THE YOUTH SHOULD NOT BE USED AS A RUBBER STAMP; POLICY FORMULATION CONSULTATION SHOULD RESPECT THE OPINION OF THE YOUTH.

The National Youth Policy in Zambia is a guide of youth development in Zambia. Its purposes include: to guide, inspire and validate the development of youth programmes of action; to provide the government and stakeholders with a legal framework for supporting and mainstreaming youth development programmes and activities; to empower youth to participate in national agendas and take advantage of opportunities available in the country; to provide comprehensive and effective strategies for policy implementation; to build and reinforce Zambian youth leaders; to include all the emerging issues and respond to the current needs of the youth today. The first National Youth Policy was developed in 1994 and a review was done which saw the birth of the 2006 National Youth Policy.

 Following various dynamic socioeconomic issues facing the youth in the country, the youth policy is undergoing review to facilitate the development of a new National Youth Policy for Zambia. Various recommendations are being made that would help shape the new policy. However, some unclear per-enshrined recommendations, have sparked serious debate among the youth delegates at the Consultative Forum for the review of the 2006 National Youth Policy for the Copperbelt and North-Western provinces. The recommendations below made by the National Youth Network on Population and Development and the Zambia Youth Workers Association at the Review of the 2006 National Youth Policy have raised various serious concerns among the youth participants. 

Currently, the institution mandated to deal with Youth Development issues is a statutory body, the National Youth Development Council which was established through an Act of Parliament in 1986. The functions of NYDC include; 

1. To advise the minister on youth development programmes

 2. To coordinate youth activities 

3. To evaluate and implement youth programmes 

4. To assist and encourage organisations interested in youth development in the initiation of youth training and development programmes. 

5. To initiate, operate and manage non-profit or profit-making projects in support of youth development. 

The 2006 National Youth Policy Implementation framework outlines the role of NYDC. The recommendations made by National Youth Network on Population and Development and Zambia Youth Workers Association are in many cases conflicting with the mandate NYDC has. The following are their recommendations: 

1. Ministry of Youth and Sport: Providing Policy Direction, guidance and resource mobilisation to the youth sector. 

2. National Youth Development Council: To interpret government policies into actions through youth organisations, regulate operations of youth organisations, register youth organisations, act as a link between youth organisations and government and capacity building of youth organisations. 

 3. Zambia Youth Workers Association: protect young people from incompetent and unethical conduct of youth practitioners and regulate the professional conduct of youth workers. 

 4. National Youth Network on Population and Development: This Will be the link between regulators and youth organisations and the role of the implementor of the sector interventions. This will be achieved through the promotion of coordination of sector interventions among youth organisations at various levels of implementation. 

 The revised youth policy should recognise and support the existence of a united youth movement through one National Youth Network on Population and Development. Various issues have been raised so far including 

1. The organisation and structure; the organisations in question are not statutory and were not recommended for establishment by the youth of Zambia and therefore becomes questionable as to how best they can represent the youth of Zambia, especially that they do not have decentralised structures as compared to NYDC. 

 2. The clarity about their establishment and focus is not clear yet. The network was originally established in Zambia under AfriYAN and the name was later changed to National Youth Network on Population and Development. This is not a guarantee that they may represent the youth of Zambia appropriately. 

3. If they have enough funding and really wants to better things, why can they not work hand in hand with NYDC to strengthen its human resource and financial capability, rather than using what would be termed as an indirect way of overpowering it, by duplicating its mandate, roles and functions... As though not enough, the proposers of these recommendations are present at the Consultative Forum, and from the satellite conversations held by them, they are strongly advocating for the adoption of these recommendations. 

We witnessed circumstances where concurrently this team-issued defensive statements in support of the not welcomed recommendations in question, against whoever gave an opinion against the recommendations. It came out of control as the people from this team almost dominated the discussions infringing on other participants' right to express themselves and participate. And a strong question remains, as much as the Senior Youth Development Officer was trying to put it that the ministry has not adopted those recommendations but have asked the youth to have their say, a link between the youth development office and these proposers seems to be read between the wires, sending worries among the youth participating in this important event that, they may just end up being used as Rubber Stamps to endorse something which they have not bought into... 

The second day may see the rebirth of the debate of day one on the recommendations in question, as from the satellite discussions by this 'group' captured so far...they have embarked on trying to convince as many people as possible to go for this recommendation which may see their organisations enshrined in the youth policy, and subsequently limit the powers and mandate of National Youth Development Council. 

Furthermore, various people from the same group are also participating in the review of the National Youth Development Council, and this indicates that there will be a conflict of interest as they may align NYDC in a way that will make them achieve this not youth accepted restructuring. 

However, the youth have proposed that, if there would be a need to form a National Youth Network which should work with NYDC, it has to be independently formed and this should be out of a recommendation by the youth of Zambia. More importantly, the youth would like to see a strengthened single institution; National Youth Development Council, decentralized and continuing with the statutory mandate to foresee the implementation of the National Youth Policy...