Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: 03 July 2020: The African Union Youth Volunteers Corps (AU-YVC) celebrates 10 years of existence. The program is a flagship of the African Union which recruits, trains and deploys young African professionals to serve as professional volunteers for a period of 12 months across the continent. The AU-YVC program will soon be looking to recruit the 11^thCohort. The vacancy announcement will be posted on the AUC careers portal:www.au.careers.org.

The AU-YVC program continues to promote volunteerism to deepen the status of young people in Africa as key actors in Africa’s development targets and goals. It enhances youth participation in policy development as well as brings to life relevant interventions towards achieving the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), H.E Moussa Faki Mahammat’s 1 Million by 2021 initiative. The 1 Million by 2021 initiative seeks to provide African youth with concrete opportunities in the areas of Education, Employment, Entrepreneurship, and Engagement (the 4Es).

To date approximately 11,000 young people have applied for the programme, 989 have been trained and 546 have been deployed to various AUC departments, organs and partner organisations across the continent.

The Department of Human Resources, Science and Technology have begun preparations for the commemoration of the AU-YVC 10 year anniversary through a digital campaign to  showcase the decade long work the AU has done on youth mainstreaming and encourage youth to apply for the 2020 intake on the AU Youth Program social media platforms.

The AU-YVC program objectives are; to establish a common understanding of the values and philosophy of the AU-YVC, build leadership and professional ability of AU Youth Volunteers and prepare volunteers for their one year service in another country.

AU-YVC program criteria;

1. Applicant needs to be a citizen of an AU member state living on the continent or in diaspora
2. The applicant needs to be aged between 18-35 years
3. Have a post-secondary certified qualification(s) (TVET, Bachelor’s Master’s, etc.)
4. Available in 2021/22 to dedicate 12 months for professional volunteer services
5.  Willing to live and work in another AU Member state
6. Applicant needs to be proficient in at least one AU working language (Arabic, English, French and Portuguese)
7. The applicant has to have at least one year verifiable volunteering experience and one year professional work experience.

Note to Editor

One Million By 2021 is an initiative that aims to concretely reach millions of African youth across the continent with opportunities and interventions in the key areas of Employment, Entrepreneurship, Education and Engagement (4E’s), which will accelerate socioeconomic development on the continent   http://1millionby2021.au.int/

For further information, please contact:

Nqobile Mbali Zwane / Communications Officer – Youth Division / E-mail: ZwaneN@africa-union.org

Media Contact:

Ms. Faith Adhiambo | Communications Officer-Agenda 2063 | African Union Commission | E-mail: OchiengJ@africa-union.org|

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