Hope Harbour: China’s initiative critical for Zimbabweans youths

Harare:Last week, the Ambassador of China to Zimbabwe, Zhou Ding, visited Dzivarasekwa, capital’s oldest suburbs, to make a donation to a youth empowerment centre, Dzikwa

China has been supporting the centre over the years and donated equipments to a co centre building while it has availed several scholarship opportunities for youths from Through the local embassy, China has ongoing material support for the centre, which young children and adults gain life skills and empowerment as means to escaping social ills.

Support for centres like these has become even more abiding in recent years amid urban poverty and a drug pandemic which is gnawing at the social fabric and putting of the country in jeopardy.

Amb Zhou Ding, accompanied by his wife, Lyu Renhong, then announced an initiative “Hope Harbour”, which is a series of charitable activities aimed at Zimbabweans

While the main focus is charity for underprivileged youths, an important aspect that initiative is based on harnessing the future through involving young people as a dem

The majority of Zimbabwe’s population are young people with statistics saying near percent of Zimbabwe’s population is under the age of 15, and 56.9 percent are betw ages of 15 and 65.

This means that, just like much of Africa, there is a high proportion of young people age of 30 making up over 70 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s population, with Zimbal one of the highest youth proportions. With Zimbabwe’s population projected to conti growing, a steady rate of nearly 2 percent, it means more young people are going to into the stream.

Urban areas account for a huge chunk of young Zimbabweans because of availabilit economic opportunities, leading to rapid urbanization, but then a number of challeng the populace such as unemployment, limited access to opportunities in accessing in education, and healthcare.

However, there are huge prospects of this phenomenon called “youth buldge” as a la population presents an opportunity for economic growth and innovation if empowere education, skills, and opportunities. They, too, will become future leaders involved in decision-making, which could shape the world.

Right time

China’s charitable activities come at the right time, in building a strong bond with Zimbabwean

youth. Already, China has a broad policy to involve youth, in the context of China-Africa relations, which include education activities, cultural exchanges, economic opportunities as well as leadership initiatives.

Zimbabwe has been participating at various forums established by China. Just last month, John Paradza, the Zanu-PF youth leader was among participants at the 8th China-Africa Youth Festival where African youths are seeking more people-to-people exchanges with their Chinese counterparts.

At the festival, young representatives from 52 African member countries of the Forum on China- Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) were invited to experience traditional Chinese culture, engage with Chinese government departments, share experiences in business development, participate in China-Africa youth dialogues, visit historical and cultural sites, and launch the “What Can I Do for China-Africa Friendship” initiative during the weeklong event in Beijing and East China’s Zhejiang Province

This June and July, alone, more Zimbabweans are set to travel to China for exchange programmes targeting young professionals and media. From a cultural perspective, Zimbabwe- China people-to-people exchanges and collaborations are enjoying more convenient conditions with wider platforms, and better policy support.

According to information from the Chinese Embassy in Harare since 2018, approximately 3,000 Zimbabwean students have pursued their studies in China, and over 10,000 Zimbabwean individuals have travelled to China for business and tourism.

At the same time, Chinese companies – themselves a large employment bloc as a function of China being the largest FDI source – are supporting youths gain economic opportunities and have for the past two years run Job Fairs that act as match-making, platforms for businesses and jobseekers. Nearly 2000 Zimbabweans have been employed through the platforms.

Huawei, a large Chinese enterprise in the telecoms sector, has over the years assisting young Zimbabweans with interest in science and technology to explore their interests. Under the “Seeds for the Future” programme, Huawei’s biggest global flagship corporate social responsibility programme, the company helps develop local ICT talent, enhance knowledge transfer, and promote a greater understanding of the telecommunications sector among youths. Huawei launched the first “Seeds for the Future” programme in 2008 to help local ICT

professionals and students fill gaps between theory and practice and master the required skills

in the ICT sector, and its patron is First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa

Last year, during a Seeds for the Future ceremony where 50 participants were inaugurated, Amb

Zhou praised the programme and its potential on Zimbabwe’s youth,

He said: “Digital talents are crucial for fostering the high-quality development of a digital

economy. This programme will continue to serve as an enabler and catalyst for Zimbabwe to attain a digital economy.

He explained: “The programme is designed to provide the youth with an opportunity to enhance their digital technology skills, exposure to cutting-edge innovations and experience cross- cultural exchange. The programme seeks to equip students with ICT skills and prepare them to succeed in the industry 4.0 era.”

Institutionalization

Amb Zhou is championing a well-grounded policy of China to promote African youths, and the joint efforts by China and Africa to build stronger relations between the two sides.

It was in 2015 during the Focac Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa that leaders agreed on a framework to mainstream youth activities.

According to a communique of the summit, the two sides “appreciate(d) the institutionalization of the China-Africa Young Leaders Forum, which serves as an important platform for China- Africa youth dialogue and cooperation”.

The Chinese side undertook to implement the China-Africa youth mutual visits plan, and invite 500 young African to China on study trip each year. The two sides would also take turns to host the China-Africa Youth Gala, annually.

China pledged to continue to sending young volunteers to African countries.

In other youth focused resolutions, the two sides undertook to promote the implementation of the “China-Africa Science and Technology Partnership Plan”, build joint laboratories/joint research centres in the priority fields of common interest, jointly build agriculture science and technology demonstration parks and assist outstanding African youths and technical personnel to participate in exchanges to and training in China.

Finally, Chinese undertook to assist African countries to renovate existing as well as build more vocational and technical training facilities, establish a number of regional vocational education centres and colleges for capacity building in Africa, train 200,000 local African vocational and technical personnel and provide Africa with 40,000 training opportunities in China; help the youth and women improve their employment skills to enhance the self-development ability of Africa.

There are several opportunities that remain untapped in this whole spectrum of activities and undertakings. This means that there is a lot that China and Africa can do with focus on the youth.

One can argue that, apart from the local Embassy and Governments, it is critical to allow Independent Zimbabweans and Chinese youths and businesses to explore various areas of

cooperation and exchanges to speed up closer relations between the in two sides.

number of individuals, organisations and think tanks have brilliant ideas as well as capacity to Implement various projects and it will be prudent for the Embassy build synergies and tap into the ideas of those committed to expanding relations, especially among the youth who are the future.