The Youth Cafe

The Board main role is supporting the senior leadership team at the secretariat to ensure The Youth Café is both sustainable and growing. Their roles include: challenging The Youth Café's activities vis-à-vis legal and regulatory requirements, ambassadorial and providing strategic guidance. However, the secretariat (young professionals) solely makes the executive decisions. The Board comprises a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 12 non-executive directors in addition to three executive directors: The Executive Director,[32][33] Finance Director and Secretariat Coordinator. After three years they all seek re-appointment. It is compulsory for the Head of Operations and Finance and the Head of Partnerships to turn up at every meeting, while, section leads are invited to put forward their section's accomplishments, challenges and future development on a rotational basis. They meet annually in February, May and November with a half day strategy session yearly. To represent the youth, at least three board members are under the age of 35.

Made up of youths (young professionals) between 18 and 35 years. They include operational secretariat consisting of staff, consultants, part-time contractors, interns, and volunteers.

They are the cardinal decision-making body that makes all project decisions and executive programs at The Youth Cafe, as per the motto “for youth by youth”.

The Executive Director, the Head of Partnerships and the Head of Operations & Finance are the senior most and reporting to them, are the coordinator and Technical Coordinator, Main secretariat and Section Leads. From their headquarters in Nairobi, projects are executed across Africa.

Violence by extremist groups (Al-Shabab, Boko Haram and others have sparked of a humanitarian situation among others Lake Chad Basin.[35]

Consequently, over 2.5 million people have been displaced causing economic dis-empowerment and inability to access basic services.[36] For stability, development and humanitarian actors, as well as the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) has stepped in to help[37] and the EU has invested over EUR 700 million.[38] In spite of all this, there is minimal progress due to lack of coordination on the ground, and a dearth of information about the stabilization strategies.

UNSCR 2250 recognizes the role of young people towards stability,[39] as well as the Stabilization Strategy (adopted in August 2018 by the Lake Chad Basin Commission Member States and endorsed by the AU Peace & Security Council in December, 2018[40]) which focuses on bridging the gap between political will, financing and reality of progress on the ground.

One of The Youth Café's strategic objective is, ensuring “a transparent, democratic and accountable environment” which in turn leads to, “political stability, effective governance and reduced fragility”. The AU has developed the African Governance Architecture. Though, internationally, the International Aid Transparency Initiative and locally social auditing and budget reviews already exist; further collaborations among stakeholders can be increased. Since youths are underrepresented in governance,[41][42] The Youth Cafe has invested in skills development useful in governance-enabling activities and increasing accountability.

CAS can tackle major universal challenges – such as social integration, conflict prevention and resolution, protection of cultural heritage and prevention of violent extremism. With an estimated growth rate of 7% global GDP,[43][44] culture and creative arts industry if well harnessed, can contribute to economic growth, socio-economic stability and sustainable development.[45] The 2007 Africa Strategy (JAES), proposes a stronger cultural cooperation and EUR 40 million was allocated under the European Development Fund towards that.[46] Visible initiatives like creating networks, financing and training on the necessary skills will improve the careers of CAS professionals.

To prepare youths for the future, they need skills and competencies in addition to accessing quality education.[47][48] The Youth Café plans to provide high quality education and training systems, that are efficient and that facilitate young people's access and integration. In line with UNESCO 2030 goals, SDG 4 and international commitments, support must be given to relevant stakeholders who provides quality education that equip youths with skills and competencies, to take on future challenges and opportunities in the world.

Multi-stakeholder collaborations such as VET, Global Education and STEM are vital in imparting “21st century skills” and creating innovative learning environments. Research has shown that these collaborations, improve international competitiveness, innovation and productivity.[49] Studies have shown that the demographic dividend is an education-triggered dividend[50] and as such investments must be directed towards education as well as policy change.

Three million jobs are currently created a year in Sub-Saharan Africa,[51] however, 18 million jobs a year will need to be created by 2035.[52][53] Youths must be uniquely positioned and empowered to stimulate innovation, creativity and create social capital in key sectors such as agribusiness and renewable energy in order to shape a shared future and economy. Of concern are the gaps in support services for young entrepreneurs, and limited and/or no knowledge of and access to current flagship initiatives.

Currently, the worldwide adolescents’ population is 1.2 billion (10–19 years old), and this number will rise through 2050.[54] Nearly, 90% live in low- and middle-income countries[55] with limited knowledge, information and access to quality health services and are thus unable to deal with their health issues that are both preventable and treatable.[56] Health service providers do not have tailored services nor offer specific health needs to adolescents[57][58] with factors such as: religion, age, ethnicity, sex, disability, gender identity, wealth, marital status, location sexual orientation and, migratory status and other characteristics aggravating the situation. Due to this, adolescents have not benefited from the halved mortality rate (during the Millennium Development Goal period) by younger children[59][60] with more than 1.2 million adolescent deaths yearly.[61]

Remittances in Africa helps reduce poverty and generate domestic resources[62][63] and is thus a key area to The Youth Cafe. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10 aims to reduce the transaction costs of migrant remittances to under 3% and eliminate corridors with costs above 5%. Currently, costs stagnate around 7%[64][65][66] affecting young people who mostly are 'undocumented', 'unbanked', and poor. This is despite the fact that youths are at the forefront in the use of new technologies like mobile money.[67][68] The EU in 2014 supported the AU in the establishment [69] of the African Institute for Remittances (AIR),[70] which deals in promoting reforms in legal and regulatory frameworks. Additionally, they provide statistical data (SendMoneyAfrica comparison database).[71] More information and transparency about remittance fees and user-friendly applications is needed.

The main causes of climate change in Africa is land / water management and soil deterioration. The Great Green Wall initiative, was launched in 2007 as the AU's flagship initiative to decelerate Sahara Desert expansion, deal with land degeneration, improve food security, and promote transformational adaptability of communities to adjust to climate change.[72] An articulate mapping can help further advance the GGW. Increased support for agroforestry can: offer incentives for youth to live in rural areas and partake in activities fostering the viable use of natural resources; alleviate the effect of climate change and also provide livelihood opportunities for youth in the region.