Nasser Fellowship Alumni Attends SADC Parliamentary Forum

Godfrey Jnr Malongo, A Malawian young leader working in health advocacy and democratic governance attended the SADC parliamentary forum’s regional meeting on women’s political participation and promotion of gender equality. The meeting brought together members of parliament, electoral commissions forum of SADC countries, women and law in Southern Africa, UN women and civil society organizations and young people.

The platform provided an opportunity for young people to address and highlight the issues in the region in regards to youth participation in politics and development specifically the limited efforts to accelerate youth leadership in politics and gender equality. Representing young people from the Southern Africa Region and Malawi, Godfrey said “the Parliamentary Forum has made significant progress to ensure that young people are a part of decision-making bodies, political processes and development avenues”.

Hassan Ghazaly, the founder of Nasser Youth Movement echoed a statement in regards to youth participation saying "as young leaders, it should always be our goal to penetrate into spaces of making decision to ensure that we are heard as young people and as a movement, it is great to see our leaders in such spaces".

Young people were given an opportunity to contribute to strategy development of the region and provide interventions that will accelerate young women’s political participation and gender equality in the SADC region and in their respective countries with the region, having just an average of 23.2% of women's political representation in leadership and elective positions across the SADC countries. Supported by other regional organizations including SRHR Africa Trust and the SADC Youth Forum, Godfrey and other young leaders in the region will continue to engage the General Secretary of the SADC Parliamentary Forum and other leaders to ensure that strategies are corresponding to issues young people face in the region.