With over 60 percent of Malawi’s population being young people, it is evident that that almost all social and economic ills facing Malawi today have a disproportionate burden of incidence on the youth. This Manifesto thrives on the conviction that the 2019 electoral cycle provides a golden opportunity for the Malawian youth, to come together to reflect on the country’s current state of underdevelopment and drive their aspirations through organised engagement. Malawian youth have an opportunity to mobilise and organise themselves as a political constituency to influence actions that will address their plight.
Through this Manifesto, young people are proactively advancing undivided positions on various policy issues of national development and will advocate for implementation while also opening national conversation on other sticky policy and governance issues. This manifesto is an inclusive youth development agenda and represents their demands in a social-contract with the next Government to be elected on May 21, 2019, throughout their term of office. The youth authors of the Manifesto hope that the next crop of elected officials and policy-makers will see merit in regular and robust engagement and feedback about how citizens experience and evaluate the process and outcomes of governance and service delivery.
The Manifesto, therefore, is an ‘entry point’ for youth to meaningfully express their aspirations and take subsequent citizen action to ensure responsive, accountable and inclusive governance and service delivery.
