In West Africa, there are many barriers for young people to become competent, skilled and employable agents of change. Youth, especially in rural areas, lack opportunities to gain social and economic empowerment in their communities. This arises, in part, from weak implementation of core Human Rights conventions and a lack of youth-friendly laws, policies & programmes, as well as the lack of legal protection for young women against gender-based violence.
The Youth Empowerment in West Africa (YEWA) programme is part of our 2018-2022 strategic partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (Danida). The programme focuses on empowering young women and men in fragile rural areas in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Togo. More specifically, the overall common objective is to “allow young women and men to realise their full potential as competent, qualified and employable agents of change”.
Each country programme has interventions that reflect each national context within the following areas:
Youth-Friendly SRH, Education and Social and Economic Empowerment:
- Young women and men have access to quality- and youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, education, technical-vocational training, entrepreneurial training/support & financial opportunities.
Youth Organisation, Civic Engagement and Political Empowerment:
- Young women and men are empowered to organise themselves, to engage in civil society and to address local communities and duty-bearers to make their voices heard.
Resilient, Safe and Inclusive Environments:
- Local communities, including youth, have the resilience and capacity to reduce risks and vulnerability, to respond to disasters, and to strengthen peace and stability.
Strong partnerships, Mutual Learning and Advocacy:
- Civil society has the capacity and legitimacy to bring forth voices of youth to legal and political structures at local, national and cross-national levels.
Below you can watch a short film about the YEWA programme and how it is helping empower young people in Togo.
