On April 20th, on our Instagram account @youthrussia we hosted a live stream with Ahmed Bening, acting Secretary General of the Pan African Youth Union, the largest youth organization in Africa that serves as a coordinating body for youth organizations at national, regional and continental levels. Ahmed talked about what brought him into youth policy, how Sustainable Development Goals are being implemented in Africa, about his first impressions of Russia and many other things.
At the beginning of the interview, Ahmed shared with the audience about the journey that led him into youth politics in Africa. Ahmed has been an activist since high school. In his native country Ghana, he worked extensively with civil society organizations. At the university, he started engaging in youth policy on a continental level and worked as Programs Director of the All African Students Union. After more than 10 years of working with young people, he realized that he had gained a lot of useful experience and was willing to share it. This led him to the Pan African Youth Union. Among the leaders who inspire him, Ahmed named Russian President Vladimir Putin and President of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo.
Ahmed also explained how youth policies are implemented in Africa. There are 55 sovereign states on the African continent (including Western Sahara, a disputed territory) that are members of an international intergovernmental organization — the African Union. In 2006, the African Youth Charter, a blueprint for effective national youth policies across the continent, was adopted. It was later updated in 2016. It is a guiding document that all the African countries were supposed to domesticate it. However, it is rather of a recommendatory nature, and each country adapts the recommendations to its own needs. At the same time, many countries, including Ghana have developed youth policies outside this document focusing primarily on the aspirations of their local youth.
One of the viewers posed a question on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa. According to Ahmed, all of the SDGs are equally important for African countries. Answering the question on gender equality in youth sector he noted that several national youth councils on the continent are headed by women, for example, in Cameroon, Botswana, Ghana and Seychelles, etc. “Women are at the forefront of decision-making in our country”, added Ahmed. At the same time, he stressed that the main barrier to achieving the SDGs in Africa is poverty. Is his opinion, the main SDGs implementation indicator is how many children go to bed well-fed on a daily basis.
Many viewers wondered how young people in Africa are fighting against COVID-19. Ahmed spoke about volunteers distributing food baskets to vulnerable groups of population, as well as educating people about precautions during the pandemic and explaining WHO’s recommendations. He is convinced that Africa will get out of the coronavirus situation strong and healthy despite the discouraging forecasts of Western pundits.
Ahmed talked a lot about Russian-African relations and his personal impressions of Russia. Ahmed has been to Russia about 4-5 times. During the preparations for the 19th World Festival of Youth and Students he was working in Moscow as a member of the International Organizing Committee. He admitted that many people in Africa still believe the stereotype that Russia is a closed communist state. “I thought the same way myself. But I completely changed my mind after my first visit. I saw a very liberal, open-minded country with fantastic people”, shared Ahmed. He stressed that the Soviet Union played a huge role in liberating African countries from colonial rule and strengthening their national sovereignty. Ahmed actively encourages African youth to visit Russia, to communicate with local people and see how things really are. Moreover, this will soon be possible thanks to the Russia-Africa Youth Forum, a joint initiative of the National Youth Council of Russia and the Pan African Youth Union.
“The relations between Africa and Russia should transcend politics. It is important to develop economic ties and encourage social and cultural engagement between Russian and African youth and civil society organizations”, believes Ahmed.
***
Watch full interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snsk5Oh4Lig