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Speech By
Her Excellency Dr. Joyce Banda
President of the Republic of Malawi
During
The Meeting with Malawi Human
Rights Youth Network
at
Kamuzu Palace
on
Monday, 7th April, 2014.
1
His Excellency Chief Justice
Richard Banda, SC (Retired);
Rt. Hon. Sosten Gwengwe,
Peoples Party Presidential
Running mate and Minister of
Industry and Trade;
Hon. Clara Mary Makungwa,
Minister of Gender, Women
and Children Affairs;
Hon. Enock Chihana, MP,
Minister of Youth and Sports;
2
Mrs. Hawa Ndilowe, Chief
Secretary to the Government;
Dr. Kingdom Kwapata,
President, Malawi Human
Rights Youth Network;
Mahimbo Mdoe, UNICEF
Resident Representative;
Senior Government Officials
here present;
Representatives of Youth
Organisations represented
here;
3
Distinguished Ladies and
Gentlemen.
I welcome you all to Kamuzu Palace
this morning.
It is with great pleasure that I
interface with youth representatives
in my capacity as Head of State and
Presidential Candidate of the mighty
Peoples Party in the May 20
Tripartite Elections.
4
Let me congratulate the organisers
of this function because it will afford
young people an opportunity to
interact with Presidential aspirants
on their plans as regards young
persons in our country.
Young people remain the focus of
my government because we realise
that the youth are in majority,
energetic, adventurous and they
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need support for them to actively
participate in nation building.
Education is an instrument for
empowering the poor, the weak and
the voiceless as it provides them
with equal opportunity to participate
in local and national development.
Education helps to develop the
youth of a nation.
6
Children and youth in general have
been at the heart of my work. This
has influenced my policy perspective
in developing programmes and
strategies in empowering young
people.
Against this background, that the
Peoples Party embraces education
as a tool for the creation and
expansion of human capacities and
abilities.
7
Distinguished Ladies and
Gentlemen,
The youth—those aged between 15
and 35 years—represent a
significant proportion of our
country’s population. Many of them
are unemployed. Many more have
not completed their education. And
indeed those who have gone to
school still lack appropriate training
and skills to help them obtain a
decent job.
8
My Government recognizes that if
we have to realise our vision to
eradicate poverty and create wealth,
we need to harness the potential of
our youth and provide them with the
means and opportunities to fulfill that
potential. Our future rests on their
success. Their future is our
success.
9
Distinguished Ladies and
Gentlemen,
Creating full and productive
employment for our young people is
key to promoting sustained
economic growth and alleviating
poverty.
The most recent Welfare Monitoring
Survey (2011) estimates that youth
unemployment is around 96 percent,
with females slightly higher than
males.
10
Of those that are employed, the
majority, about 81 percent are
engaged in farming where they do
not receive regular salary.
Youth unemployment has dire and
far reaching effects on our economy
as it has negative impact on
productivity and economic growth.
Unemployed youth are more
susceptible to negative influences,
to perpetrate or fall victim to crime
11
and indulge in risky behaviours. It is
no coincidence that the HIV/AIDS
rate among young people is high,
given the strong links between HIV
and AIDS, youth and poverty.
Distinguished Ladies and
Gentlemen
Our country, therefore, needs
innovative strategies and programs
to spur economic growth and
generate enough jobs for our
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growing youthful population. As
government we realize that
education, both academic and
vocational, forms the hub of any
development process and agenda.
Education occupies a central place
in the development of an individual
and is a key investment for society
as a whole. It is an instrument for
economic transformation. It is an
instrument for empowering the poor,
13
the weak and the voiceless as it
provides them with equal opportunity
to participate in local and national
development. Education helps to
develop the youth of a nation.
Against this backdrop, my
government embraced education as
a tool for the creation and expansion
of human capacities and abilities.
14
Distinguished Ladies and
Gentlemen
However, before I turn to the many
youth programmes and initiatives
that my government has put in place
in the past two years let me share
with some of the many initiatives
that I have undertaken in my
personal capacity in the area of
children and youth empowerment.
15
Distinguished Ladies and
Gentlemen
Children and youth in general have
been at the heart of my work. This is
a journey that started more than 30
years ago.
In the area of education, I founded
the Joyce Banda Foundation
schools in Blantyre.
16
Regarded as one of the centres of
academic excellence, the schools
provide high quality education to
children from middle income earning
families. In the area of orphan
education, I established the Joyce
Banda Foundation secondary school
for orphans at Domasi in Zomba.
The school is free and currently has
a total of 200 children.
17
In order to reach out to more needy
students, I established the Edith
Mtila Scholarship Programme that
provides scholarships to deserving
youth. Currently, I am supporting
over 3,000 students at secondary
school level; 200 university students
in all the constituency colleges of the
University of Malawi. I also have
three girls who are pursuing
university education in the United
States of America.
18
This year I am sending a total of 20
students to pursue various university
programmes abroad. Out of these,
10 will be going to Russia to study
medicine; 8 will pursue civil and
mechanic engineering at the
American University in the United
Arab Emirates. 2 will be going to the
United States. The students are with
us this morning and may I ask them
all to stand.
19
You may also wish to know that I run
36 orphan Care Centres across the
currently.
The Centres support well over 3,600
orphans with elementary education.
In the area of youth empowerment, I
established Youth Movement for
Development (YOMODE). This is a
whole programme under the Joyce
Banda Foundation which targets out
of school youth with various
economic programmes.
20
These include the Kabaza Initiative.
Under this programme, we are
providing motor cycles to our youth
both in urban and rural areas. This is
an on-going programme and we
hope to reach out to over 500,000
youth in the next 5 years.
In the area of sports development,
through YOMODE, we have
introduced the K100 million inter-
constituency trophy.
21
This is a sports initiative that is
under way and targets youth both in
rural and urban areas.
Turning to government programmes,
my government fast tracked the
review of the 1996 Youth Policy. I
am pleased to report that the
National Youth Policy was approved
by Cabinet on 8th August, 2013 and
eventually launched by myself on
12th August, 2013.
22
National Youth Policy commenced
without delay and so far a number of
activities have taken place that
includes:
1) Launch of the National Youth
Service Programme on 2nd
November, 2013 in Neno.
The programme promotes
skills development and
agriculture. It seeks to
empower the youth so that
they are economically active.
23
Already, Neno Integrated Youth
Development Centre was
founded on zero waste
concept where products from
one agricultural side is used on
the other. Pilot centres for this
programme were already
identified and include; Neno
integrated Youth Development
Centre, Mikuyu in Zomba,
Mbelwa Farm Institute in
Mzimba, Ntonda in Ntcheu and
24
Hewe in Rumphi. The
programme is expected to
spread out to the remaining
defunct Malawi Young
Pioneers bases.
2) National Youth Policy
dissemination has taken shape
as already the media, District
and town Assemblies have
been made aware of the policy
and their role in the
implementation process.
25
Plans are underway to
disseminate the Youth Policy to
various stakeholders that
include, youth NGOs, Private
sector and faith based
organisations.
3) Youth Enterprise Development
Fund (YEDEF) still remains an
engine for youth's self
employment. Assorted
equipments are provided to the
youth on loan to enable them
26
contribute to the manufacturing
industry. Soft loans are also
provided as this is the key bank
for the youth. My Government
is considering recapitalising the
fund in the next financial year
to enable more youth access
the loan and intensify loan
repayment.
4) In the area of youth
participation and leadership,
my government endeavoured
27
to include young people in
various decision making bodies
that include; High Level
Development Council,
Parastatal Boards; Civil
Service; Cabinet and to sum it
all the appointment of
Honourable Sosten Gwengwe
as my running mate in the May
20 polls. I pledge to consider
more young people in positions
of influence.
28
5) Job experience is vital for our
youth who often times are
denied opportunity of
employment because of lack of
experience. It is for this reason
that my government is working
on National Internship
Programme within the civil
service and after the
completion of vacancy
assessment, we shall be
expanding this programme to
29
target private sector, civil
society organizations and
development partners.
6) Youth health as a right requires
government to take appropriate
steps to ensure the safety of
lives of young people. It is for
this reason that my government
is promoting: sexual
reproductive health;
programmes dealing with the
fight against HIV and Aids,
30
child labour and early
marriages among young
people.
7) In the area of talent
identification and development,
programmes such as
Presidential Initiative on Sports
help to unveil raw talent in
sports which is good for the
development of our junior and
senior national teams.
31
Distinguished Ladies and
Gentlemen
I have moved away from podium
rhetoric to action on the ground. I
regard the youth as leaders today
and tomorrow. It is therefore
important that you get involved in
the development of this country
through your active participation in
all sectors.
32
I am committed to see to it that the
youth of Malawi are the engine for
development. In this regard, I will
endeavour to allocate more
resources to the youth sector. I
would also like to urge all young
people to be proactive.
Distinguished Ladies and
Gentlemen, I thank you all for your
attention!
33