The United Nations (UN) official theme for International Youth Day 2025 – “Local Youth Actions for the SDGs and Beyond” – highlights the unique role of young people in translating global ambitions into community-driven realities and recognises that:
– Young people are critical development partners and their participation in local planning and decision-making is indispensable
– Youth priorities must be integrated into local and regional strategies and decision makers must partner with youth organisations to advance this effort
– When local governments and other decision makers make space for innovation, mentorship and civic engagement, they not only accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, but they also nurture upcoming community leaders and changemakers
As the global discourse around youth participation in formal governance structures progresses, this webinar is aimed at critically examining:
– Aspirations and expectations of young Africans
– Views on governance
– Civic and political participation
– Youth unemployment and the desire to migrate
Format of the webinar
The 90-minute webinar will take place on 29 August 2025 at 1:00pm GMT
Welcome and opening remarks (10 minutes)
· Introduction by the moderator
· Brief opening remarks from organizers
Presentation of Afrobarometer Round 10 findings from 35 countries (15 minutes)
· Overview of key trends on Afrobarometer findings on the aspirations and expectations of young Africans, their views on governance, civic and political participation, and critical issues such as unemployment and migration.
Panel discussion (40 minutes)
Q&A session (20 minutes)
· Interactive session with audience participation
· Panelists respond to questions from attendees
Closing remarks and call to action (5 minutes)
· Summary of key takeaways
· Call to action for continued engagement and advocacy
· Closing remarks
Topics to be discussed
Youth unemployment and educational attainment
● Examining why African youth continue to be unemployed despite being educated, and strategising on innovative solutions to overcome this conundrum.
Barriers to employment
● Discussing the barriers youth face in achieving economic independence, from a possible lack of adequate training or preparation to mismatches between their academic qualifications and job requirements.
Government performance
● Analysing young people’s assessment of their government’s performance on national priorities, understanding what direction they believe their country is headed in, and discussing their understanding of their personal living conditions.
Political participation
● Examining youth’s participation in elections and other civic and political activities.
Emigration
● Assessing the extent to which young people consider leaving their countries, and understanding their reasons for leaving.
Youth aspirations
● Understanding young people’s most urgent policy priorities, their preferred job sectors and where they would like to see the government direct additional investment to help youth.
Speakers
Asafika Mpako, Afrobarometer’s Communications Coordinator for Southern Africa
Asafika is Afrobarometer’s Communications Coordinator for Southern Africa. She specialises in policy influencing, particularly in sharing research findings through non-academic communications outputs such as blog posts, press statements, television, radio, and other media, enabling local and international stakeholders to make informed programmatic decisions, and to generate and evaluate policy interventions.
Her professional and academic experiences span four continents – Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. She launched her career as a Global Education Intern in the Emerging Global Leaders Internship Program at the World Affairs Council in Washington, D.C, and her policy studies have taken her from Cape Town to Beijing to London, and more recently to Oxford and Bridgewater Massachusetts.
Asafika is also a Mandela Washington Fellowship alumna and has been featured in the London Financial Times on the global list of 2023 Women of the Future, 50 Rising Stars in ESG. This is an initiative, in association with Tesco, that highlights trailblazing young women working across all industries, geographies and sectors in ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance).
Bupe Lughano Kabaghe, Founder, Abana Afrika Foundation
Bupe is a governance and development professional with a strong track record in policy research, stakeholder engagement, and youth empowerment. With experience across Africa, the UK, and the US, she specialises in designing and delivering impactful initiatives that drive social change, inclusion, and sustainable development.She has an MSc in Global Governance and Diplomacy from the University of Oxford, and her work focuses on Global Environmental Governance and the Political Economy of Institutions. As the Founder of Abana Afrika Foundation, she has developed and delivered programs that empower youth with leadership, advocacy, and personal development skills, impacting over 450 young people. In previous roles, including as a Parliamentary Intern at the UK House of Commons and Sponsorship Coordinator for the Oxford Africa Conference, she has cultivated strong relationships with policymakers, civil society organisations, and community leaders.
Baba Abdullahi Machina, Community Engagement Manager, Spotlight for Transparency and Accountability Initiative
Abdullahi is a political scientist and democracy advocate currently pursuing an MSc in International Relations (Strategic Studies) in Nigeria. His work focuses on democracy, public sector reform, and promoting youth and women’s participation in political leadership.
He serves as the Community Engagement Manager at the Spotlight for Transparency and Accountability Initiative, where he leads programs to mobilize citizens, monitor public service delivery, and strengthen civic demand for accountable democratic governance.
Abdullahi is a 2024–25 ONE Champions Africa Fellow and a member of the AU-EU Youth Activist Chapter, a joint advocacy initiative of the ONE Campaign. In this role, he contributed to strategic policy recommendations aimed at influencing high-level decisions ahead of the 2025 AU-EU Summit.
He is an alumnus of the YALI Regional Leadership Centre in Accra and the African Civic Engagement Academy (ACEA), an online program hosted by the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development at the University of Georgia, where he received training in civic engagement, nonprofit leadership, and public policy.
Abdullahi previously served as a U-Monitor with the UDEME Project at the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), and has held fellowships with HumAngle and the Open Contract Reporting Project of the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) Abuja. He is also a graduate of the Yiaga Africa Community Organizing Institute.
Arame Gueye Sène, Director, Social Change Factory
Arame Gueye Sène is a socio‑economist, award‑winning social entrepreneur, and the co‑founder and Executive Director of Social Change Factory, which operates across West and Central Africa. She also serves as Vice President for Inclusion and Social Justice at the Consortium Jeunesse Sénégal. Passionate about youth leadership, gender equality, and community‑driven development, Arame is committed to empowering African youth to shape their own futures.
Irma Maringo, Head of Programmes, Africa Youth Trust in Nairobi
Irma is the Head of Programmes at Africa Youth Trust, where she leads transformative initiatives in youth leadership, civic engagement, gender equality, and economic empowerment. With nearly a decade of experience in youth development and policy advocacy, she champions youth-led development models that empower young people to shape governance, advance social justice, and drive sustainable change. She also serves in a central coordinating and liaison role within the East Africa Youth Network (EAYN), where she has been instrumental in elevating youth voices in regional policymaking processes within the East African Community (EAC). Her work bridges grassroots action and policy influence, positioning young people at the heart of Africa’s development agenda.
Moderator
Mandipa Ndlovu, Governance researcher and development policy analyst
Mandipa is a governance researcher and development policy analyst whose research and consulting experience extends to working with governments, think tanks, intergovernmental organisations, and within academia. As a multipotentialite, she uses her networks and knowledge, to connect multi-sectoral, and multi-level stakeholders, across regions for impactful change on the African continent. She serves on the youth sub-committee of the Ibrahim Index Advisory Council for the Mo Ibrahim Foundation which works to assess the effectiveness of the Ibrahim Index for African Governance (IIAG).
Mandipa is also a doctoral researcher at Leiden University where her research is focused on the political economy of urban governance and its developmental futures in Africa. She is also a visiting researcher at the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for African Studies and an adjunct lecturer at the Netherlands Defence Academy in The Hague. Her broader research interests and publication record cover African governance and development, civil-military relations, trauma and memory analysis, futures forecasting, post-conflict and authoritarian state transformation, peace and security.