Youth voices converge in Brazzaville
On Monday 4 December, the bright halls of the city youth centre in downtown Brazzaville filled with almost two hundred students, volunteers and start-up founders for the opening of the second Youth Symposium, a two-day forum focused on turning ideas into concrete community projects.
- Youth voices converge in Brazzaville
- A call for proactive attitudes
- Volunteering highlighted as growth engine
- Leadership lessons from home
- Matching ideas with mentors
- Aligning with national development goals
- Tying in global observances
- What happens after the lights turn off
- A photo-friendly, shareable event
- Service as bridge to jobs
Placed under the banner “Engaged and Proactive Youth”, the event aims to boost the employability of Congolese youngsters by nurturing leadership, creativity and a taste for service, organisers said, echoing national efforts to harness the demographic dividend and widen access to decent jobs.
A call for proactive attitudes
“Young people struggle to get hired, yet we also notice a lack of proactivity,” explained Rolph Medry Dissivouloud, president of the Youth Awake Association of Congo and main promoter of the symposium, while greeting participants gathering around colourful stands and interactive workshops.
For Dissivouloud, giving youth practical tools is as important as any speech. Throughout the sessions, panels on project design, digital marketing and local fund-raising are programmed side by side with mock interviews, allowing attendees to test their confidence in front of seasoned human-resources managers.
Volunteering highlighted as growth engine
Speaking during the first morning, Paterne Loulendo, national officer for volunteer development at the United Nations in Congo and the neighbouring DRC, reminded the audience that “volunteer work is now officially regarded as a lever for sustainable development and collective well-being” under various UN resolutions.
Loulendo told aspiring activists that structured volunteer programmes, from literacy tutoring to climate clean-ups, can build soft skills highly valued by employers, including time management, teamwork and cross-cultural communication. Companies, he added, increasingly scan resumes for such civic experiences before making hiring decisions.
Leadership lessons from home
Local author and personal-development coach Darcy Massengo took the floor with a simple prop, a children’s storybook, to illustrate how leadership habits begin in early reading. He urged families to create “mini libraries at home” so that curiosity and initiative germinate long before university.
Citing his own journey from suburban Makélékélé to published writer, Massengo said reading had taught him to question problems and design solutions, a mindset employers reward. “If we wait for someone else, nothing moves,” he insisted, drawing nods from the rows of secondary-school pupils.
Matching ideas with mentors
Beyond speeches, a speed-mentoring segment paired young entrepreneurs with bankers, agronomists and digital experts. In ten-minute rounds they pitched projects ranging from cassava-flour bakeries to mobile health apps. Advisors provided instant feedback on market research, costing and legal registration, encouraging each participant to leave with a concrete to-do list.
Fifteen-year-old Clarisse Bita, founder of a recycling club at her lycée, left the table visibly energized. “I just learned we could turn plastic waste into paving tiles and even find seed funding,” she said, clutching a notebook packed with phone numbers and potential partners.
Aligning with national development goals
The symposium is supported by the Executive Secretariat of the Consultative Youth Council, whose representative, Dieudonné Mabiala, praised the initiative for “materialising the National Youth Policy” by linking grassroots energy with institutional guidance. He underlined that volunteer credits can now count toward official vocational certificates.
Mabiala’s office also coordinates the Corps of Young Volunteers of Congo, launched last year under the patronage of President Denis Sassou Nguesso to channel skills into public-interest projects such as school renovation, agro-forestry and blood donation drives, all fully aligned with the country’s Twelve-Point Development Plan.
Tying in global observances
By design, the symposium coincides with International Volunteer Day on 5 December, giving participants the chance to join city-wide clean-up activities before the closing ceremony. Organisers believe this symbolic overlap boosts visibility and reminds institutions that youth engagement is both local and global.
According to data shared by the United Nations Volunteer Programme, almost 6,000 Congolese registered on its digital platform over the past two years, a figure speakers cited to argue that “momentum is real and needs structure” through events like the Brazzaville gathering.
What happens after the lights turn off
Before dispersing, participants will draft a “Commitment Charter” listing measurable goals such as hours of community service, the number of trees planted or internships secured. The document will be published on social media and followed up through monthly virtual check-ins for six months.
Organisers promise a public dashboard tracking these pledges, an approach inspired by open-data advocates. “Transparency keeps motivation high,” Dissivouloud said, adding that the platform should launch in January and will be accessible on low-bandwidth smartphones to include rural volunteers.
A photo-friendly, shareable event
Throughout the two days, live music, selfie corners and a hashtag wall encourage participants to flood TikTok, WhatsApp and Instagram with images of debate circles and laughter-filled icebreakers, amplifying the message that civic engagement can be as vibrant and trending as any football final.
Service as bridge to jobs
Economists say Congo’s labour market absorbs only one in three graduates yearly, so community service becomes a bridge between school and paid work during diversification efforts.
