LEAP Africa, in partnership with Dow and other technical partners, recently concluded the third edition of the Pan African youth-led social impact campaign – Youth Day of Service (YDoS) 2022- across various African communities. The week-long campaign with the theme – Youthful and Useful – kicked off with a pre-event press conference in Lagos and was activated between Friday, 12th – Saturday, 18th August 2022.
During its activation, youth across the continent came out in large numbers to accentuate the strength and possibilities of their agency in actualising a sustainable future through volunteerism and community service. With much confidence and unity of purpose, every young person who participated in the initiative had one sentence to convey their message – “We are Youthful and Useful”.
Through a partnership with Dow Africa – as a headline sponsor – LEAP Africa was able to mobilise over 5,000 young people across 34 African countries to champion and implement projects including tree planting, school painting, food drives, beach cleaning, digital sensitisation, medical outreach, prison outreach, etc. The projects led by individuals, corporations, public and social sector organisations were aligned with the seventeen United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs).
Sami Mainich, Managing Director, Dow Northern and Western Africa, and Chair of Dow Africa Steering Committee, in his comments expatiated on the goal behind Dow’s partnership with Leap Africa: “Dow recognises that the future is created by what is done today through empowerment, collaboration, and deliberate investments in the communities we live and work in.
“As global citizens, we believe in dedicating our time and talents to challenges and opportunities that connect science, people, and community across the globe to achieve our envisioned world built on human creativity, innovation, and problem-solving.
“This is achievable only when the youth are empowered to realize their full potential. As such, we partnered with Leap Africa on the Youth Day of Service campaign to develop and support solutions that spark positive change and builds resilient, sustainable communities”.
At the end of the week-long project implementation, about 620 projects and over 5000 volunteers were registered via a dedicated portal from 34 participating African countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, Algeria, Sierra Leone, Mali, Niger, Madagascar, Ghana, The Gambia, Cameroon, Uganda, South Sudan, and South Africa.
The purpose of the Youth Day of Service campaign continues long after the annual celebration of International Youth Day. There are so many ways to continue participation as an organisation or an individual. You can initiate a project, sponsor or fund a project, or volunteer for an existing project either as an individual or staff of an organization.
