U-Report Providing a Voice to Young Africans
Presenting findings from the first-ever U-Report Pan-African poll on the Day of the African Child
Humanitarian crises in Africa continue to spill over borders in recent years, with children and families increasingly on the move. It is estimated that almost 75 million children in Africa live in conflict affected areas.
In recognition of this crisis across the continent UNICEF and its partners wanted to better understand what young people, Africa’s future leaders, think of the state of affairs. U-Report was able to amplify the voices of Africa’s young people by conducting its first ever U-Report Pan-African poll.
The results were striking — two-thirds of the nearly 86,000 youth surveyed across 9 countries agreed that African leaders are not doing enough to stop conflict.
The poll was conducted in Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Central African Republic, Senegal, Liberia, Zimbabwe, Cameroon and Guinea about conflict and crisis in the region via SMS.
The findings of the survey were then shared with African leaders on the Day of the African Child at the Pan-African Summit in Ethiopia.
Poll Key Findings
Humanitarian crises in Africa continue to spill over borders in recent years, with children and families increasingly on the move. More than 1.2 million people face insecurity in the Central African Republic due to a complex humanitarian and protection crisis that has spread to neighbouring countries. Nearly 1.3 million children have been displaced by violence linked to the Boko Haram insurgency across Cameroon, Chad, the Niger and Nigeria. Two years into the conflict in South Sudan, nearly 2.4 million people have fled their homes, including 721,000 living as refugees. Burundi is facing a protection crisis that has driven some 265,000 people to flee across borders.
U-Report’s Pan-African poll provided, for the first time, a platform for young people to express their concerns about these far reaching humanitarian crises. Their responses were amplified in a tangible way through advocacy with key decision makers from the African Union. As the U-Report community continues to grow there is an increased opportunity to bridge the divide between the social discourse and decision making with a hope to make a marked change in the communities in which it operates.
