Africa’s youth population boom means that they cannot be left behind in civic engagement because whatever decisions made matters on their future, hence the need for African youths to actively participate in civic engagement.

We spoke with young people from around the continent about the world they want, especially how young people can contribute to Africa’s development.

In this mini-series which will begin and end today, I will be sharing the opinion of young leaders across the African continent on the theme of this year’s International Youth Day: “Youth Civic Engagement.”

The second episode of this IYD series  is from Judyannet Muchiri, a dynamic young lady who has been walking the talk on civil engagement for years. She is also a Practice Lab Mentor at World Pulse and the Social Media Editor and Inspire Editor of  Network of African Youths for Development (NAYD), a network for African youths to know one another in the field of development and hopefully work together wherever possible.

Here is her message to the world on how Young people, especially Africans can contribute to civic engagement:

The next few years are going to critical not only for Africa but also the entire world in terms of development. Young people across the globe are going to have to play a key role in this process. To achieve a self-sustaining Africa, youth-led development is needed. The fact that the youth in Africa have been active in various ways in impacting positive change at the community is something that can’t be disputed. However we need more young people to step up in active participation where they are. If everybody makes a difference where they are then all that good will eventually culminates into a more developed Africa. Every young African needs to be active where they are at the moment with what they have now.

Further cooperation between the young working in community based organizations, NGOs or other organisations need to partner and work together. Without partnerships there’s a lot of duplication of efforts and competition among people working for the same goal at the community. Young people need to learn to work together, share information, exchange ideas, consult each other and build the community together. One major way through which they can do this is through the use of social media. These days there a lot of platforms on social media where young people can come together and share experiences and information, young Africans need to take advantage of these platforms. With these kind of efforts, it is only a matter of time before we see an Africa that stands as an equal partner among the world powers.

You can connect with Judy on twitter via @judyannetM or follow the conversation via the hashtag #YouthDay or #YouthPower