The concept of agency demystifies notions of ‘victimhood’ and helplessness, as it denotes the ability and capability of individuals to rise above the constraints of social structures, rules and situations to become vehicles of change. [...] Youth engagement in post-conflict societies: The experience of Liberia From the Soweto uprisings in South Africa to the anti-military protests in Nigeria, to the ‘Twitter revolution’ in Moldova and finally to the ‘Arab Spring’, history has demonstrated that young people are not innocent bystanders of social change, but that they are innovative, creative and ‘agentic’ participants in socio-economic. [...] As bearers of the twofold project of modernity and the return to the sources of African cultures, they were called upon to promote and respect the political and moral obligations of citizenship and of political, social and cultural responsibility, with a view to constructing African democracies. [...] A report by International Alert (2004) discusses how on 14 September 2011, Liberian youths came up with the National Youth Code of Conduct, the preamble of which reads: Whereas, we the young people of the Republic of Liberia, representing the youth wing of various political parties, having closely followed recent incidents of pre and post-election violence in this sub-region and the threats posed. [...] In both the 2005 and 2011 post-conflict elections, the youth parliament played active roles in advancing the agenda of youth participation in politics and generating political dialogue on the engagement of youth and children in national and community development efforts.
- Pages
- 34
- Published in
- South Africa
