About Us

Mobilizing Africa’s Unemployed and Underemployed Youth

The incidence of youth unemployment in sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to be over 20 percent. The dynamics and causes of youth unemployment in Africa are complex and multi-dimensional. Youth (between 15 and 25) represent more than 60 percent of the continent’s total population and 45 percent of the full labor force. Unlike other developing regions, sub-Saharan Africa’s population is becoming more youthful, with youth as a proportion of the total population projected at over 75 percent by 2015 due to the high fertility rate underlying the demographic momentum. The expectation is that this increase in youth will not decline before 20 years or more.

Many youths have little or no skills and are therefore primarily excluded from productive economic and social life. Those with some education often exhibit skills irrelevant to the current demand in the labor market, in a situation where education and skills requirements are increasing, resulting in millions of unemployed and underemployed youths.

Twenty-First Century African Youth Movement (AYM) is a youth-focused social entrepreneurship and capacity development charitable organization. We were founded in 1992, AYM, as a global initiative, endeavors to improve the lives of millions of youths in Africa by creating job opportunities and imparting them employable skills.

AYM puts young people on the path to self-sufficiency, economic productivity while fostering community resilience. We engage youth as social change-makers and an active force in the rebuilding and developing war-torn Sierra Leone and throughout Africa. We are currently working in the Jong Chiefdom, Bonthe District partnering with youth to build local community-driven programs and business enterprises.

JOIN US IN OUR MISSION

Mission Statement

Mobilizing Africa’s unemployed and underemployed youth is the key to the continent’s economic growth and stability. AYM works to mobilize marginalized youth through education, training and creates entrepreneurial opportunities to help move communities away from poverty, disease, and hunger. AYM aims to establish personal empowerment and community resilience by energizing its critical youth population as change agents to reverse social, economic marginalization, and stagnation.

Twenty-First Century African Youth Movement (AYM) exists to facilitate increased access for disadvantaged African youths to critical resources and opportunities required for enhancing their productivity and relevance to their nations and communities. Our mission is to create jobs and employment for youths in Africa. We educate and employ young people in technology, agribusiness, eco-tourism, entrepreneurship, and the creative arts to revitalize the country’s potential and bring its population social and political stability.

The organization is an emerging national initiative that will primarily engage youths as change-makers in the rebuilding and development of Sierra Leone through innovative and progressive local community-driven programs and youth-focused enterprises.

Facts About African Youth

With 200 million people aged between 15 and 24, Africa has the youngest population in the world.

Between 2000 and 2008, despite world-topping economic growth rates, and a better-educated youth, Africa created only 16 million jobs for young people aged between 15 and 24.

Today, youth represent 60 percent of the continent’s unemployed, and of these 40 million young people, 22 million have given up on finding a job, many of them women.

Objectives

To empower young people in Africa with knowledge, skills, and other resources to enhance their productivity to increase their chances of sustainable employment.
To support young people in Africa imbibe and develop a strong sense of civic responsibility and collective consciousness.
To facilitate processes that would have young people in Africa organize and relentlessly pursue peaceful development, justice, and human rights in all of their endeavors.
To promote the participation of youths in development work through volunteerism and gainful employment.
To empower young people to develop and improve on local initiatives and impact responsible control over natural resources pertinent to them and the communities in which they live.
To contribute to the accelerated development of grassroots leadership institutions that promote Youth entrepreneurship, community participation, and civic responsibility.
To contribute to the development and promotion of viable youth-centered creative industries in Africa.

Where We Work

AYM is Working to Make a Real Difference in Peoples Lives

Twenty-First Century African Youth Movement is currently working in these areas to help make a real difference. To find out more about the positive impact AYM makes in these areas of the world, please click below:

USA

Africa

Sierra Leone

United Kingdom

The Founder

Abu-Hassan Koroma

Founder, President & CEO

Abu-Hassan “Askia” Koroma is the founder of the Twenty-First Century African Youth Movement (AYM). He currently serves as its CEO and President with an AYM leadership team. The team consists of capable volunteer staff, online volunteers, and support networks worldwide to empower and mobilize rural Africa youth through multiple engagement channels. AYM is redesigning economically viable operations, focusing on creating Social Enterprise Centers and good jobs across Africa – starting in Sierra Leone!

Askia founded the first African Chapter of the United Nations of Youth (now the United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY) Sierra Leone in 1989. He served as its first National Coordinator until April 1991. As UNOY National Coordinator, Askia was the youth representative on the UNICEF National Taskforce Committee for the World Summit on Children held in New York in 1990. The UNICEF National Taskforce Committee designated UNOY to coordinate the National Candlelight vigils before and after the Summit.

Askia was elected member of the 1992 UNOY International Working Group at the second International Conference of UNOY in Schrool, The Netherlands. He was re-elected as a member of the International Working Group in Minsk, Belarus, in 1993.

Askia holds a Higher Teacher’s Certificate (HTC) in Art from the Milton Margai Teachers College (now Milton Margai College of Education and Technology) in Sierra Leone. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the University Of Wisconsin -Madison, a Masters in Diplomacy (International Commerce) and, an MBA from Norwich University, Norwich, Vermont.

Askia combines the creative potentials of visual Art and the humanities to mobilize young volunteers worldwide to support AYM and contribute to reversing Africa’s social and economic marginalization. He believes in active engagement with the global community for ideas, financial and material support. Askia also believes in cultivating volunteer commitment to creating employment for rural African youth, increasing their income and quality of life, and contributing to peace and stability in Africa.

From November 1993 to November 1994, Askia was a Volunteer in Service to America (VISTA). VISTA is a U.S. Corporation for National and Community Service program that “places individuals in a variety of situations where the application of individual talent and dedication bring an added dimension to federal, state, and private nonprofit organizations assisting low-income communities.” Askia was hired as a Youth Business Mentoring Program Assistant to focus on intensive three-week pre-employment training and job placement of youths.

Askia is a Humanist, Artist, and Poet. His painting has been exhibited in the Porter Butts Gallery, “67Th Annual Student Art Exhibition” at UW-Madison. His poem on the “Waters of Wisconsin” was published in the Spring 2003 Wisconsin Academy Review. He was also a nominated semi-finalist in the 5th Annual Volvo for life Awards in 2007.