By Chilungamo Missi:
African Union (AU) Southern Africa Regional Office Ambassador, David Claude Pierre has challenged youths in Blantyre district to come up with development plans that will uplift their lives than waiting for government to employ them.
Pierre was speaking on Wednesday when he visited Soche Youth Group and Mzati Youth Organisation to appreciate some of the developmental activities which they are doing in their communities.
Pierre said that youths must be given support and encouragement to ensure that they succeed because in whatever they do, the benefits will come back to the community.
“Youths should not just sit down waiting for government to assist them, they need to come up with clear plans of what they want to do, achieve and how they want to do that; based on that, they can use such a plan to seek assistance from relevant stakeholders.
“From what I have seen, youths are concerned in finding solutions to our everyday challenges, but being young and inexperienced, they need support and guidance because if they are empowered, our community, country and continent will succeed,” Pierre said.
He encouraged the youth in the district to remain united saying if they support one another, they can achieve the desired Africa that is integrated, prosperous, and peaceful driven by its own citizens.
Commenting on the same, Blantyre District Director of Education, Youth and Sports, Paul Chimphanda commended the Ambassador for visiting Blantyre district to see how the youth office is working with the youth in rural areas.
He said: “The Ambassador has emphasised on the importance of having a vision of the district in terms of how the youth can participate in the development of the country, this is in line with Malawi 2063 vision which places the youth at the Centre of development.
According to Blantyre District Youth Officer, Gertrude Francisco, the district has 154 youth groups and four youth organisations, all of them involved in socio economic development activities and operating with minimal resources.
The Ambassador interacted with Soche Youth group which is found in the area of Group Village Headman Nasiyaya, Traditional Authority (T/A) Nsomba, and Mzati Youth Organisation situated in Nsombo village, T/A Kapeni.
