Chido Cleopatra Mpemba is the Youth Envoy at the African Union Commission. She assists in championing youth development issues in Africa. OPGA Fellow Gerard Anapu spoke to Ms. Mpemba about her work and advice that she has for young people who want to get involved in politics.

 

Transcript:

[AU Youth Envoy]: I also have an opportunity to speak to young people, at the same time, I also have an opportunity to speak to the policymakers and the governments. You merge that, that the voices of young people reach the decision-making table.

[Opening]: Drum roll. My name is Amr Danyal from the Maldives. My name is Aimé Triana from Cuba. My name is Syuzanna Martirosyan from Armenia. My name is Mmoloki Tsheole from the Republic of Botswana. My name is Nathalie Gasaro, and I’m from Rwanda. My name is Gerard Anapu from Samoa. This is a podcast… This is the podcast of the United Nations OPGA Youth Fellows.

[Gerard]: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening to our listeners to the OPGA Youth Fellows Podcast My name is Gerard Anapu. I am joined here by Chido Mpemba. She is the African Youth Envoy. I’ll let her introduce herself. So over to you.

[AU Youth Envoy]: Thank you. Thank you very much Gerard, and you got it right it’s Chido Mpemba. So, I’m from the African Union Commission, currently working in the Cabinet of the Chairperson, in the role of the Special Envoy on Youth for the African Union, to make sure that we represent the voices of the largest demographic that we have in Africa, and with the non-Member states from Africa too.

[Gerard]: I understand that you have been recognized on the List of 100 Most Influential African Women and CNN New York as Top 100 under 40 Most Influential People of Africa Descent. And before I go on, I must say it’s very impressive and very inspirational as a young person myself. I feel like this is something that young people should aspire to be and to do great things and then help other young people come through as well. So, congratulations and very much looking forward to more work that you do for not only the African region, but for the world as well.

[AU Youth Envoy]: Thank you.

[Gerard]: And so having said that, how can you say you have used these amazing achievements to further enhance meaningful youth engagement, not only within the African region, but also throughout the world?

[AU Youth Envoy]: Thank you very much for that. And in terms of the 100 Most Influential, it was actually under the Most Influential People of African Descent and this happened last year at the CNN office in New York, however, under the NEPAD. And I believe, you know, I’m honored really, I’m humbled when I receive such recognition and just looking at the number of recognitions in terms of awards and fellowships. I’ve had an opportunity to participate in, even prior to my role as the youth envoy. It has also created a space to network and through that networking this meaningful youth engagement. Because you get to speak to young people and get different perspectives and at times even share ideas and best practices that will actually take you to the next stage. So, something I do not take for granted whenever I’m placed in these spaces, I believe it’s also an opportunity to make impact in any way that I can, as well as learn in any way that I can from the people that are around me, even if I look at my role right now as the African Union Chairperson’s Youth Envoy, If I look within my network, the number of young people that I’ve met on different platforms, be it, you know, through their NEPAD recognition, be it when I was a Mandela Washington Fellowship years ago, are the same people that I look up to now and look within that network whenever, you know, I need to share an idea and just get more input and, you know, and we encourage one another, inspire one another to take it to the next level, but most importantly so for the development of our continent in Africa, but not only that for global development. It’s one thing that I keep saying to young people, I mean, recently we’re launching African Union Youth Reference Committee, but this Youth Reference Committee is actually made up of young people from the north and from the global south, to engage in dialogue and to speak about how we end global inequalities. So, it goes beyond the Africa that we want, but it now goes beyond that to the world that we want because I believe that even as an African voice, we can make a positive contribution globally and at the global stage too.

[Gerard]: Thank you very much. I think that is very important having that space for young people and just creating the platform where we can come together as young people and sort of influence one another, if not inspire each other with the work that we do. So that is actually really amazing, and I feel like if the more we do things like these like these podcasts where we can reach other youth that may be listening or the listeners or whoever may be listening to our podcast and inspire them as well.

Being the youngest person in African Union Chairperson’s Cabinet. What are some of the challenges, – and I know there could be many,  could be less – you have had to overcome in implementing your role and leading the youth affairs across the region and in all parts of the work that you do?

[AU Youth Envoy]: I think if I speak about the challenges or something that’s commonly faced with a lot of young people. And it’s when you get into space where there’s already a lot of experience with the people that you’re working with, at times you find yourself putting pressure on yourself just to work harder and to prove yourself. And I think that was the first challenge when I joined, not that anyone had put pressure on me, but I was putting pressure on myself to say, “I need to deliver”. “I’ve been entrusted in this role”. “I’ve been appointed by the Chairperson”. “I’ve been recognized by the African member states”. There’s a lot on the stake for me. Not only there to be most importantly the constituency that I represent, again, will hold me accountable. So, it comes with, you know, that pressure of ‘I need to do it and I need to do it now’ because there’s so many challenges. A lot of challenges were faced with an Africa at the moment from high unemployment to conflict rising, to climate change issues, to democratic governance and the human rights of young people. It’s so much. It’s a lot and, you know, you want to be able to deliver results.

You want to be able to make impact. And at times you can’t make it as fast as you would have liked to. But you try and contribute, you know, or do the best that you can for the continent as well. I’d say that’s, you know, the first challenge. The second challenge I would say is resources. And when you speak openly about that, because being a new office, again, even having spoken to, you know, my fellow counterparts that, you know, are in the same or started off, you know, within the same positions, you find that there’s so many, so many, again, challenges happening globally.

And as a result, when it comes to resources, they’re quite fragmented because, you know, there is resources that have to be channelled towards climate changes are indicated, there are resources that have to be channelled towards humanitarian crisis, there is also that to be channelled towards post COVID-19. And here you are with the new office and that’s representing, you know, the largest demographic in Africa.

And you have to also prove that their need of, you know, being taken as a priority and for that to happen, resources will be required. And I was fortunate that, you know, working within this role that the member states have been quite supportive, the African Member States, looking at the United Nations, I work very closely with the United Nations. In fact, when I got into office last year, the first thing that I did was embark on a listening tour across Africa.

And I was supported by African governments, but also by the UN, where I worked with various UN offices from UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, and within this listing tour, I took a three-way model that looked at the first part was youth townhalls. So, in every country I’d visit, which was in 2022, would conduct national youth townhall meetings, sit down with young people, and also get to hear the challenges they faced with, what they think we can do better, how do they understand Agenda 2063, Agenda 2030 you know, be it the UN Sustainable Development goal, but also the African Union Agenda 2063.

And again, this came up the most, which is why I’m giving this example of a listening tour because a lot of young people said, there are not a lot of resources for them to be able to be fully capacitated and contribute towards Africa’s development. Now the second part was community engagements. Now, community engagements is because not everyone always has access to information. Not everyone has access to technology.

How do I make sure that we have more young people knowing that when you talk about sustainable development and all these issues that they can also make a positive contribution? Doesn’t necessarily have to be on the urban or within a global stage, but within a community we need to make sure that that comes across. So again with that, it then had to take me using a model of, of course, innovative ways of communicating, advocacy, but going back to the traditional ways too, to say if we’re going to go to community, let us sit under a tree and talk about this.

You know, it was very important for me as well. And that’s how I tackled their challenge to say let us bring a bit of that traditional as well because, you know, I used to get a lot of input and feedback to say, as young people who actually don’t know what’s going on at center age, be it at the United Nations or at the African Union, we need to learn more.

[Gerard]: Thank you very much. I think some of these challenges are very significant. And I feel like this is why such thing as this podcast is important because this is the kind of knowledge sharing and listening to learn that other people from other regions, especially myself, I mean hearing this something to do maybe when I go back or maybe my other colleagues will listen to the podcast and inspire them to do it in their home countries as well. The least of the things that I could think of using is probably traditional knowledge. But that’s excellent. I mean, that people-to-people connection just going to the level of the young people and just talking to them, as a young person as well. And that sometimes that’s something we sometimes forget ourselves.

[AU Youth Envoy]: I think it’s great that I’ve had the opportunity. It’s something I do not take lightly. I believe that my role is unique. In that I also have an opportunity to speak to young people, being communities being in civil society, through national youth councils, through Member States, at the same time, I also have an opportunity to speak to the policymakers and the governments. From the Ministers, the Head of States, other Special Envoys. And it gives an opportunity to make sure that you merge that. That the voices of young people, from what I hear from the ground through my youth townhall meetings through the listening tours, reaches the decision-making table, where I’ve had the privilege of accessing the decision-making table. At the same time, also making sure what comes from the policymakers reaches young people too.

And I’ve been able to create platforms for that to happen. I think I just spoke about the Continental Youth Townhall Meeting where we had the very first one of the African Union this February. And in there, I was advocating for Article 11 of the African Union Youth Charter, just to briefly share with you about the African Union Charter, it’s a charter that was a decision that came from our Member States and our Head of State in 2006 in Bunjal.

And within that framework of the treaties embedded in the African Union Youth Charter, that’s the basis that our member states use when it comes to as a guide for national youth policies and how they treat young people. Now, within this African African Union Youth Charter, we still have 16 member states that have not signed on it, so part of my role again is to advocate the Head of States to sign on it. And just recently we saw a country Burundi, signing the Youth Charter. And I made a call to action to the President, and I said, “you’ve signed the Youth Charter, but I would like for you to come and deposit the Youth Charter”. So, young people can see that our leaders are leading by example. Yes, you’ve signed it, but come and sit with young people so that we also use that as an advocacy tool for the rest of the countries that have not ratified. So now at the AU Head of State meeting, we convened this first Youth Townhall Meeting, which had the President of Burundi, had the Chairperson, of African Union Commission, whom I have the privilege and honour to work with and under.

And it also had our AFCFTA Secretary General, as you know, the theme of the year for the African Union is based on accelerating efforts in AFCFTA, which is, you know, of course, in Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement. And, you know, other leaders such as our African Business Council President, our AU Director General, to name a few. But it also had young people as part of the engaging panels, but there were young people in the audience and young people connected virtually. And for me, that was a way to leverage on such platforms be the African Union to bring young people’s voices. And for our leaders to hear from young people themselves, I remember that meeting went longer than expected. It was about over – was it four or five hours? We left late at night? And for me, what was so intriguing that the leaders were engaged, the policy leaders were so so engaged. I mean, they were listening to what young people had to say. They were also contributing, giving feedback and young people got a chance to voice their frustrations and their opinions. So again, that’s a way of also being able to contribute to the access I have at different platforms. One last example, for instance, is just COP27. Last year, we advocated for participation of more young people.

And of course, across Africa, which is whom I’m representing in my role. And as a result, I went to the delegation of selected African Climate Change Fellows, we call them Fellows, Delegates, but, you know, of course, we’re running an initiative at the time that focused on climate migration and climate mobility.

And in addition to, you know, these Fellows that were selected from different parts of the continent. Also in the African Union, we have an African Union Media Fellowship. And this Media Fellowship again we select, you know, media professionals from across the continent to drive and shape the narrative of Africa to be the ones to report of Africa. So, I also had the Media Fellows from, you know, across Africa, part of my delegation for COP27.

Again, we had our own convening as young people to share to dialogue what are our expectations of COP27. We watched an award-winning documentary. We bonded and, you know, we contributed and took part in COP27. So again, it was also another opportunity to bring young people’s voices with me at the table, not just represent their voices or say what they told me on the listening tour, but also given opportunity to contribute and be part and parcel of the stages that we have.

Just to name a few, you know, with other meetings that are coming up with the African climate week, you know, if the UN General Assembly, again, where, you know, we’re advocating for participation of the African youth voice, including those marginalized communities too.

[Gerard]: Thank you very much, Chido. These are all excellent examples and things that have happened. And how we can bring leaders and young people together. And I think this is something that is very important, and I know we had a meeting a couple of days ago where we met with an EU Parliamentarian, a young politician from Germany. And he mentioned how you know young people are definitely the future. And we are caretakers of our world in the years to come. And I think this is important, But what I also realized is that it’s important now that leaders or the much older generations that we have today, are finally, admitting to themselves that young people are not people that they need to fear, but people that they need to include in the work that they do because imagine if they go out of government and these people come in and without knowledge, it’s something that is very dangerous in my own opinion.

So I think this is important and having that great example from the president of Burundi as well as all your high-level delegates from the African Union. I think that that was amazing. And the fact that it went over hours meant that it was very interesting to both the leaders and the young people as well. So that’s a good start. And I hope more countries that have signed up to sign up for this Youth Charter that you’ve started, which sounds amazing.

I know because of time and I know you have other commitments as well. We are going to come to the end of our podcast today. But there could be a young person out there right now listening to us, doubting themselves in what they believe they can or cannot do. What are some words of encouragement, you can offer for our young people, listening to us today, as we talk about youth empowerment and youth engagement, meaningfully that it is as well.

[AU Youth Envoy]: I would say do not ever underestimate the impact that you makein this world. I feel like as young people at times, we underestimate how we’re contributing towards society. But never do so, it could be within a community, within a family, within a country, a continent or globally, but ultimately, we are all contributing, at whichever stage that you are. So, keep that in mind. Always do the best that you can.

Also remember the importance of the path collaboration. How can we collaborate with the humanity of this world? How can we collaborate for the challenges we’re faced with? Everywhere, being with the environment. How can we work together? And lastly, also remember that it’s okay to fail at times because I also think that as young people at times were too hard on ourselves, there’s so much going on. You know, the opportunities are not that much. And at times, you know, even just look at mental health and from a perspective of Africa, it’s something that’s often stigmatized. But I would say that it’s okay. It’s okay. And always remember that you are light on this earth, in anything and in everything that you do. So just my parting words is let’s work together, collaboration over competition. And of course, to our leaders, less speeches and more concrete action for young people.

[Gerard]: Indeed. That is some very inspiring words, and it’s inspired me as well. And that’s something that we need to go out as young people in our own different capacities as to challenge ourselves, but to challenge our leaders as you have rightly said to do more and talk less.

Thank you very much, Chido for your time. This podcast has been very informative, and it was a delight to have you here today, speak to us about meaningful youth engagement. And I would like to thank you again for taking the time.

[AU Youth Envoy]: Thank you so much for having me on this podcast.

[Closing] This is the podcast of the United Nations OPGA Fellows. Thanks for listening.