With just days to the 10th Africa Students and Youth Summit on 22nd and 23rd July 2021, the All-Africa Students Union has expressed readiness for Africa’s biggest youth and students’ program on developmental issues.

The Africa Youth and Students Summit organized annually by the All-Africa Students Union aims to convene major stakeholders in the education and youth development ecosystem to discuss major issues of development.

This year, the summit promises another set of intriguing policy-driven conversations targeted at addressing the problem of child labour on the continent.

The summit will host three breakout sessions under the broader theme; “Act, Inspire and scale-up – giving a fair share to end child labour.”

Organizers note that global efforts towards tackling child labour, although commendable, require that stakeholders take stock of the gains made and make deep introspections to inform the direction going forward.

The first day of the 2021 Summit will host three separate discussions with child rights activists, education policy experts, ministers of states, student leaders, among others. The first break-out session will be on “Putting our money where our mouth is: safeguarding the rights and interests of the most marginalized children”.

For the second session, a special panel will discuss the issue of “Revisiting parliamentary and constitutional arrangements to bring an end to end child labour”.

These sessions emphasize the need to elevate commitment to fighting child labour beyond rhetorical ethics towards concrete policy actions that will seek to ameliorate the conditions of marginalized children.

The final session for Day 1 will be on “Creating equitable societies: putting the child at the centre of social protection”.

In attendance will be Nobel Laureate Kaylash Sarthyati, a dedicated social reformer and child right’s activist of global repute. Dr Satyarthi will be on hand to answer questions and interact with patrons including the media on critical issues pertaining to child labour in Africa and the world more broadly.

The Summit will continue on 23^rd  July with focus on pragmatic steps to secure the future of every child.