Significant portion of #Tigray population with an enormous potential for change is YOUTH (age 18 - 29 for this context; However without a census for over 2 decades, exact figure remain obscure 😏). Currently war, siege and previously Covid-19 have affected their lives immensely.
Many had to grab arms and fought to defend their sovereignty during the two years long war, disengaging from their daily life and aspirations. Others if they escaped being arrested or killed by forces of 🇪🇹 , 🇪🇷 and Amhara, they have been displaced,
ending up in collective IDP centers, with families or separated and being responsible for their siblings. Most horribly, young women have been raped and became victims of violence which affected their physical, social and psychological wellbeing.
For those staying in their homes, things were also difficult. Education was discontinued for over three years and still is and making them feel over aged for their class. Work and their dreams have been disrupted leaving them aimlessly wonder around or
engage in vulnerable activities such as gambling, theft or drugs. For others it’s psychological impact has brought stress, PTSD and other effects. Generally, their problems are much deeper than mentioned and needs a wider investigation into the extent and it’s consequences.
Regardless, the youth have shown potential in leadership and sustaining their life through out the difficult times. Military leaders have expressed their satisfaction despite their preconceived perception of irresponsibility or the general stigma towards new generations.
Within their community, they have proven resilience by innovating and rising up to the occasion and creating solutions to their pressing issues. And now in post war #Tigray youth are in a constantly changing environment where what lies ahead is still vague and unpredictable.
In theory, postwar transformation promises once-in-a-lifetime chance to reconstruct broken state institutions and society while avoiding the errors of the past. It’s therefore an opportunity to impose significant shift on political, economic and social transformations that affect
the youth, even if the numerous challenges that lies ahead of #Tigray. Therefore, their needs should be carefully addressed in the transition process. It’s is crucial to involve them as they will be responsible in implementing and be affected directly by any decision.
SO if they aren’t at the center of the table, who ought to be? We need to avoid the paternalistic approach and start engaging with them to listen, speak and make decisions about their future!
Otherwise fatigue, disengagement, resistance, substance abuse and ultimately brain drain will occur when they are not taken seriously as cogent citizens with experience, knowledge, reflection and collaborative skills.
However, we need to be careful as youth are not a homogeneous group; this makes it important to examine their diverse interest, peer and power relationships, map and understand the motivations within their context.
For example out Veteran youth who have recently returned from combat seek a special and specific intervention which should also be guided by clear policy for a sustained solution in addition to the overall youth framework. Women on the other hand have to be involved in a curated
manner given their social engagement culture. In this regards, digital practices of youth have brought opportunities in alternatives to engaging young people, this could be utilized for their direct impact on change processes. This will bridge the gap of making them from a mere
participants to a co-creators and co- producers of solutions that fits their needs. As it takes far more than bricks and mortar to rebuild a shattered society, the greater challenge will then be to restore young #Tegaru sense of possibility, responsibility, dignity, and optimism.
Therefore, as it was vital to harness Youths power during the war, it is equally important to utilize their potential within post war #Tigray making them part of the transition so as they own the process and create a platform for “youth led recovery and rebuilding of #Tigray”.
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Ok enough is enough!!Many of us are watching from distance thinking things would come to sense, but then it’s just getting ridiculous and scary by the day with no return bombarding us with press releases … well in that case I want a platform for my own press release saying, (1)
ካብ ቤት ስነ አእምሮ ሰገን የተሰጠ መግለጫ
“We the people insist you stop pretending to know and fighting over how to lead us best. We are adults. Just make us choose 🙄.Stop acting like you’re doing this for the public while all signs show it’s not! (2)
Rather your acting like toddlers where their mother is not around needing desperately a timeout when she is back!!
You’re covered with cocktail of emotion driving you nuts with a brain fog that is hindering you from seeing clearly what’s right and wrong (3)
"Meetings Are Toxic🤭," according to Fried and Hansson in their book “Rework”. It’s the single and major source of waste and inefficiency leading to disruption in workflow, killing creativity and arriving at a poor decision! 1/n
Meetings are more of concepts and abstract words than concrete actions. Usually they are stranded with unclear agendas resulting in confusion and hinder effective discussion. And during this time the information exchanged is minimal compared to the time spent. 2/n
And there is that one person that inevitably gets his turn to waste everyone's time with nonsense. This leads to shift away from the original agenda, leading to unproductive discussions.
In light of this argument I am wondering about the loooonggg meeting of ውድብ 🤔 .. 3/n
I left Addis Ababa after few days visit, with a mixed feeling of pride and sadness. I feel honored to have been able to walk with my chins high and alive after surviving a genocide. And this is possible, because of our brothers and sisters who paid a price with their life,
limbs and traumatic experiences. This same thought brings me sadness as the price is too high and irreversible. The youth didn’t deserve to have lost their life while city dwellers are all warm and comfy in their homes.
During my short visit after nearly three years, it’s obvious Addis Abebeians are sucking up to the soaring inflation and security, since it’s a price to be paid for supporting a war. Every taxi driver keeps on complaining about life if not the way the politics is unfolding.
When war broke out in Tigray, my kids with their father were stranded in Mekelle while I was in AA. In the morning when I woke up to the news on the internet, my then friends started calling to break the news one at a time at which point my body was shaking.1/n
I spontaneously lashed out on my Facebook wall, as if the world could hear and do something, including God! I continued receiving mixed phone calls throughout the day, some asking genuinely if I am ok while others were only prying if I knew some intel!2/n
Even if my head was imagining the worst case scenario, I stayed calm and responded all will be well soon… at least that’s what I wanted to hear for myself.
But when the radio stations started playing Tilahun Gessese famous war song ‘Ethiopia’ 3/n
In some countries it is common for students to have what they call a 'Gap Year’ after finishing high-school, in order to help them figure out what they want before college year. This gap year has been forced upon students in #Tigray in all age group and for over three years.1/n
Around February 2022 “Education in emergency” was in effect for Kg-6th grade where the grades was revised to fit a compressed calendar while textbooks and teaching methods remain the same. The overall situation is a critical topic for research in education. 2/n
The program was developed and implemented in the most difficult situation than am narrating here. Children had to go to near zero school facilities, where they had no chair or had to carry one from home. Exercise books and pens were luxury so they had to learn verbally. 3/n
Finland’s War with the Soviet Union. Extracted from “Upheaval:Nations is Crisis” book summary. A good reflection point if you read through!
As you probably know, Finland is a Scandinavian country of about 6 million people which borders Sweden to the west and Russia to the east.
We’ll be very surprised if you know something more than this, however: Finland wasn’t even a free country for most of history.
From the 13th to the 19th century it was considered a part of Sweden, but after 1809, it became a part of Russia. It remained so for the next century:
during the Russian Revolution of 1917, fed up with an oppressive governor set by the Russian Tsar Nicholas II, Finland decided it has had enough and proclaimed its independence. Unfortunately, being a small and rather undeveloped country located next to the biggest country