Inter-Regional Seminar on National Youth Service Programmes

In response to urgent local situations, many African nations have set going special programmes for youth. These programmes—largely a phenomenon of the 1960s—represent a distinct break with customary methods of meeting the needs of youth for civic education, specialised training, and community service. They are administered separately from systems of formal education and do not easily fit within the category of what is usually known as non-formal education and training. Nor do these programmes have much in common with the familiar boys' and girls' clubs of such wide variety, deriving from both kinship and modern influences, which are to be found in African villages, townships, and cities. Most of these national youth service programmes provide facilities whereby trainees can make an organised, disciplined contribution to national development during their period of service. Such service to the nation through work projects may be for a few months or may stretch over a period of one or even two years. Almost all the programmes are rural-oriented. A few cater only for girls and young women. Examples are: Jeunesse pionnière nationale (Central African Republic), Mouvement de la jeunesse (Chad), Action de rénovation rurale (Congo Brazzaville), Service civique (Mali), Formation et production (Tunisia), University Students' Service (Ethiopia), National Youth Service (Kenya), National Youth Organisation (Liberia), Young Pioneers (Malawi), Youth Service (Zambia).