Trained youths mobilise their peers to register to vote

Communities` lack of trust in youth capabilities means that the sociopolitical domains are still dominated by older people in Beitbridge and Umzingwane. The situation is further worsened by the fact that young people lack knowledge and information about civic processes. With limited information on their rights to participate and be active agents of social and political change in their respective communities, many youths are not interested to participate in critical spaces where decisions processes take place.

To capacitate young people with skills and information so they can effectively mobilise their peers to take part in sociopolitical activities, CYDT conducted transformational coaching and educational forums in Umzingwane and Beitbridge districts.

These fruitful activities equipped young women and men with skills to successfully carry out campaigns that promoted youth civic participation as shown by a group of youths from the two project areas that initiated a Tell a Friend campaign. The campaign saw trained and determined youths going around their communities, encouraging their peers to register to vote so they can participate in the selection of leaders with the potential to fulfil their mandates.

For the organisation, it was heartwarming to see young people braving the unfriendly political environment to go around public spaces like shopping centres, sensitizing their peers on the importance of registering to vote on their free will.

Determined to make a statement and show they now understand the significance of taking part in civic processes, young people said they were planning to adopt creative strategies to improve voter education among their peers, for instance, they said they were planning to produce plays, songs and poems on electoral processes that will be shared online.

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