The third and last Stakeholder Workshop of the African German Youth Initiative in the African pilot countries took place in Johannesburg, South Africa from 24 to 26 of July 2017. The Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) invited various stakeholders to the workshop, including government representatives from South Africa and Germany as well as representatives of the African Union (AU) and the two AGYI cooperation partners from the pilot countries Benin and Tanzania: the Young Beninese Leaders Association (YBLA) and the Tanzanian Youth Coalition (TYC).
Like the two other stakeholder workshops held in Benin and Tanzania in 2016, the goal was to strengthen stakeholders and build the African partner structure in the three AGYI pilot countries.
Prudence Ngwenya Nonkululeko, Head of the Youth Department in the AU and Phetole Seodi of the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), presented the AU and the South African government's positions. They emphasized the political will to support the AGYI goals. At the same time they called to identify strengths and weaknesses within the partnership.
The alumni representation of ASA, ENSA and weltwärts evaluated the exchange experience mainly positively. They noted, however, that more should be done for the participation of volunteers from the Global South. With more offers of preparation seminars and follow-up workshops the exchange will be better structured and supported in the future.
All participants in the workshop agreed that for a better partnership between the African countries and Germany, the dialogue should continue in the future. Therefore, concrete areas should be defined in which the UN sustainability goals can be implemented, with a focus on goal 17 of partnership-based cooperation. It is important to take into account the local conditions and needs in the pilot country South Africa and to improve the quality of youth exchanges between Germany and South Africa sustainably.
