Ghazaly participates in the development of the continental strategy for youth employment, "YES Africa."
The anthropologist researcher Hassan Ghazaly, an expert in youth policies, culture, media, and sports, participated in the YES-Africa continental meetings, an abbreviation for "Youth Employment Strategy for Africa." These meetings were organized by the African Union in collaboration with the International Labor Organization, August, in Lusaka, Zambia. They were attended by a diverse group of leaders from the African Union Commission, the International Labor Organization, and government representatives from various African countries, including Alexio Musindo, the ILO Country Director for the Horn of Africa and Special Representative to the AU and ECA, Sabelo Mbokazi, Head of Division of Labour, Employment and Migration of the Department of Health, Humanitarian Affairs, and Social Development, AUC, and Daniel Adugna, Youth Development Lead at the Women, Gender, and Youth Directorate, AUC, as well as Jonas Baush, a youth employment specialist at the International Labor Organization for Africa.
Ghazaly stated that the YES-Africa conference aims to develop the "African Strategy for Youth Employment" along with its main components and areas that require further work. This is achieved by defining the core principles and standards for addressing youth employment issues in Africa, taking into consideration input from youth across the continent. He emphasized that the active discussions resulted in innovative solutions and proposals for best practices to significantly enhance decent work. Furthermore, he pointed out that the forum highlighted the potential of youth-led initiatives in advancing the efforts of governments, social partners, and other stakeholders.
The meetings also stressed the importance of youth commitment to the youth employment strategy in Africa and the need to implement its actions at the national levels within African countries.
Ghazaly added, explaining that the documentation and adoption process of the strategy is expected to go through several steps. These include aligning the strategy with the key guidance documents and frameworks of the African Union and the International Labor Organization. It involves leveraging the ongoing work to review the measures taken in the field of youth employment by both the African Union and the International Labor Organization in Africa. He emphasized that a comprehensive review of the International Labor Organization's interventions in the field of youth employment in Africa is one of the most important steps in documenting the strategy. This is in addition to conducting an objective assessment of youth employment activities through the Next One Million Youth Initiative of the African Union.
Ghazaly concluded by affirming that both the African Union Commission and the International Labor Organization were keen, during the meetings, on ensuring that the voices of youth from diverse backgrounds were heard to appropriately incorporate their recommendations into the strategy. They also expressed their commitment to generating millions of job opportunities for young people in the coming years, following the vision of the African Youth Charter and the Next One Million Youth Initiative, which aims to create 300 million opportunities in the fields of employment, entrepreneurship, education, participation, and health for African youth by the year 2023. He noted that these recommendations will be used as inputs in the consultations and development of YES Africa, as well as the African Youth Empowerment and Development Roadmap for the period from 2024 to 2030.
It's worth noting that Ghazaly previously participated as an international policy expert in the formulation of several continental documents, most notably the "Code of Conduct for the Continental Union of Volunteers" (CVLPAU) in July 2023. Additionally, he was involved in crafting the "Framework Document Defining the Role of Youth in Peace and Security" in November 2020. In the same year, in October, he contributed to developing the framework document for youth and volunteering within the African Union.
