The African Youth Foundation is an independent funding organ of The Youth Cafe for empowering youth to take charge of their lives by giving them necessary opportunities.
We seek to create African-based, youth-led cooperation activities that pursue long-term impact and positive change for African Youth. Our activities are aimed at supporting the award of small grants to innovative ideas in coordination with pilot dialogue and engagement mechanisms led by young people.
Our activities seek to benefit over 4 million youth aged 16 to 35 years across the African continent with special emphasis and attention to all genders, various minorities and marginalized groups such as youth with disabilities, refugees, youth in informal settlements etc.
Our target groups seek to ensure that most youth in Africa can have their voice heard regardless of their backgrounds or cultural and traditional affiliations, considering the rich African cultures within the continent. With that in mind, our target groups are: .
Youth from all spheres of life, including secondary school and higher education students and graduates,
Youth from communities in urban, rural, and hard-to-reach areas,
Youth from underrepresented and marginalized groups
Youth with disabilities and youth of all identities,
Youth leaders and grassroots, national, and regional youth-led organizations, networks
Youth diaspora organizations and networks
Refugee youth
We envision that the outcome of our activities will lead to an increase in youth-led initiatives within the continent. That our activities will result in 4 million highly empowered youth actively contributing to the African Youth Foundation mandate, fostering mutual understanding within the African continent thus contributing towards the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Our interest in targeting youth was informed by the demographic survey, which indicated that Africa has the youngest population in the world, with 70% of sub-Saharan Africa under the age of 30.
Such a high number of young people is an opportunity for the continent’s growth – but only if these new generations are fully empowered to realise their best potential. It is crucial that young people are included in decision-making and given appropriate opportunities for work and to innovate.
Involving young people in politics and society is not merely a question of inclusion but one that is vital for economic growth, innovation, peace and security.
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