Post-2015 MDGs inspired youths to be agents of change last March 29 in Bamenda.

“The Future We Want: Post 2015” was topical during a football match in Bamenda, organised on March 29, 2014 by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to highlight visibility around Post-2015 outcomes and the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for Cameroon which respond to the future aspirations of youths.

Coming on the heels of recent national consultations on the Post-2015 MDGs, the Bamenda event featured warm-up sessions through Rap songs and humour by local artists as well as messages from youth leaders on the way forward to future and better leaders. The friendly and exciting football match that opposed mixed teams of boys and girls from four colleges in the neighbourhoods displayed team work, indicative that men and women equally count in achievements. It was against this backdrop that the UNDP Resident Representative, Najat Rochdi prescribed the empowerment of youths for the latter to become veritable agents of change at local, communal, social and economic levels. She stressed collective responsibility to hear and give youths a voice, to respond to their expectations and to address their needs. Najat Rochdi challenged youths to rise to expectation as citizens that the nation needs to emerge; the human capital who will build sustainable development; youths who stand by vales, social justice and equity while being smart leaders of tomorrow.

While acknowledging that emergence in 2035 will be impossible without the involvement of youths, North West governor, Adolphe Lele Lafrique, saluted the UN for efforts that take youths towards achieving MDGs. It emerged from the event the country has only made progress on education which focuses on primary school enrolment rates and gender parity in primary school. Recent Post-2015 consultations prescribed a new development vision focusing on health, education and training, employment and environmental protection.