Not long ago, I sat in a room with a group of young entrepreneurs. The energy was unmistakable: notebooks open, phones buzzing with business ideas, hands raised before questions being asked were even finished.
One young woman spoke about the small enterprise she was trying to grow. She had the idea. She had the determination. She had already done the difficult work of believing in herself. What she did not have was access — to affordable finance, reliable markets, technical support, mentorship and institutions willing to take a chance on her ambition.
When she spoke, there was no bitterness in her voice, only clarity. “We are not asking anyone to carry us. We are asking for the doors to open,” she said. In that moment, I heard more than the voice of one young entrepreneur. I heard the quiet insistence of a generation that is tired of being praised as the future while being denied the tools to shape the present.
That moment reminded me of many others I have witnessed over more than two decades of working across different country contexts and regional platforms across Africa. I have come to believe something very deeply: young people are not the problem to be solved; they are the power we have too often failed to recognise.
I have met young people in classrooms when I was a teacher, refugee settings, community halls, innovation spaces, government consultations and peacebuilding forums. I have listened to young women who wanted nothing more than a fair chance to learn, work and lead. I have met young men determined to rebuild communities that conflict had fractured. I have seen young entrepreneurs with no collateral, little capital and enormous courage. Again and again, they have reminded me that youth empowerment is not about giving young people a voice. They already have one. It is about whether those of us in positions of authority are prepared to listen and to act.
Too often, however, we reduce youth empowerment to small gestures: a training workshop, a policy dialogue, a competition, a youth day celebration, a photograph with young leaders on a stage. These moments may inspire, but they do not transform. Training alone is not enough. Consultation without implementation is not enough. Funding without skills is not enough.
Innovation without market access is not enough. Youth empowerment works when these pieces are connected into an ecosystem that allows young people to move from ideas to enterprises, from informal activity to decent work, and from participation to leadership. Transformation begins when young people are no longer treated as beneficiaries of development, but as builders of nations.
One of the greatest mistakes we make is to confuse presence with power. A young person seated in a conference room is not necessarily empowered. A youth representative invited to speak after decisions have already been made is not necessarily included. A consultation without resources, accountability or follow-through can quickly become a performance of listening rather than an act of shared leadership.
Context matters. The dream of a young entrepreneur in Lesotho, the struggle of a young woman in rural Kenya, and the courage of a young person rebuilding life in post-conflict Somalia are connected — but they are not the same. Good policy begins with humility that listens before it designs; studies lived reality before it imports models and recognises that young people are not a category - they are citizens with different histories, identities, talents and barriers.
Youth empowerment is economic policy. It is not charity; it is not public relations; it is not a soft social agenda. When young people are locked out of productive work, affordable finance, land, procurement opportunities, technology and value chains, countries lose innovation, tax revenue, social cohesion and hope. When young people are enabled to create, trade, employ and lead, economies become more dynamic and societies more resilient.
Youth empowerment must be feminist in its ambition. Young women continue to carry invisible burdens — unpaid care work, safety concerns, limited access to finance, digital exclusion, harmful social norms and fewer pathways to leadership. We cannot celebrate youth empowerment while leaving young women at the margins. When young women are educated, financed, protected, mentored and trusted, entire communities move forward.
Voice must be tied to power. Youth councils, advisory boards, innovation hubs and civic platforms must not be decorative. They need mandates, resources, feedback loops and influence. A youth voice that cannot shape budgets, policies and institutions becomes symbolism. A youth voice connected to decision-making becomes governance.
Mentorship can change the direction of a life. It is more than advice; it is the transfer of confidence, discipline, networks and courage. Every institution serious about youth empowerment should treat mentorship not as an optional extra, but as part of its development infrastructure.
Based on these lessons, if Africa is to turn its demographic reality into a demographic dividend, we must stop treating youth empowerment as a series of disconnected projects.
What keeps me hopeful is not the perfection of our systems; it is the persistence of young people. I have seen them rise in places where opportunity was scarce. I have seen them organise where institutions were weak. I have seen them innovate where resources were limited. I have watched them carry dreams far bigger than the support available to them.
That is why I believe the burden now rests with leaders, institutions and societies. We must stop asking whether young people are ready. Many already are. The more honest question is whether we are ready — ready to share power, ready to finance ambition, ready to redesign systems, ready to be challenged, and ready to accept that the future will not wait for our comfort.
Africa’s youth are not merely the leaders of tomorrow. They are already building businesses, questioning injustice, shaping technology, defending communities, creating culture and imagining better governments. Our responsibility is to ensure that they do so with opportunity rather than exclusion, dignity rather than desperation, and partnership rather than tokenism.
Jacqueline Saline Olweya, Ph.D., is the Resident Representative for the UNDP in Lesotho
