According to the Zambian National Youth Policy, a youth is any male or female between the age of 18 and 35 years. The definition of the youth varies from one country to another and among development cooperating partners. For instance, the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) defines a youth as a person between the age of 15 and 29 while the United Nations (UN) Youth Programme defines a youth as an individual between 15 and 25 years of age. Most apparently all these definitions focus on the outside development statue of the young person and do not take into account the inherent common definition.
This is a well known fact and deserves the entire nation’s recognition; there can never be any category of grouping that is more dynamic and full of unlimited potential than that of a young person. This potential and dynamism cannot be overemphasized as it has been expressed in the various social, economical and political participation at all levels of development in almost all parts of the country. It is actually this potential and dynamism within a young person that selfish individuals take advantage of in order to achieve selfish development goals.
What needs to be understood here however is that this potential and dynamism is directly influenced by particular information accessed or delivered to the young person.
This brings to light that the type of information accessed by the young person increases their knowledge levels thereby enhancing their decision making process in line with that particular information received. It is this accessed information that provides the framework which ultimately defines the actual life and dynamism of the youth.
Information received gives rise to thoughts
Thoughts give rise to decisions
Decisions give rise to action
Repetitive action gives rise to habit
Habit gives rise to character and
Character gives rise to destiny.
This simply translates that information accessed and assimilated by the young person determines the ultimate destiny.
Practically, what defines the overall character and dynamism in a young person is not the apparent age but information attained in a particular sector of development of youth involvement or interest. Information once received by a young person provokes decision in line with the received information which translates into actions and consequent character and the entire potential of a young person gets to be directed in line with this information received.
In any developmental society, what separates a successful youth is not always money but access to relevant information in that particular sector of development. In most cases even in the education sector, what separates an intelligent student from one who is not is simply because the former has had access to relevant information while the latter has not been privileged, of course not withstanding the fact that effort and determination must be key attributes in ensuring success in studies.
In pursuit of developmental information in particular sector of development of young people’s involvement so as to be furnished with the relevant and much needed information and capacity, young people get to be exposed to a lot of unconstructive and irrelevant information. This is practically possible because the information that is readily available on the market today is that which is not useful and relevant to the growing generation. However, this irrelevant information is well packaged and effectively disseminated to actually reach the young people despite their physical location by employing modern technologies that reach out to a wider range of youths such as the internet and mobile phones.
The question that leaves one to wonder is: where are the stakeholders in youth development to generate relevant content for this growing generation in order to fashion character and destiny?
In order to sustain their lives and effectively participate in both the social and economical sectors of development in the nation, young people get to involve themselves in a number of developmental activities. Zealous, dynamic and full of potential as they might be, they however do not get to have the necessary information to enable them execute their developmental involvements effectively. The main challenge here is not only the availability of content, but is also in knowing which developmental (or government) agency or department is responsible for a particular sector of development and also what policy guidelines, developmental programmes or incentives are associated with a particular sector of development according to the lining government ministry or development partner.
It therefore becomes imperative that from time to time both the government and development partners need to raise awareness to youths involved in particular sectors of development on guiding principles in the policies that they implement, incentives if any and any other public information that is vital for the young actors in development to be aware of and effectively execute developmental activities. It is important to identify youths that are involved in different sectors of development in the various regions and deploy information and programmes to them.
A lack of understanding on guiding principles and other developmental programmes associated with certain sectors of development as resulted in a lot of young people being exploited, risk their lives including their initiatives and also conduct activities contrary to the governing laws.
Apart from raising awareness, stakeholders in development need to package developmental information in a manner that it is well disseminated to the young people. However, stakeholders in development including government need to know where young people are found. In this generation, a lot of young people more especially in the urban set up are found on the internet and mobile phones. In this aspect, developing partners and government need to embrace technology in ensuring that information is well packaged and disseminated to the young actors in development.
Most young people are scared to visit most public offices because they are misunderstood upon appearance. Others are intimidated by the language spoken and security officers securing offices. This fact has further widened the information gap between the source of information and the youth receiving end.
It further needs to be known that not every young person that is engaged in substance abuse and other immoral activities does it out of immorality. Young people are highly dynamic and want to be active at every stage of their lives. In certain cases young people resort to substance abuse simply because that’s the easiest activity that they find that keeps them busy. A young person strives to be busy at every point of their lives.
Facts on the ground are that government and other development partners have very rich content and developmental programmes running across the nation that have the potential to positively develop the life of a young person both socially and economically. However, one of the solutions in order to facilitate effective dissemination of this relevant information is to create or identify structures that will facilitate enabling environments for young people to access this very much needed information which ultimately defines their lives.
The reading culture in Zambia still remains poor. It needs to be understood further that the majority of the growing generation easily access information that is in audio and visual form. What the young mind sees and listens to does not always slip off their minds. In the recent past audio and visual content has proved to be retained in the minds of the young people in preference to literature from publications.
If government and developing partners were to take advantage of the dynamism and potential that lie in a young person’s life by generating relevant informational content and creating systems that would ensure that this information reach as many youths as possible, nations would have active and dynamic actors in development full of unlimited potential that will make well informed decisions for the benefit of the nations’ development.
Zambia needs to embrace and secure the young person’s life by providing relevant information and also mentorship at strategic levels of their development. The task that every developing partner should have is to create and package a lot of relevant information in the various sectors of development that will supersede the already existing and destructive information and ensure that this information reach as many young people as possible by using effective information delivery systems.
What defines young people and secures their future is information accessed or delivered to them!!
