2020 is a busy year, ten (10) years left to achieve the set goals and targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – Decade of Action, the Five Year Development Plan II (FYDP II) is gearing to an end, and five (5) years left to end the National Development Vision, Vision 2025. This is the perfect time to stock take on the promises made to young people in these national and international development frameworks, and discuss and recommend innovative ways to empower Tanzanian youth as key actors in the implementation of these three (3) frameworks.

This year, the National Youth Symposium – one of our biennial flagship events, aims to connect young people in Tanzania with these issues through inspiring dialogue and action on effective and progressive inclusion of young people in decision making and improved social, economic and livelihood standards.

This two-day event will inspire high-level dialogue and action between youth, youth stakeholders and policymakers in Tanzania; come up with concrete actions, and initiate policy recommendations for the next national development plan – the FYDP III, the remaining years of the Vision 2025 and the Decade of Action. Furthermore, the symposium will focus on contributing to the progress in the realization of SDGs Goal 1 – End Poverty, Goal 5 – Gender Equality, Goal 8 – Decent Jobs, and Goal 10 – Reduced Inequalities. All this will be done through engaging activities such as panel discussions, thematic workshops, breakout sessions and presentations.

The panel discussions are subdivided into 2 categories; the High-Level Panel that will reflect on the industrialization promises to the Tanzanian Youth and the Youth Expert Panel that will steer the discussion on youth as the main drivers in building resilient economic growth in Tanzania.

Regarding the workshops, they are categorized into 3 groups with the following themes “The Industrialization Promise”, “Beyond Farming” and “Waking up from sleep” respectively. The first group will talk about Youth Tangible contribution in Industrialization, the second group will touch on how Agriculture can be used to achieve SDG 8, and the third group will focus on how to take advantage of regional blocks for Tanzania Youth Economic Prosperity.

The breakout sessions will enable youth to learn about Technology, Agriculture as well as Cross-border business and trade. And the presentations will reflect on lessons learned from the breakout sessions.

Finally, young people in Tanzania are highly encouraged to take part in this symposium as it will offer them a platform to chip in their recommendations for the socio-economic good of the country.