Final of the “Youth challenge” competition A Thrilling selection full of suspense

Posted on September 14, 2020

It is a selection which lasted a year, within the framework of the movement “Generation without limits” whose national final took place last Thursday at the Technology Center for Innovation and Development (CTID) with five finalists in the running. who clashed. The verdict is in and two teams have been selected to participate in the great world meeting. “DjibRecy” and “Agent for Change” will defend the national colors. The story of a thrilling and suspenseful selection.

The “Generation Without Limits 2019/20” Youth Challenge brought together young innovators to design solutions to improve education, employment and civic empowerment in Djibouti. The Youth Challenge is part of Generation Without Limits - a multisectoral public-private program - a global partnership enabling the largest generation of young people in history to become productive and engaged members of society.

Co-hosted globally by four Generation Without Limits partners - UNICEF, UNDP, Plan International and the World Organization of the Scout Movement, with the support of Irish Aid - the Generation Without Limits Youth Challenge 2019/20 takes place in more than 40 countries around the world, including Djibouti. The challenge called on young innovators from all over Djibouti to design solutions aimed at improving education, employment and civic engagement. The partners involved at the national level in this program on the ground are the MENFoP, SJES, CTID, CLE, and the Club of Young Entrepreneurs of Djibouti.

It aims to inspire young people with brilliant ideas, but without the resources to make them come true. This includes young refugees, those who face discrimination on a daily basis because of their ethnicity, gender or disability, and those who are disadvantaged by poverty.

To this end, a vast campaign was carried out in schools, CDCs and youth associations to encourage as many young people as possible to participate in this competition. A caravan also crisscrossed the interior regions and refugee camps for a better participation of all young people. This campaign was meant to be inclusive. Successful bet, there were some 497 young people to embark on this adventure.

Initially, 14 teams were selected. To supervise and guide them in their efforts, UNDP and UNICEF with the participation of the two entities responsible for carrying out this program in the field, in this case the Center for Leadership and Entrepreneurship (CLE) and the Center of Technology and Innovation for Development (CTID), in collaboration with MENFOP, SEJS and CJED, provided a week of training to these young people in the premises of the CLE in order to formulate their project and concretize their ideas. After a long selection, five teams were selected thanks to their innovative projects. They are "United Team", a young team living in the HollHoll refugee camp who have decided to tackle a challenge: that of connecting their camp to the rest of the country and the world. Their objective is to strengthen the capacities of young refugees and the creation of income-generating activities around ICTs.

The second team is no less ingenious and is called "Agent For Change". These are young high school students who have decided to tackle a still taboo subject affecting more and more young people. It is about eliminating all forms of bullying in schools. Their goal? Launch awareness-raising platforms to better inform young people and parents of the harmful effects of bullying on their school career! Their slogan is: "Let’sbeaware" which means "let's be aware". They therefore want to make people aware of this problem which pushes some young people to commit the irreparable. This is why they want to solve this problem at the source by raising awareness among the teaching staff but also by listening and advising young people through platforms of real or virtual meetings and exchanges.

The third team selected chose to intervene in the field of environmental preservation. "DjibRecy" wants to reduce pollution caused by plastic. They have set themselves the goal of recycling used plastics into a variety of quality, sustainable products. Their intervention is divided into five phases, namely collection, sorting, washing, crushing and the final product. A profitable project thanks to the sale of artisanal products made from recycled plastics to tourists but also to the Djiboutian population, who can also obtain cheap items such as kitchen utensils etc ...

Drugs are a phenomenon that threatens young people. Many of them fall into its consumption and become addicted by suffering an addiction that is difficult to remedy. The fourth team which took the name "253 Bands" decided to tackle this scourge. This is a shocking trio of young high school students who have decided to invest this land. Their challenge? Fight against the scourge of drugs among young people! Their objective? Sensitize as many young people as possible to turning away from drugs! For that they want to create a "Space of hope" or "corner of hope". Raising awareness, a preventive sketch in social networks, they decided to tackle this problem which is ruining the lives of many young people.

Finally, the philosophy of this competition was to also include young people with special needs. Hence a fifth team made up of young deaf mutes. They chose the name “Deaf and Dumb University”. They want to defend the socio-professional integration of people with special needs by strengthening access to higher education for deaf and hard of hearing people. The prevalence rate of hearing impairment is 3.7% within the Djiboutian population.

It should be noted that these five teams followed extensive mentoring sessions provided by the CTID which allowed them to refine their project. Each also received a sum of one thousand dollars, the equivalent of FDJ 177,500.

Time for deliberation

After following the presentations of five projects and questioning each of the teams on the reliability of their initiative, the jury of the “Youth Challenge” unlimited generation competition chaired by Ms. Kaltoun Egueh Houssein, who is also director of youth, withdrew to start the deliberation session. It was a time of stress and expectation for the participating teams who held their breath. After an hour of analysis and debate by the jury, the verdict is in. The two winning teams of the competition are “Agent For Change” and “Djibrecy”. Two teams who convinced the jury by the relevance of their project. They knew how to defend tooth and nail their initiative but also they believed in their star. Don't we say wanting is power. These young people have an iron will to make things happen. To invest in the field in order to improve the daily life of their compatriots.

As soon as the results were announced, the UNDP resident representative in Djibouti, Ms. Fatima Elsheikh, who was very involved throughout this selection process, congratulated the winners, while congratulating herself on this great adventure which has allowed young people to compete in the field of innovative ideas. She did not fail to thank all the partners who did a good job. To the young winners of this competition, she expressed her admiration for their fine performance. “You are on the right track,” she said.

The Director of the CTID, Mr Samatar Abdi Osman who was the linchpin of this competition, did not shy away from his pleasure in encouraging these young changemakers to go ahead and continue this great adventure on an international scale, while Wishing them every success for the future.

As for the young winners of this competition, they could not hide their joy and their pride for this success which propels them onto the international arena. A first for them in this global phase which will pit them against forty other countries. Imran Ibrahim the young leader of the Agent for Change team told us: “Today is the end of a long challenge that we started last year. It’s the dedication of a lot of work and effort. We were helped a lot by the mentors, who advised us well in the process in the creation of our functional prototype and the beginning of our project. We want to make our project a reality and go even further. I would like to thank all the partners, UNDP, UNICEF, CTID and CLE. "

On all fronts the “Youth challenge” competition was a success, we wish the two winning teams good luck for the rest of the competition.

Kenedid Ibrahim