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Beaven Dhliwayo Features Writer
In a world of rapid change, young people in Zimbabwe need the right mix of skills to thrive.

Lately, access to information is increasing, and memorising facts is becoming less important than it was in the past.

Although academic skills remain important, they are not sufficient to foster thoughtful, productive and engaged citizens.

Young people everywhere need to develop a greater breadth of skills to evaluate and apply knowledge in ways that meet the new demands of the changing social and economic landscape.

A recent interaction with youths in Murehwa district at an engagement platform organised by Self Help Development Foundation (SHDF), indicate that the amount of information the youth have is very limited.

This is despite all the programmes being put in place by Government, civil society organisations and development partners to empower the youths so they can participate in the development of the  country.

SHDF is a local NGO which works in community development particularly in rural areas with a direct focus on building women’s capacities to become economically self-reliant.

Established in 1963, SHDF continued re-focusing and youths have also taken centre stage in their areas of focus.

Worth noting is that there is lack of confidence among the youths in expressing themselves on what needs to be done to improve their livelihoods.

SHDF director Wadzanai Vere told The Herald that there is need by all stakeholders to create youth spaces where they can interact on their own and be strengthened and have their confidence build.

Her organisation is hopeful to continue rolling out youth programmes, that will deal with more specific needs that are arising in today’s world.

Such critical needs include constitutional literacy, digital economy and career guidance among other areas that foster development.

Constitutional literacy should be the first point of call for the youths for them to know their rights and responsibilities as citizens so that they will be able to take action based on the Constitution.

To date, women and youth remain marginalised, vulnerable and unaware of their rights.

Their voices are not heard and they have low participation in governance and development programmes in their communities.

According to findings from a recent Civic Engagement for Accountability and Democracy in Zimbabwe (CEADZ) research study, only 43 percent of women and 14 percent of youth in the rural areas are conversant with constitutional provisions.

There is limited knowledge about constitutional rights and governance processes due to limited access to information.

The research is clear that there is limited confidence among the youths and women to participate in governance processes due to fear of social reprimand for being vocal, fear of violence associated with engagement in governance processes; and fear of failing to secure the rights demanded.

This aggravates the problem of women and youth participation in governance processes.

The youths should know that the Constitution describes the rights and duties, and legal relationship among citizens with the many institutions of Government.

It imposes limits on official powers and balances the power of the state with the rights of the citizens.

In our fragmented and divided society, it seeks to promote unity in diversity and weld people into one common nationality.

This knowledge is vital for the youth to realise their role in the development of the country which seeks to become an upper-middle income economy by 2030.

Hence there is need among the youth themselves to be eager to seek knowledge that will help them to occupy spaces that need their inputs, or risk being left behind.

Youths also have to take advantage of the digital economy.

Digital economy is one collective term for all economic transactions that occur on the internet. It is also known as the web economy or the Internet economy.

With the advent of technology and the process of globalisation, the digital and traditional economies are merging into one.

In the last 15 years, the country has witnessed tremendous growth of digital platforms and their influence on people’s lives.