This post is written by Sulemana Abubakari, Deputy Director of Power of Ghana’s Ministry of Energy, and Clement Quaye, a former EPL fellow who worked under Mr Sulemana’s supervision and is now a full-time civil service staffer.

* **The context:** There is a lack of African youth engagement, representation, and participation in public service.

* **The problem:** Civil service suffers a reputation of having too much bureaucracy and red tape, which turns away bright young professionals.

* **Why it matters:** African youth is driving innovation, economic growth, and change in other areas of African society, and they are tomorrow’s leaders.

"Lack of adequate youth representation in government isn’t simply a question of imbalance; it also has practical implications for policy-making and its impact on African society."

Africa is demographically the youngest continent in the world. The median age in countries like Nigeria and Uganda is below 16, while young people between 15 and 24 years account for roughly 20% of the continent’s total population. However, young Africans do not have or exercise proportionate participation in government. As a result, their views are not adequately represented and taken into consideration in the policy-making process. The median age of African heads of state is 62; less than 15% of members of parliament in African countries are younger than 40, and young people remain underrepresented in Africa’s civil service.

This lack of adequate youth representation in government isn’t simply a question of imbalance; it also has practical implications for policy-making and its impact on African society, particularly for young people. One example is internet censorship, which many African governments are increasingly embracing as a tool to supposedly “protect state interests” when in fact, it only serves to limit the rights of citizens to freely express themselves. The internet is used entrepreneurially for e-commerce, customer relationship management, blogging, among other creative endeavours. Hence, the impact of such censorship extends to the economic fortunes of Africans.

In 2020, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the deadliest pandemic in living memory, access to the internet and social media was restricted in at least eight African countries, making it difficult to access timely health information needed to protect against the virus. As digital natives, such decisions to limit online access disproportionately affect Africa’s young population, who are also better placed to intuitively understand the ramifications of such decisions on businesses and organisations that run on and are enabled by access to the internet and virtual networks.

"Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation now ranks third behind the United States and Russia in the value of transactions generated with cryptocurrency."

African youth is critical for innovation

Traditionally, policy-making and important decisions within African governments tend to be skewed towards older African citizens — “digital immigrants” — who often feel threatened by technological tools they do not fully understand. Moreover, most remain unwilling to engage with or listen to those arguably most affected by public policy decisions and best placed to understand such technologies — young people. For instance, officials in charge of monetary policy in countries such as Ghana and Morocco immediately discouraged the use of emerging blockchain technologies for decentralised finance, such as cryptocurrencies, without attempting to understand their potential. However, we have since seen Nigerian youth, for example, leading the way globally in the adoption of these new forms of digital currencies. As a consequence of youth-initiated technological adoption, Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation now ranks third behind the United States and Russia in the value of transactions generated with cryptocurrency.

While barriers for young people in African politics persist, there are other ways to engage young people in public sector governance and to ensure they have pathways to become public service leaders now and in the future. Initiatives like the Emerging Public Leaders Public Service Fellowship program, which we are a part of, are critical. The program recruits smart and motivated university graduates into a public service fellowship and sets them on a path of a lifelong career in the civil service. As a current Fellow and supervisor respectively participating in the program, we’ve witnessed firsthand how empowered and capable young professionals sitting in decision-making rooms as financial analysts, information technology specialists, and civil executives can generate new ideas, challenge backward policies, spur innovative thinking, and help implement new systems. Emerging Public Leaders Fellows understand that their role is to bring a fresh perspective, make a difference, and find solutions to problems.

Engagement and intergenerational knowledge sharing

The civil service suffers from a reputation of having too much bureaucracy and red tape, making it far from the top career choice for most bright young professionals. But it is the most critical institution for the delivery of public services and the development and implementation of government policies. Organisations like Emerging Public Leaders are increasing the prestige and appeal of working for the government by recruiting promising young professionals from college and promoting a culture of professionalism.

A key component of the programme is its strong emphasis on mentorship and training. By sharing their knowledge and experience, mentors and supervisors play a key role in cultivating the skills and talents of young professionals to help ensure that they understand the public sector. They also ensure that the young leaders’ perspectives are taken into consideration in the decision-making process, so they can affect change as soon as they enter public service. They help create the kind of professional satisfaction that motivates Fellows to make a long-term career commitment.

"Engaging and recruiting young people who show leadership qualities like honesty, integrity, and the capacity to accept and tackle challenges, is a crucial first step."

With longstanding institutional systems and rules, it can be challenging for young professionals to navigate and affect change in government. Supervisors and mentors help young professionals navigate the change management process to successfully adapt and bring about change. Mentors and supervisors also serve as objective soundboards who can provide unbiased advice to young professionals. Through this intergenerational exchange, older generations of public service leaders and established professionals help train and bring about the next generation of African leaders.

The need to engage young people in Africa is urgent and has gained importance in public debates in recent years. There has also been a paradigm and generational shift. Whereas young people used to be expected to simply obey and follow rules, young Africans today are seen as parties who should express their opinion. Recent surveys have shown a growing apathy among young people as they contend with high unemployment rates and limited economic opportunities. One of these surveys shows that young people in Africa are less likely to attend community meetings or join a political party relative to older populations. Still, compared to older folks, young Africans are 50%more likely to participate in organised protests. Therefore, in addition to initiatives that place youths in the civil service and steps that seek to actively engage them as stakeholders in society, African governments have to take measures to foster and earn the trust of young people.

To do so, leaders must become more accessible to young people, more responsive to their needs, and demonstrate full accountability and transparency in the execution of their jobs. Engaging and recruiting young people who show leadership qualities like honesty, integrity, and the capacity to accept and tackle challenges, is a crucial first step.

Africa’s young population offers the promise of leaders with the potential to help bring about social, political, and economic change. However, many barriers still stand in the way of translating Africa’s youth potential into new ideas, economic growth, and development. Actively engaging young Africans is the first key step to achieve the aspiration of transforming our continent’s human capital into wealth and prosperity for all its citizens. With its emphasis on recruiting talented young professionals and intergenerational mentoring, programs like Emerging Public Leaders offer a fast track approach to turn our youth into the leaders of tomorrow. Young people need to understand they have an essential role to play, and mentors and supervisors currently working in government are the ones that can encourage them to speak up, create a space for them at the table, and show them how a career in government can bring them satisfaction.

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