The #BeFree Youth ambassador Rivaldo Kavanga said youth throughout the continent are characterised by sustainable development goals, which serve as a framework for survival and prosperity. 

The absence of these development goals would result in a lack of future opportunities, emphasising the necessity to advocate for these goals, as they represent a fundamental identity for young individuals.

“When I speak to young Namibians, their concerns resonate with common themes – and that is access to education, jobs, equal opportunities and health services, particularly sexual reproductive health services,” he said. 

He was speaking during a dialogue on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) in New York recently.

The activist and founder of the Active Youth Organisation (AYO) emphasised that with Namibia experiencing 15000 pregnancies yearly, there is an urgent necessity to comprehensively and carefully tackle SRHR.

“The future the young envision is the one where they thrive. We shape it as young people, where opportunities are not for a selected few, but for everyone, and where health services are seen as universal health rights, and not privileges,” he said.

The session brought together partners for a strategic dialogue to share global and regional actions to address the needs as well as advance the rights of young people.

The executive chairperson of the One Economy Foundation, Monica Geingos, noted that SRHR is one of the areas where social and political capital needs to be spent. 

“It’s not a popular area. It really is a site of contestation of what SRHR is and what it isn’t, particularly of late. What we know is that it is an incredible enabler. Of what is good about a demographic dividend and honesty, it’s an incredible risk to what the demographic dividend represents, particularly to continents like Africa,” she said.

The former First Lady encouraged young Namibians to occupy spaces, as they do not need to seek permission to lead. 

“You start where you are with what you have. What I had was a loud voice and a powerful office with no resources, and the way you bring that together is through partnerships,” she stated.

Geingos said more needs to be done to amplify the role of tackling SRHR among the youth and the continent, something that requires more capital from all over, including the private sector.

Youth deputy minister Emma Kantema-Gaomas said the #Befree Youth campus and its collaboration with the private sector is a perfect example of what can be achieved when entities work and fight together for a cause.

“As a ministry, we have a national youth policy which has developed. With the assistance of young people, they also provided input. Again, there is nothing for the youth without the youth,” said the deputy minister.

She added: “We are one of the few countries which have developed a pretty comprehensive sexuality education manual, specifically for out-of-school youth”. 

Empowering young people to participate in political activities to occupy space is key.

“You need to develop the young leaders for them to take over now in terms of having tailor-made strategies for young people,” she remarked.

-psiririka@nepc.com.