By Frederick Philander
MALACCA, MALAYSIA
He considers the Namibia National Youth Council as a very active member of, and a strong ally in, international youth matters dealt with by and under the jurisdiction of the World Assembly for Youth (WAY).
This is the view of WAY’s Secretary General, Donald Charumbira, a Zimbabwean by birth, who has been at the helm of this United Nation’s organ for the past seven years.
I caught up with the young executive in his spacious office in Malacca from where he and his staff of four daily direct, plan and execute international youth programmes in and to more than 120 countries, including Namibia.
“As far as I know I am the first African to have been elected to the post seven years ago since the organization was established in 1949 as the oldest and biggest youth structure in the world. However, Africa according to history was involved in the formation of WAY, which has supported most of the liberation struggles in Africa over the years,” said Charumbira.
WAY has been instrumental in providing logistical support as well as airline tickets to bring representatives of many liberation movements to the United Nations in New York.
“WAY represents almost 90% of the earth’s youth population and its membership covers basically every continent. The organization’s primary function at the moment is to help curb the AIDS pandemic, unemployment, poverty alleviation and drug and alcohol abuse among the youth on an international level. HIV/AIDS poses the biggest problem to WAY in most African countries,” he said.
“I am not very optimistic that a cure for the HIV/AIDS virus will be found soon, but I am hopeful that the youth will start changing their attitudes towards the disease, something we in WAY focus on in member countries.
Presently everyone is very optimistic about circumcision especially in Africa. If this can lead to a reduction in the disease’s levels, it would help to make an important difference worldwide,” said the secretary general, who has travelled the world in the pursuit of the rights of the youth.
During his seven-year tenure Charumbira has served as an adviser to the former Secretary General of the United Nation’s, Kofi Annan, in juvenile delinquency.
“He was of the opinion that the youth of Southern Africa should play a stronger role in national leadership in their respective countries. In my opinion they are able and capable to take up national leadership positions.
After all the future lies in their own hands,” he said encouragingly.
In this regard he encouraged SADC countries to speed up the process of regional integration for better empowerment possibilities for the youth.
“Youth empowerment is crucial for development in SADC, a grouping lacking far behind other global ones. We in WAY have been working tirelessly towards youth empowerment in all its dimensions via the national youth councils of 120 countries already, and we continue to help new member countries to put in place such youth councils,” Charumbira said.
During his tenure the WAY office was set up under the auspices of the United Nations, and a college and a hostel were erected for guided studies in various fields for the youth of the world.
“There are about 1 000 Africans studying in Malaysia with whom I have close ties, especially those from Southern Africa. These African students help a lot especially in times of disaster, such as the recent tsunami that hit Indonesia and other countries in this region,” he said.
WAY’s main areas of work include youth employment, the environment, human rights, health, leadership training, population matters, community development and drugs.
The next world youth conference will be held in the Caribbean where decisions about the youth will be taken for the next four years.