Introducing the Intergenerational Dialogue between Leaders and Young People
Last Thursday (22 July 2021), in the framework of the African Union Youth Program’s weekly YAPOS Talks, UNESCO, ICESCO and the AU joined forces to hold a successful virtual information session dedicated to explaining the ‘whats’, ‘hows’, and ‘whys’ of youth engagement in the next Biennale of Luanda – “Pan African Forum for the Culture of Peace in Africa”.
Carrying on the 12 engagements for the promotion of the culture of peace adopted by youth during the Youth Forum in the first edition of the event, the African and Afro-descendent youth will continue to play an important role in the Biennale of Luanda’ second edition, scheduled to happen in a hybrid format between 4-8 October 2021.
During his introduction to the session, PAYNCoP’s Vice Chairperson Yannick Agboka highlighted that young people’s collective commitment is essential for the mission of fostering a lasting culture of peace and advancing innovation for social change in the African continent, “because you have the creativity, the potential and the capacity to make a difference – for yourselves, for your communities, and for the rest of the world.”
This year, 150 young active leaders from 18-35 years old, coming from all 54 African countries and beyond, will be selected to engage with high-level leaders and participate at the Biennale of Luanda Intergerational Dialogue, which theme will be “Cultural and Heritage Diversity of Africa and its Diasporas: Fireside of Conflicts or Ground of Peace?” In addition, they will be actively participating in the Thematic and Good Practices Forums as well as in other key moments of the event. It is not an opportunity to be missed – no wonder why more than 1300 people showed up to the information session to listen to previous participants’ experiences and learn about how they can take part in the upcoming opportunity.
The two-hour session was conducted by representatives of some of the greatest African youth networks, like PAYNCoP, CEYAD, the African Union Youth Program, among others, in a co-effort with UNESCO, ICESCO and AUC. In addition to addressing all the necessary and relevant information to the application and participation in the initiative – namely the criteria, the modalities, the thematic areas and the program details – the session also featured the inspirational testimonies of two young leaders who participated in the first edition of the Biennale of Luanda.
Last but not least, the information session also featured a fun moment of interaction between the speakers and the audience through a guessing game on African personalities, providing a sneak peek of the networking and collaborative environment to be soon experienced by the participating youth in the Biennale of Luanda.