United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa)
Nina Yacoubian
28 February 2008
A workshop on the results of a participative analysis on the situation of the DRC's teenagers and young people took place on 28 February 2008 in Kinshasa. The DRC Ministry for Youth and Sports shared the results with its partners, especially UNICEF, from which new strategies will be put in place to ensure the effective development of youth, in particular in the fight against AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs).
The participative analysis on the health, development and participation of teenagers with teenagers (from 10 to 18 years of age), was undertaken by experts from the University of Kinshasa's Public Health School, with material and financial support from UNICEF, the UN Children's Fund.
The study, aimed at reinforcing the level of knowledge of the needs and aspirations of this category of young people, was undertaken in the provinces of Kinshasa, Bas Congo, Katanga, and North and South Kivu.
"My ministry has registered the participation and the development of youth among its priorities," announced the Minister for Youth and Sports Willy Bakonga.
"Unfortunately throughout the last decades, the DRC could not support the promotion of teenagers and young people, particularly in the areas of health, education and employment, in short there was a lack of integral development," he explained.
But, according to Mr. Bakonga many challenges remain, including the breakdown of the school system, and the lack of leisure outlets, basic sanitary services and access to information technologies.
UNICEF's AIDS education specialist Mr. Ibrahima Diallo reiterated the engagement of UNICEF in favour of the participation of children and teenagers in making decisions that influence their life.
"Concrete actions must be undertaken to increase the active participation of girls and boys in the programmes, projects and activities to ensure they can overcome the fundamental issues with which they are confronted," he insisted.
According to Mr. Diallo, the study, which combines qualitative and quantitative investigation, makes a broad review of the situation of teenagers throughout the country.
The study gave gave a new vision, "from the teenagers themselves" of all they face in life: from schooling, to abuse of harmful substances, to access to sport and leisure, and relations between girls and boys, in particular early sexuality and its sometimes fatal consequences.
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