African Union institutions must move beyond describing young people as ‘the leaders of tomorrow’ and give them a meaningful role in shaping the continent today, President of the Abdou Samb Foundation and Honorary Ambassador to the Pan-African Parliament for the Diaspora, Abdou Samb, has argued.
Samb is pushing for the formal recognition of African youth as the ‘seventh region’ of Africa, a proposal he says would give young Africans a stronger voice in the decisions and policies that affect their future.
The idea follows the African Union’s 2003 decision to recognise the African diaspora as the continent’s sixth region.
According to Samb, that decision acknowledged Africans who live outside the continent, but a similar step is now needed to address what he describes as the exclusion of Africa’s young population from important institutions.
He said the proposal gained fresh momentum on June 16 in Johannesburg, where more than 1,000 young Africans reportedly supported the call for youth to be formally recognised as the seventh region.
The campaign was later taken to Bujumbura during celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the African Youth Charter, where it also received a favourable response.
For Samb, however, simply giving young people a new title or place on paper would not solve the problem.
He said the experience of the diaspora, which was recognised as the sixth region more than two decades ago, shows that recognition can remain largely symbolic if it does not come with real influence, funding and decision-making powers.
Africa has one of the youngest populations in the world, with a median age of about 19, yet Samb argues that young people remain poorly represented in the institutions responsible for making decisions about the continent. He believes this creates a serious gap between the people who will live longest with today’s decisions and those making them.
He also rejected the argument that young Africans are not experienced enough to participate in leadership.
According to him, such arguments have been used for years to justify keeping younger generations away from positions of responsibility. What matters, he said, should be ability, competence and merit, rather than age, political connections or personal networks.
Samb therefore wants the proposed seventh region to be more than another platform where young Africans are invited to speak without being heard.
He wants it to have the resources to act, the ability to propose initiatives and a system through which its impact can be publicly measured.
He also warned against allowing the initiative to become another avenue for favouritism and political patronage. In his view, talented young Africans should be able to gain access to opportunities based on what they can contribute, rather than who they know.
The proposal, therefore, is not simply about giving African youth another seat at the table.
It is about changing the way the continent makes decisions and ensuring that its largest generation has a genuine stake in shaping Africa’s future.
For Samb, the seventh region will only succeed if it becomes a tool for real change rather than another symbolic recognition.