The Youth Café At The Voluntary National Review-Voluntary Local Review Workshop.

Voluntary National Review is a strategy based on the 2030 Agenda: Member states to "conduct regular and inclusive reviews of progress at the national and sub-national levels, which are country-led and country-driven. Like the 2030 Agenda of participation, The Youth Café strives for global connection, has reached over 72 countries, and is a local and national rope for achieving goals. The Youth Cafés principles are a call to action for governments, civil societies, private and public sectors, bi- and multilateral, and knowledge institutions. To invest in mutual prospects and work in partnership for sustainable development.

The VNR-VLR Workshop monitors the progress of programs implemented to the local and national level, indicates a successful trajectory, and comes up with better solutions if unsuccessful upon identification and case studies of causes. This strategy also stems from the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD) and Economic Commission for Africa (ECA under UNECA) following the need to fulfill the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063. To prioritize aspects of; nurturing potential with acceptance and opportunity, public money spending, connecting people through the internet, global investment in peace, breaking the vicious cycle of corruption, free and fair elections, and equality.

In line with The Youth Cafés objective, the VLR promotes discussion at the regional level, including the African Regional Forum and social organizations like The Youth Café on Sustainable Development. At the high-level political forum, there is the Voluntary National Review. Its process facilitates the sharing of good practices, success stories, and shared challenges. It helps draw stakeholders to resources that can potentially address those challenges in mobilization to advance the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063. Integrating local and national review mechanisms held on the 1st and 2nd March 2022 improves accountability, transparency, and public ownership of the implementation of the two agendas.

COVID 19, as of now, is still variant, causing impending changes, shifts and creating and causing challenges impending SDGs achievement. Either way, without prejudice, COVID 19 has not brought up most challenges and problems but has brought them to light and attention. This cuts across taxation and public money spending, youth opportunities, education system structure, health system, to include others. Even in this period, we, stabilized by The Youth Café should address these issues for the long term to eventually achieve the SDGs.

The Youth Café gives opportunities to learned youth to train and offer them guidance and skills applicable to make them eligible for job opportunities, connecting them with particular recruiting organizations. The Youth Café also runs as a hybrid network for convenience; partial physical and virtual or 'working from home, strategy. We also work for environmental preservation with a deliberative focus on ecological and climate change.

The Youth Café recognizes and strengthens stakeholder engagement, hence aiding in the functioning and achievement of the vision and mission of The Youth Café. It's Africa's strategy to enable raising funds, necessitate and build standard strategic plans to harness growth to and all in all while maintaining a good relationship with the global community as within ourselves.

Throughout the years, The Youth Café practices frameworks and mechanisms adopted to promote the implementation of 2030 and additionally 2063 Agenda. Our focus is to seed real, lasting, systematic change for young people in Africa. Our approach is by rigorous evidence of impact and our values of efficiency, transparency, and respect. In its 10 years of work, The Youth Café has successfully implemented and completed over 50 projects in its engagement, has over 120 collaborations with organizational partners, and has a reach of over 52 countries. The Youth Café has intense input towards Agenda 2063.

The Youth Café seeks to give a lasting systematic change in various areas. The Youth Café helps address Universal Health Coverage, Education through skills and technology, gender equality by incorporating gender equality in our project activities, business, job creation, and entrepreneurship, especially for the youths, environmental preservation and climate change, peace and security; local and international and advocacy for good governance.

The Youth Café is keen on promoting peace and inclusivity in societies for sustainable development, providing access to justice, and building effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels, achieving goals 13, 14, and 19 of Agenda 2063. Peace, security, and stability preserved a stable and peaceful Africa and Africa as a significant partner in global affairs and peaceful co-existence, respectively.

Over the years, The Youth Café has worked towards these targets by increasing advocacy on preventing violent extremism through media platforms and raising awareness on the gaps between political intentions and realities, increasing advocacy for the protection of displaced young refugees' access to essential services. Additionally, we have an enabling environment for active participation and meaningful engagement by the young people and encourage exercising their civic rights and responsibilities in society. But also promote changes in the legal and regulatory framework to ensure that young people, especially the 'undocumented,' 'unbanked,' and poor, are not further disenfranchised.

Here at The Youth Café, we work to achieve goal 12 of capable institutions and transform leadership levels in our thematic area of focus on governance, and political inclusion. We increase advocacy for political stability and good control to ensure a transparent, democratic, and accountable environment while also fulfilling Agenda 2063, that Africa takes full responsibility for financing its development.

The Youth Café seeks to achieve Agenda 2063 goal three aimed at resultant healthy and well-nourished citizens. The Youth Café has prioritized Universal Health Coverage. It accomplishes this by providing access to information, and healthcare young people need; knowledge on sexual behavior, perception of the risks of contracting HIV, the need to resist forced sex from partner(s), and drug use. Furthermore, we increase attention to young people's well-being and mental health by providing ongoing psychological support through formal interventions and programs. Our approach also emphasizes marginalized, disadvantaged, and excluded groups such as women and children.

Environmental preservation and Climate Change is a thematic area of focus here at The Youth Café. It means that we correlate with goals 6 and 7 of the plan, which we are keen on helping to achieve. The Youth Café increasingly has literacy programs regarding climate change and platforms where young people can actively engage in environmental challenges. We advocate for the enhancement and use of technology to develop solutions and spread awareness. Therefore, we seek to reach the developing countries' marginalized communities to engage in climate action and encourage investment in the blue economy as part of our plan.

Education, skills, and technology are other of The Youth Cafés top goals. The Youth Café creates opportunities for young people to develop employability skills and competencies, including numeracy and literacy, soft skills like critical thinking, communication skills, digital/media literacy skills. Ability to take on future challenges and opportunities in society while increasing their adaptability in the fourth industrial revolution era and access high-quality job opportunities. In line with the Agenda 2 of 2063 on quality education targeting access to education, skill enhancement, and later creation and eligibility to job employment.

A thematic area of focus for The Youth Café is Business, Job Creation, and Entrepreneurship. It entails creating a business incubation program and a start-up capital to support the young people with great business ideas and provide them with training/ mentorship opportunities to leverage and generate self-employment and job opportunities. Achieving goal 4,' Transformed Economies and Job Creation.'

Aspiration 6 of Agenda 2063 calls for "An Africa, whose development is people-driven, relying on the potential of African people, especially its women and youth and caring for children." Therefore, this requires a more inclusive society that The Youth Café fulfills. It is part of The Youth Cafés principles that projects are rooted in gender equality and women's empowerment and addressed through concrete, tangible and measurable elements.

The Youth Cafés projects contribute to the implementation of relevant African instruments, thus African Cultural Renaissance and Pre-eminence, aspiration 16 of the plan. Following Agenda 18 of nurturing Engaged and empowered Youth and Children, The Youth Café supports youth talents. In correlation, we invest in socio-economic stability and sustainable development through cultural entrepreneurship and the creative economy spanning various creative industries such as music, performing arts, theater, film, video, and photography.

The ultimate aspiration is that The Youth Café supports young people across Africa to access opportunities through innovation and acts as a heartfelt reminder of the continent's potential.

The Youth Café works with young men and women around Africa as a trailblazer in advancing youth-led approaches toward achieving sustainable development, social equity, innovative solutions, community resilience, and transformative change.

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