Description/achievement of the project

Voice Africa's Future (VAF) was an agenda2030 youth initiative of The Youth Café in partnership with African Monitor running in 10 African countries through partner organizations to ensure that SDGs implementation process is sustainable, specific, measurable and visible for the next 30 years and beyond. VAF started in 2012 as a post 2015 youth consultation initiative building up to the adoption of SDGs. VAF collected over 77,000 youth aspirations called “Key Asks” for the new development framework. These asks fed into the formulation of national development plans and SDGs country drafts informing the regional discussions and the SDGs open working group.

Implementation methodologies

The Youth Café and African Monitor, led the resource mobilization and trained youth champions and their country team leaders to equip them with needed skills, information and knowledge to mobilize fellow youth, gather information required on various policies and SDGS/National Development Plan implementation process as well as doing the monitoring of the implementation process. The local partners in the 10 African Countries in liaison with The Youth Café regional liaisons officer drew country VAF plans and oversaw daily activities of the VAF champions as well as held quarterly multi-stakeholders high level policy dialogues to disseminate information, share SDGs/National Development Plan implementation updates highlighting opportunities, gaps and recommendations as well as national progress shadow reporting.

Arrangements for Capacity-Building and Technology Transfer

The initiative collected, analyzed and used data collected from the various national Development Plans/SDGs stakeholders to track the progress, identify gaps and make recommendations/present a case. From time of initiation, the initiative used mobile phone based SMS technology and on-line platforms to collect information, disseminate it and as well as make a case through the recommendations and petitions to pressurize stakeholders and governments to raise their ambitions of achieving SDGs in sustainable, measurable and tangible ways that uplift the quality of life and rights of ordinary citizens. There was also the use of multi-stakeholders’ dialogues and webinars with country teams, prominent policy persons, government officials and key stakeholders.

Coordination mechanisms/governance structure

Voice Africa's Future (VAF) was an initiative of The Youth Café and African Monitor running in 10 African countries through partner organizations who identify/voluntarily recruit VAF youth champions who volunteered for 24 months. The youth champions selected among themselves a country team leader who links with the African monitor regional liaison who was charged in liaison with partner organizations to train country teams, transfer information, knowledge and skills, guide and oversee their work and held multi-stakeholder high level policy dialogues.