Even Rome Didn't Fall in One Day

So often we focus on the creation of something without much thought as to how we can sustain for a longer period whatever it is that we are creating. Yes we have all heard the saying,

Rome wasn't built in one day...

Well neither did Rome collapse in one day either. It took years of minimal mismanagement through what was said to be building efforts for the Roman empire to come to its knees. Every little ounce of inefficiency was adding to the eventual bigger and overwhelming collapse. The underlying thoughts of this point were raised by Dr. Kjell Nordstroem (see yesterday's article: Facebook Not Sex) in reference to capitalism today and its recent fallen bigger players like General Motors and Lehman Brothers to mention a few.

However where am I going with this you might be asking? What has youth development in Zimbabwe got to do with the fall of the Roman empire, the folding of big companies etc? Well the message is clear, is our myopic and inefficient approach to youth development as a country and as a continent (Africa) to a larger extent compounding to that inevitable collapse of youth development structures in our country? What structures I hear you ask...well believe it or not these structures are there in some places albeit in accessible to the majority of youths. Earlier this week I mentioned the economic down-turn which has brought the plight of young people in our country even closer to our attention. However as we race to 'rebuild' Zimbabwe as so often lamented by the ' lets rebuild Zimbabwe' brigade are we taking into account the youths who yesterday were so often marginalised but yet today are sought after as part of the solution for a better Zimbabwe.

So I call upon all that are putting an effort into the building of Zimbabwe (the Rome so to say) not to sideline some of the important issues facing youths today. We might feel we have cracked it as a nation and are on a road to recovery, but aren't we putting unecessary effort into something that will eventually collapse as we are not putting the necessary effort in the right places.

We have a populace of educated youths, willing and able to take up opportunities, lets create these opportunities for them.

In its building efforts of youth development structures, CIYDA has opened itself to working with all entities that see the bigger picture and would like to avert that seemingly unavoidable collapse. CIYDA has also committed the meagre resources that are trickling in to establishing that contact with youths and acknowledge the developmental concerns that they have.

For more information on CIYDA & its efforts please don't hesitate to contact us info@ciyda.org or visit us at www.ciyda.org

Disclaimer: - Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information supplied herein from other websites, CIYDA cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions. Unless otherwise indicated, opinions transferred from other websites and expressed herein are those of the author of the ORIGINAL article and do not necessarily represent the views of CIYDA, CIYDA Executive Director, CIYDA Team or CIYDA Associates.

What is CIYDA
Contemporary Indigenous Youth Development Africa (CIYDA) is a non-profit organisation founded in 2008 and is based in Harare, Zimbabwe. CIYDA is working to develop and empower the youths of Zimbabwe for the benefits of the nation and Africa as a continent through the use of new media, information technology and networking amongst other things. Through these drivers, CIYDA aims to facilitate an information hub and service provision in the areas of Business Start-up, Social & Cultural Integration, Socio-economic Mentoring and Volunteering. Through current globalisation trends and dispersion of Zimbabwean youths, CIYDA currently has a network connection of approximately 500 Zimbabwean youths in many countries amongst them, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, United Kingdom, United States of America, Australia and Canada.

Facebook Not Sex: The “Funky Business” Guy...

It is rather astonishing to learn how far social networking online has come and how it has changed our approach to life and doing simple things like E-mailing etc. For instance, one can mobilise support for a cause or advocate for various issues at the click of a button. Many getting the satisfaction and artificial ‘high’ as I would like to call it, from having multiple networks and contacts on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Ning only to mention a few. I suppose one could go as far as saying the kind of satisfaction you would expect from sex.

No folks, this is not a class in Sex 101, therefore we will reel you back in

“Facebook has become so relevant in our lives and giving us somewhat more satisfaction than sex...”

These were the words of Dr. Kjell A. Nordstroem. Dr Nordstroem is ‘enfant terrible’ of new world business, ranked 13 in 2007 by Thinkers 50, author of many number 1 selling books including Funky Business: Talent Makes Capital Dance, which ranked at number 16 in Bloomsbury survey of the best business books of all time, with the book being featured on CNN, CNBC, in Fortune, FT etc.

For someone who is not easily alarmed by such claims I must say this caught me unaware, just as much as it did many other participants at this year’s MACE/MScom conference in Lugano Switzerland. However you gradually understand where Dr Nordstroem was going with this.

Many by default or perhaps through their own choosing find themselves in that situation to the extent of agreeing with what Dr Nordstroem was claiming. Far from it being just a claim this was actually derived from an official study carried out.

CIYDA Says: We were obviously on the right path when we sought to bring Zimbabwean youths to network more amongst themselves. By going beyond that border of immediate friendship it is undoubtedly that we will influence someone else’s life through the positives we bring in networking, after all one author said, “Learn what you need, share what you know...”.

If this means many youths are not pursuing unrealistic sexual endeavours and spending their idle time on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Ning etc. that’s undoubtedly and added bonus to be commended. Perhaps we wouldn’t have had the case of the students at Chinhoyi University of Technology that we commented on last month.
CIYDA has identified social networking sites amongst other tools as platforms that will shape the way we engage and harness youth initiatives.

Yes we still have a long way to go for our endeavours to reach full maturity but we can guarantee those influential in many institutions that in Zimbabwe that, yes give youths condoms with their health concerns at heart, and yes as well as those computers, but they will undoubtedly get more usage and lasting satisfaction from the latter.

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Disclaimer: - Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information supplied herein from other websites, CIYDA cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions. Unless otherwise indicated, opinions transferred from other websites and expressed herein are those of the author of the ORIGINAL article and do not necessarily represent the views of CIYDA, CIYDA Executive Director, CIYDA Team or CIYDA Associates.

What is CIYDA
Contemporary Indigenous Youth Development Africa (CIYDA) is a non-profit organisation founded in 2008 and is based in Harare, Zimbabwe. CIYDA is working to develop and empower the youths of Zimbabwe for the benefits of the nation and Africa as a continent through the use of new media, information technology and networking amongst other things. Through these drivers, CIYDA aims to facilitate an information hub and service provision in the areas of Business Start-up, Social & Cultural Integration, Socio-economic Mentoring and Volunteering. Through current globalisation trends and dispersion of Zimbabwean youths, CIYDA currently has a network connection of approximately 500 Zimbabwean youths in many countries amongst them, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, United Kingdom, United States of America, Australia and Canada.

Knowledge Tool for Youth Networking & Development

It is not so long ago that CIYDA launched the concept of a ‘Knowledge Center’. The main idea was to build on a library and links on helpful knowledge material by the youths and for the youths of Zimbabwe. This would have been a reference point not only for business start-up, but for, mentorship, volunteering and for social & cultural integration issues. CIYDA created a platform that helped you catch your own imagination.

CIYDA went even further when we suggested in partnership with the Ministry of Youth and Zimbabwe Youth Council, the now postponed Zimbabwe Youth Development Festival. This would have been an opportunity to bring those with the tools & resources, public sector and private sector alike, together with the youths. The CIYDA director of volunteering, Munyaradzi Takawira, even went further into mooting the consolidating of these ideas and what we already have in our platform into creating a more diverse knowledge center.

In line with its information hub objectives, CIYDA would go on to create a knowledge and expertise hub to allow youths amongst themselves to provide much needed valuable services in collaboration with experts in different fields. CIYDA will go a long way into acting as an incubator for this project hence our effort into making this one of our central projects for 2010.

Having in the last week or so attended a workshop by the former head of Knowledge Management at Swiss Re, I felt this was a great potential. Mr Martin Eppler argued simply the need to create not only the cyber knowledge and information network but also that feel and touch and interaction physically. He was saying what we had already been thinking and how it had been successfully been implemented by an organization of Swiss Re’s calibre.

With the support of our prospective partners both in public and private sector, we are looking to turn this into a viable project for the coming year.

Disclaimer: - Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information supplied herein from other websites, CIYDA cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions. Unless otherwise indicated, opinions transferred from other websites and expressed herein are those of the author of the ORIGINAL article and do not necessarily represent the views of CIYDA, CIYDA Executive Director, CIYDA Team or CIYDA Associates.

What is CIYDA
Contemporary Indigenous Youth Development Africa (CIYDA) is a non-profit organisation founded in 2008 and is based in Harare, Zimbabwe. CIYDA is working to develop and empower the youths of Zimbabwe for the benefits of the nation and Africa as a continent through the use of new media, information technology and networking amongst other things. Through these drivers, CIYDA aims to facilitate an information hub and service provision in the areas of Business Start-up, Social & Cultural Integration, Socio-economic Mentoring and Volunteering. Through current globalisation trends and dispersion of Zimbabwean youths, CIYDA currently has a network connection of approximately 500 Zimbabwean youths in many countries amongst them, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, United Kingdom, United States of America, Australia and Canada.

Moving Away from Helplessness to Empowerment: What Clinton Said Next

It is a well-known fact that we pick up some of life’s useful advice and developmental tools in the most unusual format and places. For CIYDA we have looked to establish various innovative ways of harnessing all the necessary information and tools to be a successful youth organization in delivering services to the Zimbabwean youths.

For this I was in Sankt Gallen, a Swiss Canton in the German speaking part of East Switzerland about a week or so ago when I had the privilege of sitting in an address by the former President Bill Clinton. The charismatic statesman was at the opening of the Center for Disability and Integration.

For me it was the mere opportunity to seek some form of inspiration from a former president of Mr Clinton’s stature, somewhat a rare opportunity to say the least.

Despite the occasion having an underlying theme of disability, it was the message that I went on to extract out of the theme and what former President Clinton said,

"shift from a system of helplessness to a system of empowerment, and to change the attitudes of society about how we should see the potential of people and how much we need to develop that potential."

It is undoubted that knowledge is power, not just the academic type, but that also of being informed. I argue that this prevents one from falling into that lull of artificial ‘disability’. In my mother tongue Shona they say, “Kusaziva kufa...” or literally translated to, “not knowing is acute to being dead...” Although I know as Zimbabwean youths we haven’t reached that stage of death yet, it is true to say many opportunities are going unclaimed and where they are being taken on, they are not being fully exploited. It is not to say we are not being proactive, but we have grown accustomed to a way of doing things whereby youths sit and watch and contribute minimally from the periphery of society. It had to take a near economic collapse to spur most of us into action.

However, in mitigation, there have been other external factors to the limitations. Both corporate and governmental entities need to step up and work effectively towards remedying this slow walk towards the ‘grave’.

Majority of the youths want to do something with their efforts. If there are no opportunities there can be put in place skills attaining workshops, volunteer opportunities amongst other things, which can be pursued in the meantime. Yes companies are reeling from economic down-turn, and feel engaging in extensive corporate social responsibility or any other activities that don’t bring immediate returns is not worthwhile at the moment. And yes the government is operating on tight budgets in all its ministries. However lets take the positive out of these situations and look upon it as period to take stock of where we have come from and where we need to go. Corporate organizations can engage youths just leaving education and those that have been idle for long. Access what is out there already in terms of talent and opportunities to be natured. When that economic upturn is upon us, we have already a willing and able youth populace to sustain the rebuilding momentum.

This article couldn’t have come at a better time with the current spate of xenophobic attacks on Zimbabweans in South Africa yesterday. Most of those affected are undoubtedly young Zimbabweans who have crossed the border in search of a better life. A better life is not living hand to mouth but seeking sustainable financial security for one and their loved ones. This in itself should be a wakeup call for our influential to harness the very educated youth populace that we have and is sipping out of the country. Lets create opportunities for them to stop the mass exodus. For those that are remaining lets get them actively engaged at various levels of development. After all we don’t want them falling into that lull of artificial disability.

Disclaimer: - Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information supplied herein from other websites, CIYDA cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions. Unless otherwise indicated, opinions transferred from other websites and expressed herein are those of the author of the ORIGINAL article and do not necessarily represent the views of CIYDA, CIYDA Executive Director, CIYDA Team or CIYDA Associates.

What is CIYDA
Contemporary Indigenous Youth Development Africa (CIYDA) is a non-profit organisation founded in 2008 and is based in Harare, Zimbabwe. CIYDA is working to develop and empower the youths of Zimbabwe for the benefits of the nation and Africa as a continent through the use of new media, information technology and networking amongst other things. Through these drivers, CIYDA aims to facilitate an information hub and service provision in the areas of Business Start-up, Social & Cultural Integration, Socio-economic Mentoring and Volunteering. Through current globalisation trends and dispersion of Zimbabwean youths, CIYDA currently has a network connection of approximately 500 Zimbabwean youths in many countries amongst them, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, United Kingdom, United States of America, Australia and Canada.

Youth Development: Affordable and Well Prepared Meals Just Not Enough

It is always a sad indictment for a society and educational institutions alike, when most of what they can offer to counter sexually transmitted diseases (STIs) amongst youths is an affordable and well prepared meal. It was with great distress that I read an article in this morning's Herald regarding an upsurge in student STIs at one of the institutions of higher education in Zimbabwe.

In response to questions regarding steps the university is taking in addressing the upsurge in STIs, Mr Musekiwa Tapera, director of marketing and public relations said, "The University was providing affordable and well-prepared meals to discourage students from seeking recourse to sugar daddies and mummies."

Undoubtedly students need an affordable and well prepared meal in order to see them through those grueling days of study, after all some us are were students recently and others still are, hence we can relate to what Mr Tapera said.

For the record,CIYDA commends the university in going some way in providing a nutritious and affordable meal for the students. However that in itself is not enough to see to it that students stay focused and do not engage in unproductive and self destructive extra-curricular activities.

In a previous post on this Blog CIYDA pointed out a few measures that governments can take in tackling idleness amongst youths by giving them an alternative that is paramount to their self-development. Amongst some of the suggestions were, engaging in business enterprise competitions with awards to viable projects as well as cost-paid voluntary activities within the community. The former gives youths an opportunity to explore their potential in different areas, after all, the sky is not the limit but one's scope is the limit. The latter will see youths putting their spare time into activities that enrich them socially while also gaining skills useful to them at a later stage in their lives as well as for employment. CIYDA understands that such initiatives don't happen overnight and will take a concerted effort from governments, educational institutions and NGO's alike.

In exoneration for Mr Tapera and the institution in question they have initiated other remote intervention initiatives such as STI workshops and most strikingly scholarships for students, although not known in what capacity.

In its current draft for 2010 youth engagement strategies and furthering its advocacy work for youth development, CIYDA is looking not only to have greater visibility in universities around Zimbabwe but also a greater impact. CIYDA will work to establish points of contact through its regional delegates that will work with youths in universities to promote productive projects such as business enterprise, volunteering and social and cultural activities. This is in conjunction with CIYDA's respective departments, namely, Business Start-up, Social & Cultural Integration, Youth Mentorship and Youth Volunteering.

Although far from being the remedy to increasing cases of STIs amongst youths, CIYDA is confident this will go a long way in keeping youths busy and involved in things that they not only enjoy but those that are central to their general development.

In an effort to realise maximum positive returns from this institution initiative, CIYDA will continue to listen and work with corporate and governmental organisations that share in our plight of youth development and want to contribute their resources. After all, a healthy and well-rounded youth populace will in the long run prove invaluable to both entities.

Disclaimer: - Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information supplied herein from other websites, CIYDA cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions. Unless otherwise indicated, opinions transferred from other websites and expressed herein are those of the author of the ORIGINAL article and do not necessarily represent the views of CIYDA, CIYDA Executive Director, CIYDA Team or CIYDA Associates.

What is CIYDA
Contemporary Indigenous Youth Development Africa (CIYDA) is a non-profit organisation founded in 2008 and is based in Harare, Zimbabwe. CIYDA is working to develop and empower the youths of Zimbabwe for the benefits of the nation and Africa as a continent through the use of new media, information technology and networking amongst other things. Through these drivers, CIYDA aims to facilitate an information hub and service provision in the areas of Business Start-up, Social & Cultural Integration, Socio-economic Mentoring and Volunteering. Through current globalisation trends and dispersion of Zimbabwean youths, CIYDA currently has a network connection of approximately 500 Zimbabwean youths in many countries amongst them, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, United Kingdom, United States of America, Australia and Canada.

Youth Development: Looking Beyond the "Money"

I was reading some posts on the CIYDA Facebook discussion board and decided to comment on one of the discussions which was started a few weeks ago.

One of the members commented on how young people have to build a foundation as things change for the better in Zimbabwe as there is a lot of money to be made.

CIYDA Says: It is true that Zimbabwean youths have to step up to the plate and be part of the decision making process in building a strong and sustainable foundation. CIYDA is leading the way in advocating for youth development initiatives making sure youths are never again marginalised in Zimbabwe as they are the future.

However lets not be myopic in looking at this as just an opportunity to make a quick buck as things change for the better in Zimbabwe. In an article in the newsletter a few months back we pointed out the need for sustainable initiatives.

At CIYDA we want an environment that is conducive to long term success for youths. An environment where youths can be successful in anything they set their minds on without being constrained by externalities which we can work hard to change today.

For more on CIYDA's initiatives visit our website or get intouch (info@ciyda.org) if you want to get involved or have any innovative ideas to youth development.

Disclaimer: - Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information supplied herein from other websites, CIYDA cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions. Unless otherwise indicated, opinions transferred from other websites and expressed herein are those of the author of the ORIGINAL article and do not necessarily represent the views of CIYDA, CIYDA Executive Director, CIYDA Team or CIYDA Associates.

What is CIYDA
Contemporary Indigenous Youth Development Africa (CIYDA) is a non-profit organisation founded in 2008 and is based in Harare, Zimbabwe. CIYDA is working to develop and empower the youths of Zimbabwe for the benefits of the nation and Africa as a continent through the use of new media, information technology and networking amongst other things. Through these drivers, CIYDA aims to facilitate an information hub and service provision in the areas of Business Start-up, Social & Cultural Integration, Socio-economic Mentoring and Volunteering. CIYDA currently has a network connection of over 500 Zimbabwean youths in many countries amongst them, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, United Kingdom, United States of America, Australia and Canada.

Information Communication Technology for Youth Development

St. Gallen, Switzerland, October 09, 2009 - "The youth are really the generation we are talking about when we address the issue of ICT..." were the words of the President of Zimbabwe during the current TELECOM World 2009 Conference in Geneva Switzerland.

In light of the just ending Information Telecommunication Union's TELECOM World 2009 conference I recall an article that I published on this blog in July called, "Africa: Investment in Technology to Attract Youths & for Development". In this article I pointed out in line with CIYDA's effort the need for Zimbabwe amongst other African governments to develop Information Technology (IT) platforms for youths.

With IT at the heart of CIYDA's initiatives in youth development in Zimbabwe I took time out to follow proceedings at the conference in Geneva through various forms. I was quite eager to find out what the Zimbabwean delegation had to say about IT development and how it is paramount for youth development in Zimbabwe.

CIYDA welcomes the President’s effort in highlighting youths as one of the main reasons why IT is crucial not only for their development but to bring Zimbabwe as well as the whole continent at par with the rest of the world in IT use. It is true, in the article published in last month’s CIYDA Newsletter, how young people are acquiring more developmental tools from harnessing postive elements from the Internet etc.

As encouraging as such insights are it is easier said than done and it will take a lot of concerted effort from within Zimbabwe and outside Zimbabwe to bring the youths on board to harness the importance of IT in their long term development. Governments can only do so much and organisations like CIYDA can also only do so much in providing funds and initiatives respectively on the ground. At a similar gathering of the Information Telecommunication Union (ITU), in December 2003, the President of Zimbabwe said,

Mr. President, long after we have talked about the need for information and communication technologies as tools with which to contrive the information society, we are soon to discover that receivers and computers are powered by electricity which is unavailable in a typical Third World village. Long after we have talked about connectivity, we are soon to discover that most platforms for electronic communication need basic telecommunication infrastructure which does not exist in a typical African village.

What is worse, we will discover, much to our dismay, that the poor villager we wish to turn into a fitting citizen for our information society, is in many instances unable to read and write. Where we are lucky to find the villager literate and numerate, we soon discover that he or she is not looking for a computer terminal but for a morsel of food; an antibiotic to save his dying child; a piece of land on which to eke out an existence, in short, looking for a humane society that guarantees him food, health, shelter and education.

Despite the evident challenges highlighted in the statement above, CIYDA as a youth development advocate, through IT will continue striving to act as a youth information hub in all aspects of development for young people. This is in such areas as Business Start-up, Social & Cultural Integration, Volunteering and Mentorship. Through innovative and inclusive approaches son to be boosted by the current restructuring exercise within CIYDA, that will see delegates at regional level we aim to make a grass roots difference for ALL Zimbabwean youths by bringing them onboard to share in our developmental initiatives. We are confident with the continued right support internally and externally our initiatives will reach fruition. Sometimes it’s the small things that make a difference. As one writer once said, “It’s not about where you’re from but where you’re going that matters...” and at CIYDA we are confident we’re headed for better things as Zimbabwean youths.

Disclaimer: - Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information supplied herein from other websites, CIYDA cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions. Unless otherwise indicated, opinions transferred from other websites and expressed herein are those of the author of the ORIGINAL article and do not necessarily represent the views of CIYDA, CIYDA Executive Director, CIYDA Team or CIYDA Associates.

What is CIYDA
Contemporary Indigenous Youth Development Africa (CIYDA) is a non-profit organisation founded in 2008 and is based in Harare, Zimbabwe. CIYDA is working to develop and empower the youths of Zimbabwe for the benefits of the nation and Africa as a continent through the use of new media, information technology and networking amongst other things. Through these drivers, CIYDA aims to facilitate an information hub and service provision in the areas of Business Start-up, Social & Cultural Integration, Socio-economic Mentoring and Volunteering. CIYDA currently has a network connection of over 500 Zimbabwean youths in many countries amongst them, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, United Kingdom, United States of America, Australia and Canada.