Editor's Note: The following post was written by Nana Boateng, an Advocates for Youth International Youth Blogger. Nana is from Ghana and recently attended the 1st African Youth Development Forum. She shares her experiences from the meeting below.

 In Addis Ababa, looking everywhere, colorful shawls, beautiful women and smiley men, I lick my lips as the cold dry weather cracks it. The Conference was officially opened on the 1st of November at the UN offices in Addis. Ethiopia’s President, Girma Woldegiorgis was there as was Youth Groups, Diplomats and Ministers. The ceremony was pretty short especially for a select Youth who had to leave after the first session to the Ghion Hotel for a youth lead forum in preparation for the African Union Summit in July 2011.

Over the conference hall at Ghion is art work so stunning! My eyes stroll up at the various frames. Two women stare at me naked chested, their hands covering their ears with tears walking down their faces. I wonder if they too are tired already from the talk shops. In one cliché or the other, speaker after speaker acknowledge African youth are Africa’s largest resource at the opening ceremony and the forum. One thing is clear, African leaders have good intentions for youth. Why then are the young women up the ceiling still crying?  

Peace, respect for human rights and solidarity across generations, religion, cultures and gender is obviously not achieved only by having good intentions. Policies and legislations may propel our good intentions. Yet it is action, investment, capacity building, empowerment, motivation, involvement and devotion of all stake holders (youth, women, leaders...) in society that actualizes our good intentions.

Eyes are watching, also from up the ceiling. They watch climate change, homophobia, and sexually transmitted infections and keep silent. Do we watch them back? If about 60% of Africa’s population is made up of young people, the solutions to chase after are youth lead solutions. The youth of Africa led Africa from Colonization. It is the African Youth who will lead Africa to social, economic, political development. Human rights advocacy, Gender justice and sexual and reproductive health education is our call simply because it affects us the most. Now, the African Youth Union is lobbing for the AU to allocate 5% of the AU’s budget to the AYU.

Two men lift up hammers and nail nothing in one frame up the ceiling. In another frame, a man and a woman lift their index fingers, maybe they want to own up to their obligations and responsibilities like the youth want to, maybe they are waiting to blame someone else for where they stand.

We want the same things Peace, respect for human rights, cooperation, empowerment, leadership and accountability. Achieving these means putting African Youth in the right position. What are we waiting for?