It is indeed a great honour and inspiring to give solidarity remarks on the launch of the Pan-African and Feminist Philanthropies Initiative.
The Southern Africa Youth Forum (SAYoF) a pan-African regional youth platform working with young people in SADC region and programs across Africa; we welcome and applaud the time, talent and treasure offered by Trust Africa & Urgent Action Fund (UAF-Africa) to re-ignite the spirit of Africa, fostering and re-imagining the values and principles of Pan-Africanism among them: Territorial Integrity, Self-determination, collective ownership, solidarity, mutualism, people centeredness, ubuntu, unity in diversity, African identity, and community ownership.
Above all we applaud and salute both institutions for raising significant resources for pan-African and Feminist agendas on the continent, this will go a long way in sustaining and shaping the Africa We Want, an Africa which supports its own ideas, an Africa rooted in horizontal giving, flourishing with sustainable inclusion of its young people who constitutes a larger percentage of its total population and an Africa that uses its resources in a manner that empowers its citizens.
This initiative came at a momentous time when Africa is required to claim its space as a giant, define its narrative and correct the past dependency wrongs. The SADC Youth Forum (SAYoF) through its Pan-Africanism, Arts, Culture and Heritage Cluster and the Gender and Young Women Development Cluster sees this initiative as a great opportunity to bring the youth voices and agenda on the table using a pan-African and a feminist lens. We need to ensure that values of Pan-Africanism are cultivated from kindergarten, schools (including in the curriculum development), also in colleges, workplaces, religious, traditional platforms, and communities. The other key priorities from African Youth perspective which can be supported by more and better resources include fostering gender equality – including new pan-African Approaches in dealing with cases of rising Gender Based Violence, support innovativeness and creativity there is need to ensure ownership of resources at country level, realizing that an empowered youth is a potential giver.
