Last week, we talked about reasons why young people should be health advocates and the steps to becoming an advocate, and a friend raised a point about a lot of young people being frustrated at the fact that there is not enough space for young people in leadership circles and many not even knowing where or how to begin to get involved.The fact that there are virtually no young people on the inside track of governance to affect policy changes is precisely the reason why young people need to be active on the outside track so that these issues can be brought to the attention of those who can make policy or implementation changes. Hopefully, by the time the #NotTooYoungToRule bill gets passed and we start to have young people in governance, and more in health committees who can speak up about the issues that affect young people, a lot of that will ch ange. But until then, the outside track is what we have and we should make full use of it.Advocacy is a part of activism, and activism is all about being an engaged citizenry. Young people need to start being engaged citizens and here are a few ways that as a young person, you can become more engaged and at the same time, make your voice heard.VolunteeringIt has been said too many times to my hearing that young people in Nigeria do not have a spirit of volunteering. I do not think that this is altogether true because I have had the opportunity to meet a lot of young people who are working as volunteers in various spheres. Rather, it is my opinion that the type of educational system we operate currently in Nigeria does not encourage that culture of working and not expecting to get paid. However, let us leave the discussion about our educational system for another day.There are a lot of organisations that work with young people and do a lot of work in the public health sphere who accept volunteers such as Education as a Vaccine, EVA, (a non-governmental organisation working to improve the quality of life of young people) and Silver Lining for the Needy Initiative, SLNI, (another non-governmental organisation working in the reproductive, maternal, new-born, child and adolescent health sphere). According to Hauwa Abbas, the chief operating officer of SLNI, Volunteering is a double edged sword through which young people can help other people in the society develop, as well as develop themselves. There are many more of such organisations and a simple google search will give you several options that you can reach out to. Remember also that volunteering is a good way to showcase your skills and you can be certain that people are watching. You never know what big opportunity will come out of that volunteering experience. Another good way is to volunteer your time to humanitarian works. For instance, we are currently facing a nutrition crisis in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps and a lot of hands are needed to help out in these camps. Like was mentioned last weekSET GOOD EXAMPLES!Continues next week.
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