admincountry operates (including challenging demands from citizens, improving the health sector, new technologies and shifting population demographics).
The critical question is “Will those plans succeed?” In this rapidly changing environment where key questions are of time and finance. Be it as it may, the success of any plan hinges on two variables. The first, being whether the plan is sound “the right strategy for the country and the environment”.
The second being implementation: “Does the senior leadership team have the talents, drive, energy, speed and willpower needed to be successful in the changing environment?” More often than not, the failure of any country in the world to succeed is not always a failure of strategy, but a failure of implementation. As strategies and tactics change, to address issues in this changing environment, senior management teams need to partner with new competencies and fresh minds in order to respond effectively.
To effectively cope with today’s changing environment there has to be a focus in creating a place for youths in leadership. Young people need to know that they are partners with their seniors and each young person need to feel like an individual in a great team, rather than a cog in a lifeless machine.
Youths of this country have the competencies, knowledge, education and training requirements needed for leadership. What’s lacking, however, is the opportunities, mentorship and platforms to exercise their strengths and abilities.
President Kikwete of Tanzania at the World Economic Forum in 2010 was asked a question: “What can Africa do to nourish the future generation of its political leaders?” In his response he said “It is through building trust and faith in young people, giving them the opportunity to learn the ABC’s of leadership. It is in giving youths a chance to exercise responsibility at the level that they can manage”.
The place for young people in leadership must be created yes but let us always remember, with leadership comes power, control, authority and influence. In order to embrace this opportunity that exist within the corridors of leadership, I believe youths have to also prove that they can be trusted with “power”; they have to exhibit that they can take “control” and not abuse it.
Young people have to show and convince the public that through mentorship they can manage “authority” well and put “influence” to good use. As much as we have young people who still need to learn and develop, I also belief we have youths with the ability to think with an “enterprise”, an ability to recognise threats and opportunities, young Individuals who are masters at assessing both the internal and external environments in which our country is revolving in and then develop a vision and a strategy that can steer us to greatness.
This set of young individuals surely deserve the public trust, they deserve an opportunity to work out their full potential for public consumption. On the topic, the future of Zimbabwe in 2010 after the Global Political Agreement our leaders where asked this critical question; How are you going to allow young people to be leaders and be active in the economy?
In response Professor Arthur Mutambara said young people must be risk takers, Prime Minister Tsvangirai spoke on the need to have broad based empowerment and President Mugabe spoke about the need to educate young people, equip them with skills and empowering them through indigenisation. From their responses one can see that the willpower to empower young people is there.
So what then is lacking? In my opinion what’s lacking is the effectiveness in the implementation process. We need to identify and deal with these elements that courses stagnation and act as hindrances to positive, progressive implementation of sound policies and ideas. I believe in every sector of our economy there is a place and a space for young people to occupy.
These constructive, progressive, initiatives need to be taken seriously and implemented; senior leaders in deferent sectors need to begin to develop trust and belief in their young people. As ridiculous as it may sound North Korea believes in its new leadership of Kim Jong Un and have even gone on to announce that in 2006 and 2009 North Korea trusted Kim Jong Un with spearheading nuclear testing, as it added to a growing personality cult that portrayed the young son of the late leader Kim
Jong Il as a confident military commander. Kim Jong Un is a youth who is believed to be in his late 20s and his quick rise to leadership have spurred questions in foreign capitals about his readiness. North Korea has dismissed such worries in recent days, saying Kim Jong Un worked closely with his father on military and economic matters.
The young man is described as “fully equipped” with the qualities of an extraordinary general and he has been trusted to lead a country with 24 million people and a nuclear program. Giving a blind eye to critics of North Korean policies and focusing on the support that Kim Jong Un is currently enjoying, the young politician is doomed to succeed. He has the support, trust, opportunity and belief of the people that matter the most (his own constituency).
If our own young man and women can be availed the same opportunity in whatever capacity, if they can be entrusted with responsibility, I believe they can perform. One area the government has clearly done well was giving the Zimbabwe Youth Council leadership to young people. Following desolation the Council goes through an elaborate process of reconstitution in which the Council in terms of its Act (Chapter 25:19) chooses a new Board.
In terms of the Act, the Zimbabwe Youth Council comprises 15 members. Of these eight including the chairperson are youths appointed by the Minister responsible for youth after consultation with the President and seven are elected by national youth associations registered with Zimbabwe Youth Council.
To this end all registered national associations are invited to actively participate in the election process to ensure a significant and meaningful representation of the young people’s voices in this omnipotent Council in so far as championing the needs of young people is concerned.
Initiatives like these encourage young people to become active participants in nation building and in policy formulation processes thus as a result a partnership between government and its young people is established and cultivated.
Let us also remember youths are not merely “inadequate” or “undeveloped” adults but have strengths and abilities unique to their developmental stage and when exposed to support and opportunity they will deliver. Through constant support young
people are productive by default and are able to develop their own footprint over time and become key players in the economy.
Online Reporter