According to the International Center for Research on Young Women the world’s youth population currently stands at 1.1 billion and 85 percent of these young people live in poor countries.  As the youth population continues to grow not much is being done to integrate young minds into the development of their countries.

Socially entrenched attitudes have relegated youths to mere spectators of development in their respective countries and recently young people have resorted to engaging in protests to seek redress from governments. The only time young people’s contribution to society is valued is when politicians look for support during elections. Many young people have been used as foot soldiers in unleashing violence in the communities they live in. Young people’s voices continue to be suppressed as they lack representation in decision making at the highest level. The appointment of a new cabinet in Zimbabwe is a good example of how the young generation continues to be sidelined in decision-making.

Year in and year out Zimbabwe continues to churn out graduates from various colleges but most of these young minds end up on the streets or cross borders to do menial jobs in neighboring countries. Some people may blame our education curriculum for not doing much in helping young people who are not gifted academically but talented in other fields. A high literacy rate with the backdrop of high unemployment figures calls for debate as to whether these young people and educated men and women are lacking technical skills for them start something of their own?

The recent Food For Thought debate session hosted by US Embassy Public Affairs section brought together young panelists from various backgrounds to share experiences and the way forward in creating opportunity for young people in Zimbabwe. A presentation by Chiedza Gadzirai of the Footballers Union of Zimbabwe highlighted that sport has contributed a lot of social and economical benefits to a lot of young people in Zimbabwe.

Masimba Kuchera of the Center for Disability and Development gave an example of how government in Kenya managed to create opportunity for youth through the formation of an i-Hub where young people meet to share opportunities and ideas in the information technology sector. As a young person born with visual impairment Masimba lamented government’s failure to give adequate support to people living with disabilities. The low priority status given to programmes targeted at disabled people has resulted in many failing to participate fully in the development of the nation. Glanis Changachirere founder of the Institute for Young Women’s Development reiterated the fact that the playing field can only be level when young people are accorded an opportunity to represent themselves in decision making at top level.

Elections in Zimbabwe came and left so many unanswered questions diffusing victory celebrations for those who won. Every political party engages in elections to win and sometimes the result is not always a favorable one especially when the playing field is biased. Whilst losers lick their wounds and go on soul-searching missions, victors embark on a difficult task of fulfilling election promises. The benefits of winning an election are you doing what you want in your own time even when it harms the nation.

International observers endorsed the recently held election and this has raised questions as to whether the Zimbabwe problem had become a burden for far too long for the regional bodies. At the same civil society in Zimbabwe failed to expose the irregularities in a compelling way to the international community. The blame cannot rest on the shoulders of the civics alone; key political players in the inclusive government had a critical role to play in ensuring, for example, a clean voters roll and the fulfillment of a variety of reforms before engaging in elections. The “participate and protest later” strategy adopted by opposition political parties saw ZANU-PF reigning supreme.

The outcome of the just ended election provides an opportunity to reflect on the role of civil society in Zimbabwe. As calls and accusations of election rigging quickly die a natural death, the new political dispensation offers a great opportunity for success to those who failed in the last election as compared to those won. Of late civil society organizations have been accused of being political appendages to certain political parties. Civil society in Zimbabwe is being criticized for failing to push for a peoples’ agenda. Principles and benchmarks were abandoned during the run up to the July 2013 Harmonized election as some members of civil society became aligned to certain political parties.

At a lively debate dubbed “July 31 Election Outcome: Challenges and prospects for democratization in Zimbabwe” hosted by the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute in Harare panelists from civil society reflected on the just ended election and strategies of moving on as a genuinely people driven movement. Instead of spending time antagonizing over the outcome of the elections civil society was urged to utilize the new space created to regroup, organize and engage the new government in order to reclaim its rightful place in the Zimbabwean political landscape.

An estimated figure of 2.2 million people face food insecurity in Zimbabwe. Weather conditions and unavailability of inputs are squarely blamed for this looming disaster. In a nation where almost everyone is now a farmer it’s a sad development to hear reports of imminent starvation whilst tobacco auction floors record high yields of the crop. Funny how our farmers are now opting to invest all their inputs to grow cash crops like tobacco leaving out cereals which make up our staple diet. We can blame inputs and weather for causing hunger to our nation but the fact is simple farming is a business. No farmer is willing to invest in maize when s/he knows that the paycheck will come the next farming season when prices of all inputs have gone up. Late payments and very low producer prices have left farmers with no option but to go for a kill in the golden leaf. Some are now venturing in horticulture where short season crops with a ready market bring in quick returns. Almost every year the nation is now stretching its begging bowl to neighbors to avert starvation on the backdrop of the much-hailed agrarian reform.

Love is in the air as two young college graduates drive to rural Limpopo in South Africa to break the news of better prospects ahead. But that joy is short-lived as a father takes a hard-line stance to save face in the community for his failure to provide for his family as he reveals a dirty family secret which brings misfortune to the life of a young woman. Events unfold in a set up which puts to test the value of a woman in a society where culture is still struggling to adapt to the demands of modernization. In such an environment is a young woman called “Elelwani” who recently graduated from college and hopes to further her studies in America. Under the guise of a home coming celebration the father took the opportunity to introduce her daughter to her future in-laws.

Florence Masebe plays the role of Elelwani, a young woman who is married off to a king in honor of traditional cultural beliefs as well as to pay off debts accrued during her upbringing and for the support her family has been getting from an elderly king in Limpopo. ‘Elelwani’ is an indigenous film shot in Venda language based on a novel by Titus Maumela and directed by Ntshaveni wa Luruli. Set in rural Limpopo where people are still very much attached to their culture the film reveals the harsh treatment faced by women in a society where men still play a dominant role in decision making. When Elelwani turned down the offer to marry the king this does not deter her father from settling for her youngest daughter as a replacement. This decision makes Elelwani bow down to the cultural demands and later agrees to marry the king so that her young sister can be saved from the forced marriage arrangement.

Such a thought provoking film brings to life some of the stories we have been reading in the press of how the girl child is used as a pay off for avenging spirits or exchanged for a bag of maize when family faces starvation. Premiered at the just ended International Images Film Festival for Women (IIFF) “Elelweni” tells a story of rural women who are struggling to fight patriarchy and to get fair treatment in the society.

The film festival showcased films, which helped raise awareness on women’s sexual rights and the general human right abuses women go through under the cover tradition.

Sex sells. No two ways about it, and that’s the reason we now see billboards and TV commercials with topless men and women everywhere. Different words have been used to describe the sexually suggestive moves we now excessively watch in music videos. Words like “dirty dancing” “gyrating” and “work it” have been mostly used to describe the shaking of the bum whether one is sweating it out in the gym or on the dance floor. To lighten up these sexually provocative words Oxford dictionary has added “twerking” to the list. For doing such moves in public it would earn you unanimous ridicule but with words like  “twerking” people now let it pass for “cool”. So those moves in sungura and rhumba music videos which feature movement of the rump can be now be described as “twerking”. Even when you go for your Zumba classes you might have been twerking without knowing it.