By Joel Phiri & Mercy Botha

Mzimba, June 5, Mana:  Youth Officer for M’mbelwa District Council, Yamikani Nyalugwe, has urged youths in Mzimba to move towards creation of innovative ideas that would translate into business opportunities for them to become self-reliant.

Nyalugwe was speaking in an interview on the side-lines of a meeting held by the Ministry of Youths and Sports on Wednesday to disseminate the country’s National Youth Policy to the district youth technical working group.

“The National Youth Policy, among others, seeks to empower youths to deal with economic challenges by creating an enabling environment for them to achieve sustainable personal and national development.

“We, as a Council, appeal to youths to be innovative to create solutions to most of the pressing challenges facing them such as unemployment,” he said.

Nyalugwe said most youths in Malawi lack opportunities because they are not innovative enough.

“We face many challenges which one can solve by coming up with new ideas. Those ideas can be sold or turned into business opportunities. So, we appeal to youths to embrace innovation as a gateway to success,” he said.

Deputy Director of Youth in the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Kettie Mwandira, highlighted the ministry’s focus on increasing awareness and understanding of the National Youth Policy.

“We are here to make sure that the Council understands the policy and is directed and guided in terms of how to design and implement youth related programs,” she said

Mwandira called for unity in implementing the policy noting that youth issues are cross-cutting and require collective responsibility.

“Youth issues are everyone’s responsibility. We need to work together to realize the goals of the policy,” she said.

The National Youth Policy 2023-2028 aims to empower youths to deal with social, cultural, economic, and political challenges in order to exploit various opportunities towards the fulfillment of their potential.

So far, the policy has been disseminated in six districts, including Mzimba, as part of efforts to promote youth development and participation in national development.

The meeting was supported by Plan Malawi.