The above was one of four recommendations by participants at a high level dinner under the auspices of the Mano River Union (MRU) in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone held in New York recently.
At the dinner, the participants organized an interactive discussion on the catalytic role of Youth Empowerment in the Ebola Recovery Process, highlighting key interventions required for building resilience, supporting recovery and reaping a longer term demographic bonus.
They also recommended that the opportunity of implementing the national recovery plans should be explored for positioning each country to reap a demographic bonus working in synergy through the MRU while fully engaging youth at national level.
The participants, in their recommendations, indicated that policies and programs that address the socio-economic challenges of young people, especially sexual and reproductive health and rights of young girls, must be implemented to scale up access to services and information.
“Overall the rights of young people, especially young women and girls, must be guaranteed by the duty bearers to facilitate sustained progress in national recovery and equitable societies,” they concluded.
They made the recommendations against the backdrop that young people make up a substantial and growing percentage of the population in the affected countries, adding that they had been challenged by a range of social and economic issues well ahead of the Ebola virus disease epidemic.
According to the participants, young people, particularly girls, have been affected quite severely by the EVD, further compromising their capacity to resist the current and forthcoming challenges.
The interactive discussions concluded that young people continue to remain a critical component in the delivery of results of the national recovery plans, calling on UNFPA and other UN agencies to collaborate with them through the MRU, in a well-coordinated regional approach to deliver on the recommendations.