Building Youth Civic Engagement: Inception Workshop

The Youth Civic Engagement inception workshop organized by the UNESCO Regional Abuja Office will hold from 18 to 19 October 2018 at Reitz Continental Hotel in Abuja, preceded by a one day Training of Trainers, on 17 October 2018, to further engage youth and different stakeholders working in youth matters to deliver more effectively youth related programmes.

This initiative provides a platform to meaningfully engage with youth leaders and to enhance their active role, involvement and participation in decision-making at different levels.

Participants were recruited from a call for applications launched by UNESCO Abuja Office and the selection of youth organizations from Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone to be part this pilot process combining a training of trainers and a workshop with key stakeholders working on youth in Nigeria, with the aim to:

• Facilitate appropriation of different tools and methodologies for youth civic engagement developed by UNESCO and to contribute to their dissemination in their respective organizations and beyond;
• Provide a platform for sharing of experiences on their youth civic engagement work in participating countries;
• Empower youth-led organization for research-action and production of knowledge to influence policy making on youth matters.
• Offer a safe space for concrete interaction between youth participants and different stakeholders in Nigeria working with youth, using Nigeria as a case study.

The training of trainers and workshop will pave the way for a new collaboration path between UNESCO Abuja Office and Youth Organization in ECOWAS region, empowering them into co-production of knowledge and development of innovative solutions to promote youth civic engagement.

Ultimately, it is about supporting the implementation of the UNESCO’s Operational Strategy on Youth (2014-2021), as well as UN Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security, the UN 2030 Youth Strategy and the African Union Vision 2063.