African Union Commission is celebrating Africa Youth Month 2020 (AYM 2020) under the theme: Youth Voices, Actions, Engagement: Building A Better Africa.
The African Union Commission recognizes this centrality of youth to achieving the aspirations of Agenda 2063. Aspiration 6 in particular envisions a continent with people-driven development, relying on its youth.
To celebrate the AYM 2020 PAUWES is launching a series of 04 webinars in line with the AYM 2020 activity calendar
- Education Week (2nd – 8th November)
- Entrepreneurship Week (9th – 15th November)
- Employment Week (16th – 22nd November)
- Engagement week (23rd – 30th November)
Facilitated by PAUWES Entrepreneurship and Innovation Club (PEIC), these webinars aims to inspire African Youth during these challenging times, dispel myths surrounding innovation and entrepreneurship, support their personal growth and improve their ability to confront challenges to achieve the aspirations for the Africa we Want !
Introduction
Young people are at the very heart of Africa’s development agenda. With over 75% of Africa’s 1.2 billion inhabitants under the age of 35, and 453 million Africans aged 15-35, it goes without saying that the development outcomes of Africa’s young people have a significant and lasting effect on the continent’s trajectory.
The African Union Commission, along with the rest of the world, recognizes this centrality of youth to achieving the aspirations of Agenda 2063. Aspiration 6 in particular envisions a continent with people-driven development, relying on its youth. Together with the African Youth Charter and the African Plan of Action on Youth Empowerment (APAYE), Agenda 2063 and its youth-centric action plans serve as continental frameworks which reflect the prioritization of youth development by the African Union Commission and AU Member States.
In 2019, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission launched the 1 Million by 2021 Initiative, which will create direct opportunities for one million young Africans in the areas of education, employment, entrepreneurship and engagement (4Es). At the very core of the initiative are the principles of pan-Africanism, strategic partnerships and Africa-centric innovation and solutions, co-created and driven by Africa’s youth, towards creating sustainable structures.
In 2020, the world was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, and its reverberation is disrupting life as we know it in far-reaching ways. For Africa’s youth, in addition to being susceptible to coronavirus alongside the rest of the population, they are more vulnerable to the collateral consequences of the disease and its mitigation strategies. Their education is disrupted due to lockdowns, and for the significant population of digitally unconnected youth, this means missing many months of school.
Their jobs are threatened, especially for low-skilled workers, young entrepreneurs and youth in informal employment who are not likely to be eligible for government bailouts. The global economic shocks of COVID19 also trickle down to our young people’s capacities for sustenance. Equally important is the impact on their social lives, resulting from social distancing and isolation, and the mental health implications of the pandemic as a whole. These effects will last significantly longer than the pandemic will, and if we are not agile, we run the risk of losing recent gains in Africa’s youth development trajectory, and exacerbating existing challenges.
The Commission’s strategy on youth engagement aims strengthen its relationship with youth, and equip them with the spaces needed to amplify their voices to audiences of influence. African youth are diverse in realities and skill set. They have the ability to provide the resolutions to challenges plaguing the continent, through their unwavering resilience, vibrancy and penchant for innovation.
Young people, by virtue of their energy, vibe and adaptability, gravitate to the forefront of creating new, fresh solutions to old problems, and African governments must leverage this natural affinity through building their capacity and providing spaces for them to thrive. Particularly in the context of rebuilding our societies in the aftermath of COVID, it is essential to acknowledge and empower our young people and their contributions towards our continental recovery.
from : https://au.int/en/africa-youth-month-2020
African Youth Month
It is against this backdrop that the African Union Commission is celebrating Africa Youth Month 2020 under the theme: Youth Voices, Actions, Engagement: Building A Better Africa.
As outlined above, young people are playing a central role to society’s recovery from COVID-19 and its effects on our lives, lifestyles and livelihoods. As leaders, partners and beneficiaries, they are going about their daily lives with a resolution to live better lives daily. Historically, the focus has always been on targeted youth engagement and overt activism.
However, 2020 has demonstrated that across different walks of life, young people are heroic in their different everyday spaces, and their varied contributions make up the whole of our development agenda. It is time celebrate youth engagement and action in its different forms, from diligent everyday workers and first
responders, to job creators, academic pioneers and community builders.
The theme is therefore a clarion call to all young people to view their natural spaces as opportunities to influence their environment, communities, countries and consequently, the African continent.
It aims to encourage young Africans all over to see themselves as integral to achieving Agenda 2063, regardless of the spaces they inhabit, through amplifying the representation of the average young African on a continental scale. It leverages the premise that a critical mass of empowered Africans viewing their daily efforts towards sustenance and self-actualization as part of a big picture for our collective development is essential to accelerating the youth development agenda.
Objectives
- To highlight youth excellence, engagement and impact in traditional and nontraditional engagement spaces;
- To encourage young people to excel in their own spaces, and empower them with the tools to do so.
- General: #AYM2020;
- thematic: #BuildingABetterAfrica #MyPower (amplifying voices, actions and engagement of youth)
from : https://au.int/en/africa-youth-month-2020
PAUWES is launching a series of 04 webinars in line with the AYM 2020 activity calendar
- Education Week (2nd – 8th November)
- Entrepreneurship Week (9th – 15th November)
- Employment Week (16th – 22nd November)
- Engagement week (23rd – 30th November)
The aim of these webinar series are :
- To push students to adapt amidst Covid’19 in virtual education and entrepreneurship
- To create enabling environments for graduates by influencing administrative heads understanding of the challenges faced by these graduates when the venture into either public service or entrepreneurship.
- To inspire African youths through PAUWES students mindset
- Describe and explain the existing challenges in African Higher Education related to the Pandemic.
- Bring to the attention of higher education stakeholders solutions, best practices, available tools, new strategies.
- Encourage African Higher Education to create an enabling entrepreneurship environment through establishing viable actions and strategies
- PAUWES Students & Alumni
- PAU Students & Alumni
- African Youth
- Lecturers & Researchers
- Everyone who is passionate by the webinars thematics
1st Webinar
Education in Post-Covid'19 context
The COVID-19 pandemic has created the largest disruption of education systems in history, affecting nearly 1.6 billion learners in more than 190 countries and all continents.
Closures of schools and other learning spaces have impacted 94 per cent of the world’s student population, up to 99 per cent in low and lower-middle income countries.
UN Policy Brief: Education during COVID-19 and beyond, August 2020
As a result, education is changing dramatically, we are witnessing a rapid and unprecedent rise of online learning and educational digital platforms,
This sudden crisis increases the already existing disparities in education and has impacted the possibility of vulnerable populations living in poor or rural areas, girls and young women, refugees, people with disabilities to continue their learning.
Many of us are wondering if this situation (online learning, decreasing international mobility, closure of campuses, social distancing) will continue to persist post-pandemic, and how such a shift would impact the different categories of learners, the quality of teaching and the education institution business model.
Our Speaker will answer to these key questions and provide more insights about what can we expect as future trends in the education sector in a post-pandemic context.
Speakers
Professor Abdetallif Zerga
Professor Abdetallif Zerga is the Director of PAUWES. He has been involved in solar photovoltaic research for nearly 20 years. A physicist by training, he holds a PhD in Physics from Tlemcen University in Algeria, where is currently a professor and previously served as Vice Dean of Academic Affairs. He completed post-doctoral research in France involving third generation solar cells, and has worked in France, Germany and the US. He brings industry experience to the academic world, having worked with start-ups and multinational companies on solar cell technology.
Ms Simone Yankey-Ouattara
Senior Policy Officer in charge of Girls and Women's Education at the AU/CIEFFA ( African Union International Centre for Girls & Women's Education in Africa)
Mrs Yankey is currently a Senior Policy Officer at the African Union/CIEFFA (Which is the AU International Center for Girls' and Women's Education in Africa). The AU/CIEFFA is an AU Specialized Office based in Burkina Faso with a continental mandate working for the advancement of Girls and Women’s education in Africa.
Prior to this position, she has been a Senior Program Officer within the Women, Gender and Development Directorate of the AU Commission working for gender mainstreaming into the various AU’s Policies.
She also worked as a social volunteer in Belgium for the integration of African immigrant women and girls in the host country. In her country in Côte d’Ivoire, she has been the legal advisor of a cultural NGO called P.A.R.L.E. Ms. Yankey is a law specialist in human rights with a focus on women’s human rights
She holds two (2) Master’s Degree from the Institute of Politics and management of the University of Antwerp in Belgium in Policy and Development Management and the 2ndMaster in Human Law from the University of Louvain la Neuve in Belgium.
She is currently working on mainstreaming gender in the educational systems of African countries through her work to develop gender-sensitive policies and programs in the CESA 16-25, in the SDGs 4 and 5 as well as in all other AU instruments pertaining to gender equality and women ‘empowerment.
Her vision "An Africa where girls and women are socially, economically and politically more empowered through quality education acquired throughout their lives"
Professor Sandile Phinda Songca
Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sandile Phinda Songca provides strategic leadership on Teaching and Learning, developing University Teaching and Learning policies and monitoring their consistent University wide implementation. Professor Songca recently served at the University of Zululand (UNIZULU) as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning. His previous executive positions include:
Deputy Vice-Chancellor responsible for academic affairs and research (DVC: AAR) at the Walter Sisulu University (WSU);
- Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology (FSET) at WSU;
- Vice Dean of Science at the University of Transkei (UNITRA);
- Director of School, Deputy Dean and Dean of Science, University of Limpopo, Medunsa Campus;
- HOD of Chemistry Department at the Universities of Transkei, Zululand and Limpopo Medunsa campus;
- and Director of the School of Physical and Mineral Sciences, University of Limpopo.
He has served as the representative of WSU in the Provincial Skills Development Forum (PSDF). In addition, he served as a board member of the Eastern Cape Information Technology Initiative (ECITI) where he was the head of the Human Resources sub-committee. He is also a reviewer for several Journals. He is the Country Coordinator responsible for Physical Sciences in the project on Geophagia in South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy from Queen Mary and Westfield, University of London, in Organic Chemistry with a medicinal slant and has vast experience in this area spanning over two decades. He has attracted several research grants, so far in excess of R50 million; NRF, SAAVI, DTPS, Anglo American, DeBeers and Sentrachem.
Professor Songca has read more than 70 conference papers and published more than 60 articles in both local and international Journals and books. He is also actively involved in student supervision and has graduated more than 25 postgraduate students, including Honours, Masters and Doctorate. He is currently supervising 14 (Masters and PhD) students.
Pr. Hassan Qudrat-Ullah
Hassan Qudrat-Ullah is a Professor of Decision Sciences at the School of Administrative Studies, York University, Canada. He has over 20 years of teaching, research, industry, and consulting experience in the USA, Canada, Singapore, Norway, UK, Korea, China, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Algeria, Zambia, Colombia, Switzerland, Spain, and UAE. His research interests include sustainable energy policies, decision making in complex systems, and system dynamics modelling. Hassan has published over 90 refereed publications including 6 books, 11 book chapters, 24 journal articles, and numerous conference proceedings and invited presentations. His research has appeared in well-respected journals including Energy Policy, Journal of Cleaner Production, Decision Support System, Energy, Simulations & Gaming, Journal of Decision Systems, Telecommunication Systems, International Journal of Technology Management, and Computers & Education. Hassan is also serving as Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Complexity in Applied Science and Technology. At PAUWES, Dr. Hassan teaches a variety of courses including Research Methods for Energy Policy, Externality Impact Analysis, Modelling and Simulation for Energy Analysis, and Policy Analysis for Energy
Moderator
Ms. Zita Ndalloka , PEIC PAUWES Entrepreneurship and Innovation Club
Time & Date
30th of November at 11:00 AM (Algerian Time UCT/GMT +1)
