Youth play a vital role in DRC's accession as a YEN Lead Country and the NAP development

Alice MIRIMO KABETSI, President of YWCA – DRC, tells her story of Congo’s accession as a YEN Lead Country. Alice has been involved in youth participation and development since graduating from the University of Kinshasa with a degree in Law in 2001. She also practises law in several areas, including human rights. Many of her clients are victims of sexual violence and HIV/AIDS.

“In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), youth represent one of the most marginalized sectors of the population. Of the 58 million Congolese, 25% are between 15 and 35 and 28% are of these youth are unemployed. Long years of civil war, a dysfunctional education system, a weak private sector and the absence of national policy on employment and professional training has lead to this dismal situation. As a young, educated Congolese woman with plenty of motivation, I realised that I could make a difference in young people’s lives. In 2004 I became President of the Young Women’s Christen Association (YWCA) and so began the journey to make DRC a Lead Country of the YEN.

It was in 2004, at YWCA-DRC’s participation in the World Bank’s Youth, Development and Peace conference in Sarajevo that I first heard about the YEN’s Lead Country process – an initiative calling on Countries to dedicate themselves to the development of National Action Plans (NAPs) on Youth Employment. To raise awareness on the issue, we informed all of the key stakeholders of the Lead Country process in our country including the President of the Republic and his Ministers, the World Bank, the United Nations, the United Nations Development Programme and all of the national youth organizations. A year later, with input from all of the stakeholders, we came up with a project for the development of the NAP and held the first ever meeting of the YEN – DRC.

YEN-DRC and YWCA continued to lobby the government for accession to the YEN. On May 22, 2005, our cries were finally heard when the President signed a letter to the UN Secretary General requesting our country to become a YEN Lead Country.

Since that time I have been heavily involved in the drafting of DRC’s NAP on Youth Employment including the coordination of the Youth Consultative Group. The Youth Consultative Group is responsible for youth inputs on the NAP development process alongside the Government, UNDP and ILO. Since that time the Youth Consultative Group has been restructured and Ms. Rachel Mubake has become its leader.

In November 2008, DRC’s NAP on Youth Employment was finalized as part of the Poverty Reduction Strategies to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The NAP lays out 4 priority areas of action namely employability, entrepreneurship, equality and employment creation. It also sets out a timeframe of action of 3 years (2009 – 2011) and has thus far raised a budget of 4 545 000 USD. YMCA-RDC and the Youth Consultative Group continue play a role of partnership broker between the youth associations, the policy makers, donors and international organizations.

I recently have taken up a role in the Office of the Minister of Employment, Labour and Social Affairs as coordinator of international cooperation. In this capacity I will be responsible for mobilize the additional resources to allow for successful implementation of the NAP in DRC.”

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