Africtivistes Youth Civic Engagement Workshop
African civil society has always played an active role in the political and social events of our countries. It has also been at the forefront of many struggles, particularly for human rights, education and women’s rights. The arrival of the internet, and especially Web 2.0, was meant to offer an opportunity, but it has transformed the way civil society organisations operate. People now use these channels of expression to show their commitment to different causes, sometimes seemingly at the expense of “traditional” civil society organisations.
Digital technology has therefore become a real asset for Africans. It enables young people to exercise oversight and engage as citizens through digital communication channels. They write blogs and use social media to make their voices heard and share their messages. Others create media outlets or collaborative projects to build communities around specific issues. Alongside civil society’s information and media actors, others have launched innovative “maker” projects: fab labs, co-working spaces and civic engagement hubs, third places, and other spaces for developing ideas, creating, accelerating and producing.
There is therefore a need to build synergies between these initiatives so they can more effectively advance the causes they support. They need tools to help them promote their causes to a wider audience and reach their target groups more quickly.
In this context, Africtivistes, in partnership with the Staley School of Leadership at Kansas State University and IREX, is organising a series of Youth Civic Engagement Workshops from March 2019 to March 2020 in West Africa. The workshops aim to better equip these engaged women and young people to build and sustain their communities.
Objectives:
- Develop a new generation of engaged citizens to strengthen civil society in Africa.
- Build participants’ capacity to consolidate civic engagement in their communities and make it sustainable and effective.
- Develop leadership and civic engagement skills to address the civic challenges facing society.
Target group:
These workshops are aimed at young people aged 18 to 35 who are active in social associations, NGOs and non-profit organisations, as well as academics and university students.
- Young people with experience of civic engagement in their communities through social, humanitarian or civic activities.
- Young people working for NGOs and non-profit organisations.
- Academics and student researchers, who are also a target group for the workshops.
