By JOHNPAUL MPUNDU AND PHELILE MWANDILA –
THE Ministry of Youth and Sport has established one-stop youth service hubs in all the provinces in the country to address health and wellness issues affecting youths.
National Youth Development Council (NYDC) chairperson Saviour Chishimba announced the establishment of the one-stop youth service hubs yesterday during the commemoration of International Youth Day held at their offices.
Dr Chishimba said the one-stop youth service hubs would offer counselling and coordination of mental rehabilitation programmes for youths involved in mental disorder illness.
‘‘The minister of Youth and Sport will in the next couple of months begin to launch the one-stop youth service hubs that have been established by the NYDC in all the 10 provinces of Zambia,’’ he said.
He said NYDC would work with international Labour Organisation (ILO) in advancing the legacy of youth development.
He said the youth hubs would be made available to ILO programmes for youth job creation in the country.
He appealed to the youth and public officers in the country to change their attitude towards work as Zambia commemorated its Golden Jubilee.
Dr Chishimba said it was a moral duty of NYDC officers to change the public’s attitudes towards youth work and to translate the progressive polices of the Government and executive orders of the President into results-oriented actions. He said youths must aspire for a shared vision and challenge the status quo,
in collaboration with Government to develop long term development objectives that would make the country great.
Dr Chishimba said this being an International Youth Day event,
Zambian youth development practitioners should think globally while acting locally on issues that affected the youth. This year’s International Youth Day Commemoration was under the theme ‘Mental Health Matters’.
The United Nations representative Martin Clemenson said International Youth Day was an awareness day that aimed to bring to the attention of governments and international community of various youth issues.
Dr Clemenson said the day was also aimed at celebrating the potential of youths as partners in national development.
He said this year’s theme was critical because it highlighted youth’s social inclusion of youths with mental illness as well as the urgency to reduce the stigma that surrounds the youths with mental illnesses.
Dr Clemenson also said UN hoped that the Government of Zambia would continue to partner with them in promoting the rights of youths with mental illnesses.
