which would encourage the Young Leaders to faster and livelier communication. Transparency and sharing of information will be the principles of communication among and about the Young Leaders.

To improve the internal communication as well as to provide information to the public the group plans to have its own website which should combine a public website with a non-public forum. A database with projects Young Leaders are involved in will be included into the new website. In addition, a bimonthly internal newsletter will be issued by Peter Steudtner. The option of a public newsletter has been left to further consideration.

A central question considered by the Young Leaders was a possible extension of the current network. Although there has been lively exchange on this issue no decision was taken in Berlin. However, it has been agreed that if the group intends to include new members, criteria for the selection of future members will have to be developed first.

C. Conclusions

The meeting ended on January 26, with commitment of the Young leaders to make a difference in their day-to-day lives.

As immediate actions, the meeting had the following action points:

Back to our respective countries
· Members agreed to report on the meeting to their respective Governments Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Youths; German Embassies and GTZ offices
Letter of Thanks
· Lars and Collins will facilitate letter of thanks to the federal President, GTZ, KFW

So many people played important roles in the success of my travel and meetings. Special mentions however go to the following:
The Country Director of ActionAid Malawi for approving my travel and the Policy unit colleagues for ably doing their jobs while I was away; the GTZ Malawi and Germany for the logistical arrangements including air tickets and accommodation respectively; the German Embassy in Malawi for the immigration facilitation including visas, the Malawi Embassy in Germany for the warm welcome and support provided and the Young Leaders from Germany, Madagascar, Ghana, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Cameroon, DR Congo, Malawi, Burundi, Kenya, South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Nigeria, and Togo for entrusting their network into my coordination.