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African Youth Forum for Science & Technology (AYFST)

The AYFST is a youth-led initiative that seeks to provide a vehicle through which young people can express their ideas, contribute their expertise and collectively participate in policy and decision-making processes as well as harness the opportunities presented by agriculture, science and technology to address their own challenges.

AYFST was born out of the concern by the African youth on the need address the key challenges facing the youth and create space and opportunities for greater involvement of the youth in addressing Africa's development challenges. According to the World Youth Report (2005), 62% of the youth are confronted with high unemployment rates, inequality of opportunities in education and training, social exclusion, poverty and risk of increasing marginalization despite of their huge potential to effect positive change.

The 1st African Regional Youth Congress on Science and Technology in Nairobi, Kenya in June 2005, marked the beginning of broad collective youth engagements towards a youth led development network. During this Congress, over 80 youth leaders and professionals from 21 African countries converged in Nairobi under the auspices of the African Technology Policy Studies (ATPS) and the Technical Center for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA) to deliberate on youth employment creation and leadership in HIV/AIDS prevention.

In a communiqué issued at the conclusion of the Congress, the youth called for the need to initiate a youth-led forum on science and technology that would advance the African youth agenda in agriculture science and technology in Africa's development process. As a result, an e-forum African_youth_congress@yahoogroups.com was established to facilitate continued engagement of the youth on how best to create the forum as well as share experiences and ideas on science and technology.

The deliberations at the e-forum were consolidated and reviewed by a youth expert meeting held in Nairobi in April 2006. This expert meeting brought together 20 young professionals from 9 African countries to deliberate over the suggestions from the e-discussions.

The expert meeting approved the need to launch the African Youth Forum on Science and Technology (AYFST) as the vehicle through which to harness the capacities of the African youth in agriculture, science, technology and innovation.

The 2nd African Regional Youth Congress on Agriculture, Science, Technology and Innovation in June 2006, held in Accra, Ghana brought together over 80 youth leaders and professionals from over 16 sub-Saharan African countries with the support of ATPS, CTA and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) of Ghana on the theme Food insecurity and health for Sustainable development in Africa.

The 2nd Congress also marked the historic launch of African Youth Forum on Science and Technology and its website http://www.ayfst.org This was an outcome of year long consultations among the youth and young professionals; researchers, youth leaders, social scientists, technologists, agriculturalists, social advocates among others with a passion to reverse the underdevelopment in Africa.

The initiative which was heavily inspired and supported by CTA, ATPS, CSIR among others, received endorsement from regional intergovernmental agencies like African Union, NEPAD and African leaders and statesmen who committed themselves to supporting the African youth in their efforts to make change in continent. The Forum presents the youth with the platform to engage and utilise opportunities in agriculture science and technology to develop creative responses to the challenges of poverty and underdevelopment in cooperation with relevant institutions of society.