By Sam Majamanda
Phalombe, July 4, Mana: Youths in Phalombe have decried their non-involvement in the development of Village Action Plans (VAPs) that inform the District Development Plan (DDP).
Speaking Friday, Secretary for Phalombe District Youth Network, Moses Kathumba said while the 2018/19 VAPs were being developed only youth representatives at village development committee were involved, a development he said deprived youths of an opportunity to present their concerns.
“At the VDC there is only one youth representative against many older people and when the youth representative says something it is treated with contempt. That is why we wanted VAP development to involve as many youths as possible,” said Kathumba.
Executive Director for Phalombe Youth Arms Organization (PYAO), Vincent Thom said the previous arrangement was unfortunate, saying non involvement of the youths meant that the concerns of a large population of society were left out in development decisions.
Thom said critical issues such as life skills development and youth friendly health services might have been ignored in the DDP.
However, while admitting the challenge and concurring with the youths, Phalombe District Youth Officer, Ian Sukali assured the youths that some of their concerns were factored in at the DDP development stage.
“However, these are not very specific as we just picked general issues affecting the youth in an attempt to address the same in the district development planning document,” said Sukali.
Meanwhile, the youths are planning to demand to have a look at the DPP before it is launched with the view of examining the extent of their representation in the development guiding document.
