BY Nkosazana Ngwadla
Dambisa Dube is a visiting fellow of the German Africa Foundation in Berlin, holding Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s Federal Chancellor Fellowship. Her research focuses on youth engagement, participation in Germany and South Africa, digitalisation effects, shaping political discourse of the younger.
Dambisa is also the founder of the Civic Youth Initiative, an initiative initiated in 2022 that is committed to highlighting the importance of civic education by placing young people at the forefront of the discussion (youth centred approach).
CYI is committed to finding youth centred and innovative approaches to fostering democratic values and encourage the active citizenry of young people. CYI also aims to do this by building on existing research and efforts to strengthening civic education.
The first phase of this initiative is guided by project outputs which form part of a larger a project led by Dambisa as part of her German Chancellor Fellowship supported by Deutsche Afrika Foundation. Through dialogue, research and exchange CYI aims to make efforts to strengthening civic education with a specific focus placed on South African youth.
The first phase of CYI work will focus on establishing a network of civic education experts/stakeholders, ground our work in research & using innovative formats to encourage and foster dialogue about politics. CYI understands that civic education is a ‘prerequisite to functioning democracies’ further highlighting the cost of the exclusion of young people from participating actively in politics.
We also aim to make politics interesting, digestible and relatable by engaging future generations who will continue to shape the pace and ‘identity’ of politics by ensuring they are not sidelined but are equipped to lead the discussion.
Image: Twitter
