The 4th AILC was concluded successfully at the Imperial Resort beach Hotel, Entebbe, the theme of the conference was “empowering the youth to lead the future”.
The problem: The youth challenge
In recent years, the challenge of youth has not only moved from the poor developing countries but also to some of the rich developed countries. Greece, Spain and Portugal have in recent years since the economic crisis of 2008, 2009 seen their youth unemployment rates go up to 40%. In the developing countries, the unemployment rate averages 20% though the ILO estimates the youth unemployment rate to be 12% globally and 20% in the developing countries.
One of the challenges in the developing countries is the quality of the jobs. The Uganda bureau of statistics estimates unemployment in Uganda to be 5.2% however, it reports that while there is such a low unemployment rate, those who are employed are in the informal sector. The informal sector in Uganda consists of very poor quality jobs.
Aide Memoire
Introduction
Unemployment, climate change, poverty, HIV/AIDS, women exclusion continues to be one of the burning items on the world agenda. How they are handled today will shape the future. Today’s leadership must provide the guidance necessary to ensure reduction of poverty and sustainability of development besides addressing the social ills like unemployment and HIV/AIDS.
That future as is commonly said belongs to the youth. The youth need to be mentored and nurtured into a leadership that will provide the guidance to create a better world one with sustainable resources. But the youth themselves are leaving the problem of the future. There are many unemployed youth, high prevalence of HIV/AIDS among the youth, the concerns for social unrest, high use of drugs is for the youth. It is leadership that will determine and shape the events that resolve these social evils and create a world in which there is less poverty, less social unrest, access to resources and development and sustainable development. The youth need to be sensitized about these issues. They need to be part of the current leadership and to be prepared to take over future leadership which will ensure and equitable and peaceful world.
Conference theme
“Empowering the Youth to lead the Future”
The Sub-themes
a) Youth unemployment as a challenge of the future
b) Women as leaders of the future
c) Cultural changes as challenges of the future
d) Relevancy of “Future Shock by Alvin Toffler”
e) The role of leadership in development
f) Youth IT and redefining the future
g) The challenge of unemployment among the youth
With improvements in medicine people are living long. In the developed countries, the population is rising as a result of better medicine, and better living conditions. On the other hand technology has also reduced the number of jobs that are around. The consequences of increasing unemployment even in developing countries among the youth.
This is a time bomb for the world. If the youth are unable to find jobs and earn their incomes not only shall we have more poverty but we will also risk seeing social unrest. How does the world respond to this challenge? Authors are requested to examine this challenge and write papers and solutions. More important the papers may even deal with role of leaders in providing these solutions
h) Empowering women to lead
The marginalization of women continues to be a major issue. Women have been said to provide better leadership. However not many women are in leadership positions. To secure the future of the youth it is important that women come to leadership positions. How can women be brought to leadership positions globally?
i) Culture and Change
Technology has been the key enabler of change. However, many countries are still being held back by certain cultural practices that do not support change. How can culture be transformed so that the world takes advantage of the emerging technologies that are shaping and improving the world? These cultures include, marginalization of women, female circumcision, traditional marriage practices and many others .It is the youth that will benefit from positive changes in culture.
c) Relevance of “ Future shock “ by Alvin Toffler
Future Shock is a book written by Alvin Toffler in 1070
Toffler said that Future Shock was a psychological state of individuals and entire societies and it was a feeling of too much change in a short period.
Toffler argued that the world was going through so much change which was disrupting the lives of people which was the shock that people experienced.
He said that social problems in society were a result of change that was taking place.
What is the change that is taking place doing to societies in place, was Alvin Toffler correct?
d) The role of leadership in development
It is said that the results of an organization or that of a nation are a reflection of its leadership. Leaders have a major role to play in shaping the vision of individuals and nations.
Determining the destiny of communities and creating prosperity among people in the world.
The youth are usually bothered by things other than the destiny of society.
Youth must be brought into the leadership positions and guided to be able to lead their communities to prosperity.
Experiences of leaders worldwide can be used as models for bringing youth into the fold
e) The Youth, Information & Technology (IT) and Redefining the Future
IT is enabling change, leaders influence the activities that lead to change and the change is manifested through the youth. It is the youth that are taking advantage of the technologies around us making change possible.
It is therefore the youth and IT that are redefining the future and will lead the future. What is happening in this respect? What are the technologies and what are the youth doing?