[House Hearing, 116 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
THE YOUTH BULGE IN AFRICA: CONSIDERATIONS FOR U.S. POLICY
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH,
GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
FEBRUARY 13, 2020
__________
Serial No. 116-98
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/, http://docs.house.gov,
or http://www.govinfo.gov
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
39-653PDF WASHINGTON : 2022
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York, Chairman
BRAD SHERMAN, California MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas, Ranking
GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York Member
ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey
GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia STEVE CHABOT, Ohio
THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida JOE WILSON, South Carolina
KAREN BASS, California SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania
WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts TED S. YOHO, Florida
DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois
AMI BERA, California LEE ZELDIN, New York
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas JIM SENSENBRENNER, Wisconsin
DINA TITUS, Nevada ANN WAGNER, Missouri
ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York BRIAN MAST, Florida
TED LIEU, California FRANCIS ROONEY, Florida
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania BRIAN FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania
DEAN PHILLIPS, Minnesota JOHN CURTIS, Utah
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota KEN BUCK, Colorado
COLIN ALLRED, Texas RON WRIGHT, Texas
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan GUY RESCHENTHALER, Pennsylvania
ABIGAIL SPANBERGER, Virginia TIM BURCHETT, Tennessee
CHRISSY HOULAHAN, Pennsylvania GREG PENCE, Indiana
TOM MALINOWSKI, New Jersey STEVE WATKINS, Kansas
DAVID TRONE, Maryland MIKE GUEST, Mississippi
JIM COSTA, California
JUAN VARGAS, California
VICENTE GONZALEZ, Texas
Jason Steinbaum, Staff Director
Brandon Shields, Republican Staff Director
------
Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and
International Organizations
KAREN BASS, California, Chair
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania CHRISTOPHER SMITH, New Jersey,
DEAN PHILLIPS, Minnesota Ranking Member
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota JIM SENSENBRENNER, Wisconsin
CHRISSY HOULAHAN, Pennsylvania RON WRIGHT, Texas
TIM BURCHETT, Tennessee
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
WITNESSES
Strong, Dr. Krystal, Assistant Professor, University of
Pennsylvania................................................... 7
Toungara, Ms. Macani, African Affairs Consultant................. 16
Dongala, Mr. Thierry, Founder, Accountable Africa................ 25
APPENDIX
Hearing Notice................................................... 40
Hearing Minutes.................................................. 41
Hearing Attendance............................................... 42
OPENING STATEMENT SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD
Opening statement submitted for the record from Chair Bass....... 43
THE YOUTH BULGE IN AFRICA: CONSIDERATIONS FOR U.S. POLICY
Thursday, February 13, 2020
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health,
Global Human Rights, and International
Organizations,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in
room 2200 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Karen Bass
[chairwoman of the subcommittee] presiding.
Ms. Bass. Good morning, everyone, and let me thank in
advance our witnesses for being here.
The hearing for the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health,
Global Human Rights and International Organizations will come
to order.
I note that a quorum is present because the ranking member
and I agree and that makes it real.
So we are meeting today to hear testimony on the youth
bulge in Africa and policy recommendations from our panel on
the best ways to engage African youth and, hopefully, to also
hear your policy recommendations.
Without objection, all members have 5 days to submit
statements, questions, and extraneous materials for the record,
subject to the length limitation in the rules.
I recognize myself for the purpose of making an opening
statement.
Almost 60 percent of Africa's population in 2019 was under
the age of 25, making Africa the youngest continent. Social
scientists label this demographic profile as a youth bulge. The
theory contends that societies with rapidly growing young
populations often end up with rampant unemployment and large
pools of disaffected youth, who are more susceptible to
recruitment into rebel or terrorist groups. Countries with weak
political institutions are most vulnerable to youth bulge-
related violence and social unrest.
In contrast to this perspective, the African Union's
African Youth Charter States that Africa's youth is the biggest
resource in Africa's growing young population, offers enormous
potential, improvements in health and education on the
continent, put Africa's youth in a more advantageous position
than the generations before, offering better conditions for
advancing human capital.
I do not believe that it is rocket science to figure out
how to deal with a burgeoning youth population. I think young
people are the same all over the world, which means young
people need education and opportunities. Some would say in many
poor communities in the United States we have a youth bulge,
too.
And I have found, when I first started in Congress and
would travel to Africa, a lot of similarities between the inner
city youth in Africa and the inner city areas where people
feels there is not an economic opportunity, the education
system is poor, really little access to transportation and
jobs. Then, surprise, surprise, what happens? In the United
States, our way of dealing with that, though, has been a
contributing factor to mass incarceration. If you look at who
is in prison in the United States, you will talk about poor
people, young people of color.
So I do not like the perspective that sees a youth bulge as
being a problem and something that is very negative. And in
many situations, in talking about Africa, young people are
almost to blame for the youth bulge, which is kind of funny. We
are left asking: What should we do with these potential
destabilizers or what about the responsibility of the leaders?
We do have leaders in office for 15, 20, 30, or longer. We have
leaders that are manipulating their constitutions, rigging
elections, jailing the potential opposition or activists to
stay in office.
In the face of Democratic backsliding, I have been
impressed by the pro-democracy activists across the continent,
who nonviolently protest and risk their lives for political
change because, ironically, we will talk about youth as being a
problem but, historically, young people have always been at the
forefront of positive social change and I think Africa is no
exception to that.
We saw this most recently in Sudan during the citizen
uprising that pushed for a civilian-led transitional government
after 30 years of autocratic and dictatorial rule but there are
examples, including Nigeria's Not Too Young to Run campaign,
which seeks to reduce the age limit for running for elected
office in Nigeria. There was LUCHA in DRC and Burkina Faso and
Senegal, among many, many others.
I cite these examples to show, again, just to verify that I
believe that young people are the drivers of nonviolent
political and social change.
I was recently in Darfur, meeting with a group of young
activists, who played a significant role in Sudan's transition,
and it was interesting talking to them because they have strong
opinions about the leadership but, yet at the same time, they
did not see themselves participating in the leadership. They
saw themselves as standing on the outside. And so we tried to
encourage them to actually be a part of the process and not
just be an outside critic but to, in fact, run for office.
My colleagues and I here in Congress know that it is in the
best interest of the United States for the African continent to
be strong. And for the African continent to be strong, we need
to do whatever is necessary to make sure that young people have
opportunities and that African countries stabilize and thrive.
I now recognize the ranking member for the purpose of
making an opening statement.
Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I will be
brief because we will have some votes very shortly. I want to
thank you for convening this very important hearing.
Africa, as we all know, is a continent of great hope and
extraordinary promise. Unlike Western Europe, especially China
and countries of East Asia, and, in deed our own country, where
we see demographic decline in aging populations in Africa, we
see youthfulness and opportunity.
True, there are many countervailing winds with which Africa
and its youth must contend many challenges--war, disease,
tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, extremism, and corruption--but all too
often, there is a focus on these negative factors without
looking at the enormous positive things that are happening on
the subcontinent.
Africa is a faith-based continent. I have had the privilege
of meeting with many faith leaders in Africa--Christian,
Muslim, Traditional--and I always walk away impressed on how
much the faith of the average African sustains them and gives
them hope for the future. You know it says in the Old Testament
without faith, there is no hope. And I believe that and we see
it on how they, the people of Africa, do carry themselves. It
is extraordinary.
I very much look forward to hearing today's testimony and
also welcome back an old friend, Mr. Dongala, who worked on
this subcommittee when I was chairman. Thank you for your
service then, as well as now. And I welcome the other witnesses
as well.
I yield back.
Ms. Bass. Thank you. Well, we are going to move forward and
hear from the witnesses. And just so you know, we have been
told votes could be called between 10:20 and 10:40, although we
never really know. So we thought we would just forge ahead and
see how far we could get. Hopefully, we will not be interrupted
but we never know.
Dr. Krystal Strong is an assistant professor in the
Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania,
with faculty affiliations in the Departments of Anthropology
and Africana Studies. Dr. Strong holds a Ph.D. in anthropology
from UC, Berkeley--I like that. Her research in teaching
focuses on youth, education, activism, new media, and popular
culture in Africa and the African Diaspora.
She has 15 years of experience as an educator, and scholar,
and is currently completely multiple research projects related
to African youth.
Macani Toungara currently runs a youth leadership--a
leadership capacity-building program for emerging African
leaders.
Previously, Ms. Toungara was the senior director for
program development at TechnoServe in Washington, DC. In this
role, she managed the development of strategic bids, led donor
engagement with the Gates Foundation, the Department of
Agriculture, and U.K. Department for International Development,
and supported program development capacity-building.
She has expertise in subjects including public-private
partnerships, SME development, market systems development, food
security, and job creation.
Thierry Dongala is the founder of Accountable Africa, a
consulting firm that advises on African accountability efforts
and management of African sovereign wealth.
Mr. Dongala is a former senior advisor for Africa at the
U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs under the leadership of
Mr. Smith.
Prior to working on Congress, he co-chaired forums on
accountability with Doctor--with David Walker, former U.S.
Comptroller General and former CEO of the U.S. Government
Accountability Office.
We will take your testimony now, ask that you speak for 5
minutes, and we do have your full testimony. You can summarize.
Dr. Strong.
STATEMENT OF DR. KRYSTAL STRONG, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR,
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
Dr. Strong. Distinguished Chair, Ranking Member, and
members of the subcommittee, in 30 years, one-quarter of the
world's youth population will live in Africa. The future of
Africa is tied to whether this population is able to transition
into sustainable livelihoods and societal roles in which youth
are valued and supported.
Over the past 15 years, I have studied the leadership and
activism of youth across the continent. I have personally
engaged with hundreds of youth in Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana,
and Kenya, learning about the challenges they face and their
perspectives on what is needed to bring transformation to their
communities.
An overwhelming source of frustration youth expressed was
the gap in power between youth and elder leaders in the
workplace, schools, and especially in government. Though youth
under the age of 30 makes up 70 percent of Africa's population,
the average age of leaders is 70 years old.
Fred Swaniker, co-founder of the African Leadership Academy
describes the current generation of African youth as the
generation that will fix what past leaders have broken. My
research experiences affirm this as a tangible possibility if
youth are given the social supports they need.
I have found that youth are not waiting for political
leaders to hand over power in order to assume leadership roles.
On the contrary, youth are taking on the work that governments
and social institutions are meant to do, without adequate
resources but with great creativity.
I would like to highlight two contexts where we can see
progressive youth leadership emerging: organized student
politics and civic protests, and youth leadership development
initiatives.
First, organized student politics and civic protests. In
2010, I researched organized student politics at the University
of Ibadan, Nigeria's flagship university, after the end of
decades of military rule. I studied the effect that the opening
of student leadership opportunities had on this first cohort of
youth to grow up under democracy.
I found that with the opportunity to engage in student
politics, students began to see themselves as political actors
and to imagine future careers in public service. Student
leaders devised ambitious projects to improve school
conditions, such as buying a generator for the library, so that
students would have electricity to study during frequent campus
blackouts, and providing Wi-Fi access to residents of a
dormitory in the absence of stable internet service on campus.
We see here that student leaders are taking the initiative
to provide basic necessities that, in other context, would be
provided by the government. Yet in most cases, student leaders
were unable to execute such goals because they lacked access to
resources and because student authorities--because school
authorities are often hostile to student leadership. When
students spoke out against school authorities or engaged in
peaceful protests about these conditions, they were met with
disciplinary punishment and even expulsion.
Witnessing Nigerian students engaged in protests in
response to school conditions and government inaction prompted
me to research the causes of school protests in other African
countries. After studying 1,100 incidents of school protests
that have occurred since 2000, I have learned that most
protests are caused by infrastructural issues like lack of
water and electricity and by policies that negatively affect
students, such as tuition fee hikes.
Similar to organized student politics, these civic protests
have long-term positive effects on youth. Participation teaches
youth how to articulate demands for societal changes and
affirms their agency in seeing to it that such changes are
implemented. These activities show that schools are rare social
institutions, where youth have opportunities to gain practical
experience in leadership and representative governance.
In the second context where progressive youth leadership is
developing is youth leadership development initiatives. Many of
the Nigerian students I formed relationships with have
participated increasingly in international leadership
development programs designed to support African youth.
On graduate, Timi Olagunju, was part of the 2015 cohort of
the Mandela Washington Program within the Young African
Leadership Initiative established under President Obama. After
the program, Timi wrote a book entitled, Yes, African Can,
which describes his YALI experience. And when Timi returned to
Nigeria, he helped lead a campaign called Not Too Young to Run,
which advocated for lowering the age limit for elected office.
And in 2019, Timi ran, unsuccessfully, for the Federal House of
Representatives of the Young Nigerian's Party. This is one
person's experience but we have identified 250 other such
programs that support African youth leadership globally.
I have emphasized these activities that illustrate
grassroots youth leadership because they offer a rubric for
meaningfully and respectfully shifting our approaches toward
Africa in ways that will benefit youth.
My recommendations are that we better engage with young
people where they are already socially and politically engaged,
and that we leverage relationships with African Governments to
persuade current leaders to create youth-centered policies and
leadership opportunities. This can be accomplished with three
approaches.
Yes--first, expand educational and leadership opportunities
in the United States. The recent increase that we have seen in
travel restrictions for Nigerians, Eritreans, and citizens of
other African countries undermines young people's ability to
take advantage of such opportunities. Lifting these
restrictions is a needed step.
Second, support youth leadership development in African
countries, themselves.
And finally, pressure leaders to create youth-centered
policies and leadership opportunities.
I thank you for the opportunity to speak and look forward
to offering more context in the Q and A.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Strong follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Ms. Bass. Thank you. I appreciate that.
And since we do not have a clock here, I did not realize
that--I will go like this when you have a minute left. Okay?
Ms. Toungara.
STATEMENT OF MS> MACANI TOUNGARA, AFRICAN AFFAIRS CONSULTANT
Ms. Toungara. Thank you, Chairwoman Bass, Ranking Member
Smith, and members of the subcommittee for providing the
opportunity to address the panel on the youth bulge in Africa.
In my current work, I run a leadership development program
that provides training for 200 emerging African leaders from 45
countries. I see every day the incredible challenges they face
to start and grown businesses, advocate for change, and invest
in their community's children. I am proud to represent them and
their needs in today's testimony.
Moreover, as the child of an African American mother and
Ivorian father, I have had the privilege of living in both West
Africa and the United States, while working on issues of
economic development and business growth. I am passionate about
promoting policies that uplift this generation of young people
and unleash their innovation and creativity.
By 2030, one-quarter of the world's total under 25
population will be in Africa. African youth are global change-
makers. They will ensure that the African continent fulfills
its potential to lift its citizens out of poverty and power the
global economy. But for that to happen, those who care about a
stable Africa must coordinate their investment in today's
youth.
Key challenges facing them include access to education,
work force development, and job creation. And policies targeted
at promoting education, supporting the small and medium
enterprise sector, the SME sector, growing the digital economy,
and growing trade will have positive impacts on young people
but also support access to African goods for American consumers
and create larger markets for U.S. exports.
First, I would like to focus on the education piece. Across
the continent, the capacity of educational assistance to
educate young people does not meet demand. Millions have had
their education cut short by lack of access, financial
challenges, and civil conflict. Separately, there are very
educated youth unable to find formal jobs. For some, their
skills do not align with labor demand, a challenge exacerbated
by lack of access to STEM education and digital skills. And for
others, highly prized government jobs just are not available.
As a result, there is a need to invest in educational
systems that open opportunities for entrepreneurship, entry
into skilled trades, and entry into the digital economy.
Complementing technical and vocational training with personal
and professional effectiveness training, otherwise known as
soft skills training, is a powerful way to increase the impact
of programs already taking place because they create greater
confidence by young people in their ability to engage the
marketplace.
Shifting to a focus on the SME sector, it is worth nothing
that 75 percent of new entrants to the labor market will work
in self-employment or in microenterprise. U.S. foreign policy
already contributes to the development of formal private sector
jobs by creating opportunities for U.S. companies to do more
business on the continent. Nonetheless, we can do more to
address the African SME sector that is populated by young
entrepreneurs, support supply chain connections between urban
and rural areas, and particularly to rural farmers, and drives
income generation.
The solutions that are working involve bringing technical
knowledge together with local expertise to develop approaches
appropriately tailored and targeted to the needs of young
people and their national context. And public-private
partnerships are one way of doing this effectively.
In light of this, I have four policy recommendations.
First, leverage Peace Corps to channel U.S. expertise on
STEM education, the digital economy, and soft skills training
into the networks of youth-focused organizations on the
continent.
Second, continue to support public-private partnerships
that bring knowledge, and expertise, and market access to
African communities and youth-led enterprises, and particularly
through the USAID Global Development Alliance Program.
Third, leverage U.S. programming to center youth engagement
more broadly. They want to influence their governments but they
also want to influence the programming that is happening in
their communities.
And fourth, adapt the lessons learned from the Small
Business Administration to help build the capacity of African
institutions and organizations supporting SMEs on the
continent.
Going forward, U.S. policy toward Africa needs to take the
long view and not be subject to short-term political whims. The
Chinese have been effective in positioning themselves as
investment partners to African Governments through their
persistent presence and a strategy that engages the private
sector, local communities, and governments. The U.S. response
to this dynamic should be to lean into the competition. A
strong reservoir of good will exists toward the United States
among young leaders in Africa. We can tap into that enthusiasm
to ensure that American businesses, goods, and services are
part of the economic fabric of a competitive African economy,
one led by its youth.
Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Toungara follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Ms. Bass. Thank you.
Mr. Dongala.
STATEMENT OF THIERRY DONGALA, FOUNDER, ACCOUNTABLE AFRICA
Mr. Dongala. Good morning and thank you again, Chairwoman
Bass, Ranking Member Smith, and distinguished members of the
committee. Thank you for the invitation to testify on the youth
bulge in Africa and considerations for U.S. policy.
I would like to start by acknowledging the work of Dr. Jack
Goldstone of George Mason University. He actually coined the
term youth bulge. He has been a resource to me for over a
decade and others, as we have mostly been working with
corporations and U.S. investors who want to understand the
demographic shift happening in Africa.
What is important--you know I do not want to over-simplify
the term youth bulge but I kind of compare it to, when I
explained it to investors and businesses that want to install
themselves in Africa, I compare it to the North Atlantic
Current, you know a sort of wind. You know it is a force of
nature, really what is happening in Africa. It is a force of
nature that any serious actor must take into account.
You know when you think of the North Atlantic winds, you
know it is pilots and sailors. They account for where the wind
is blowing and adjust course accordingly. I hope that my
testimony, and even the testimony of these other witnesses,
will help U.S. policy adjust accordingly, too.
Africa has the potential to be important for investors
today, and investors, and business, and entrepreneurs for a
different reason that it has been important in the past. The
demographic winds that are blowing in Africa, or the
demographic change of the youth population, can actually be
harnessed. If it is harnessed correctly, Africa is poised to
become one of the largest consumer markets in the world and
even an engine of global economic growth.
This means that if I am an investor or a business and I am
looking for the next sales destination, you know for my
American goods, I am increasingly looking to Africa. This shift
is important because rather than just having investors value
Africa for its raw materials and resources, they can now value
Africa for being a traditional or a trading partner first.
Companies like Apple--you know what does this mean? It means
that companies like Apple won't be looking at the Congo as just
a source for coltan and cobalt but, actually, a sales hub for
its products. This means that Apple will now consider the
standard of living of the Congolese consumers as an integral
part of their profit-making equation.
You know NBA Africa, to continue along the corporate
perspective, NBA Africa is actually evidence of this shift in
thinking toward the continent. You know Africa, for a long
time, has been a source of young talent for the NBA. I mean
just watch the finals and you will see a whole bunch of young
African players. But you know it is now becoming--it has the
potential to become a profit center for the NBA. This means
they can build stadiums, sell tickets, bring more advertising
there.
And so this is evidence of the shift that is happening. It
is not an easy shift you know because you know you need to
protect purchasing power. There is a lot of growth that needs
to happen for it to be the final--that large destination for
consumer goods.
But this is why this hearing is important. And for U.S.
policymakers to get it right and African leaders to pay
attention to this wind, we can encourage this transition to
be--to harness the winds of this demographic change. You know
if it is not harnessed correctly, this is where--and I really
appreciated Chairwoman Bass' comment that this where it turns
into a negative. I mean it does not have to.
So what we must do to prevent these forces from becoming a
negative, we must prevent the youth bulge from aligning with
disenfranchisement and the despair that a lot of youth have.
As I am closing my remarks, I wanted to mention you know I
was in Senegal on vacation with my wife over the holidays. My
wife is Senegalese. And we had a driver and he was explaining
to us the predicament of his son. His son finished with an
engineering degree and he was explaining you know how his son
you know he was discouraged because he couldn't find a job for
years, actually. And in French, he said mort vivant, which
means kind of a zombie you know. And it is this despair that we
have to prevent the youth bulge from coupling with because this
is what drives delinquent activities. Even here in the U.S., it
is the same case.
But you know to prevent this from becoming negative, a
negative trend, I want to conclude my remarks by saying--by
giving one recommendation. And this recommendation is for U.S.
policy to empower African countries and even regional bodies to
protect themselves.
Why do I say that? It is because African youth are the most
vulnerable and require strong institutions and effective
governments to cultivate, and nurture, and protect their
economic potential. You know youth are the first to suffer when
governments and institutions are weak and inept. Africa's most
vulnerable are preyed upon when Africa is not capable to
protect itself.
So U.S. policy should work toward positioning Africa to
protect itself militarily and also economically. So there is
two ways that this could happen. One--just to get through the
two ways, is one is if the U.S. could--if we could hold
hearings to reconsider U.S. opposition to the African Union
0.02 percent levy that allows it to self-finance and take care
of itself; and the second one is the African Continental Free
Trade Area should have a component to protect economic
potential of youth.
So thank you again for this----
[The prepared statement of Mr. Dongala follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Ms. Bass. Thank you. And we will have more time for
discussion but I want to go ahead and begin questioning. And I
will ask my questions last so my colleagues have an
opportunity, especially since this is a fly out day.
We will ask questions for 5 minutes. Everybody gets 5
minutes and then, if you want a second round, we will do a
second round. So, I will go to my ranking member.
Mr. Smith. Madam Chair, thank you very much and, again,
thanks for calling this important hearing.
Mr. Dongala, you really emphasized the importance of
tackling the unemployment issue. I think one of your comments
about if we do not encourage Africa's transition to becoming
the next largest consumer market in the world, the force of the
youth bulge will likely turn Africa into the world's main
conflict zone. That is very--an ominous warning about if we do
not do what we can do to help encourage that youth employment.
You also point out Chinese investors displaced local labor.
Maybe you want to speak to that issue. I thought your comment
about--and all of your testimoneys are fantastic but there is
only 5 minutes--your comment about being in Senegal and you
know that the impact of having the training but not being able
to find that job, and how discouraging that truly is to that
young man that you spoke about, having spoken to his father.
If you could speak to those issues, I would appreciate it
and maybe you could elaborate a little bit on the 0.02 percent
levy. I mean that is one of your two recommendations.
And then when you talk about free trade, you know we have a
few things, like AGOA, but that is very limited but it is very
important. We just had the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Free Trade
Agreement, which I think is the best trade agreement I have
ever seen. When the AFL/CIO and the Chamber of Commerce both
agree to it, it is historic. It has labor rights, environmental
protections. And I voted against NAFTA and held several
hearings when NAFTA was being considered and it had none of
those things. It had admonishments. It had you know feckless
language that did not do any of that. This one has all of that.
So hopefully, that could become a model for a greater African--
Pan-African Free Trade Agreement.
Mr. Dongala. Ranking Member Smith, thank you for the
question.
Yes, to start on the free trade and the economic potential,
you know I think what is very interesting, so Dr. Strong
mentioned about some--actually you know Ms. Toungara had
mentioned about the Chinese investment. You know a lot of
foreign investors, when they come into Africa, they can
displace, actually, the economic opportunities for the local
youth. So this is where trade agreements should have these
sorts of protections.
And in my recommendations, I recommended even you know here
in the U.S. we have the CFIUS, which is the Committee for
Foreign Investment in the U.S. We actually review foreign
capital coming into the U.S., making sure it does not--you know
for national security purposes that they are not buying--
African bodies should have these sorts of review committees
that are seeing the capital that is coming in. Is it actually
achieving--is it not--OK, yes, you are building a bridge here,
and you are doing this and that, but are you doing it the right
way? Are you affecting our youth--our local youth? This is a
sort of policy that we should encourage to happen in the
region.
On the 0.02 percent levy, I think, I believe it was 2015 or
2016 that the U.S. Government opposed the 0.02 percent levy for
the African Union to self-finance. The reason was about WTO
rules. But really I mean this is something that can be
negotiated because, if Africa is going to be the next largest
destination for consumer goods, and also if you want Africa to
be self-sustaining, protect itself, even fund the Sahel, it
needs to have its own way to finance itself.
So even holding a hearing as to what are the workable
solutions for the U.S. to support this self-sustaining would be
good.
And then thank you again for that comment on despair. You
know we stay in touch with our driver. And this is very
important because the human component of this, you know the
dignity of working is so important. You know these young--and I
hate to make it a young man issue but a lot of them are the
ones that go and join these militia groups, these young men,
because they do not have the money to buy dowry, to buy a wife,
or to pay for health care, you know they feel like they are not
fulfilling a stage in their adulthood, in their manhood, even.
And this is what even becomes the human force behind a lot of
the conflict. So if we could address some of that, it would be
very--if policy could address some of that, it would be very
helpful.
Mr. Smith. Thank you.
I like the idea of trade being emphasized. Some people say
trade, not aid. I think we need to provide the aid,
particularly on the humanitarian basis, but Africa is poised to
matriculate into the biggest market in the world, as you
indicated.
And I think I am the only baby boomer sitting on this
panel----
Ms. Bass. No you are not.
Mr. Smith [continuing]. But whole group in our country
certainly led to an unprecedented building of homes and home
ownership. And of course, it is still ongoing and we are still
growing as an economy. So I want to thank you for you
testimony.
I thank all three of you for your wonderful testimoneys.
I yield back.
Ms. Bass. Thank you, Mr. Ranking Member, and other baby
boomer. And I hope they do not use a dowry to buy a wife. That
kind of sounded terrible. And I hope, as we are having this
discussion, we think about gangs in inner city areas.
Ms. Houlahan.
Ms. Houlahan. Oh, thank you. I actually did not expect to
talk. Thank you very much for coming.
My questions are largely about women and girls, and their
health, and making sure that we are addressing those
particular--that particular population, and primarily for Dr.
Strong.
My first question is: Complications from pregnancy and
childbirth are the leading cause of death in adolescent girls
15 to 19 and it is, obviously, especially concerning in Africa.
So thinking about the potential of young African women, I just
wanted to note that we are supporting their health, and rights,
and ensuring that girls that can remain in school. How can the
U.S. best support those goals? Can you give us some concrete
examples of how we can be more helpful for that 15-to 19-year-
old young women population?
Dr. Strong. I am afraid that, Committee Member Houlahan,
that is a bit outside of my expertise, in terms of reproductive
issues.
However, what I have seen in my work around education and
girls' access to education is that there is a transformative
quality and experience of attending school. In Nigeria and many
other parts of the continent, girls' education is highly
politicized and restricted. If we think about the incident in
2014 with the kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls in Chibok
in Northern Nigeria, I think that gives us an understanding of
the political and humanitarian stakes of restricting access to
girls' education.
And what I have seen outside of the reproductive realm is
the ways that young women are given access to leadership
development through education, through organized student
politics and these should be expanded as one access of the
empowerment of girls and young women.
Ms. Houlahan. Thank you.
And my next question is for Mister--is it Dongala?
Mr. Dongala. Yes.
Ms. Houlahan. Hi. The Sahel is simultaneously experiencing
a severe refugee crisis and a spike in extremism. The U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees made an emergency declaration for
Burkina, Faso, Mali, and Niger as millions are fleeing from
their homes. And according to the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, there has been a rapid expansion of
extremist attacks.
How can we better engage the young people, young women in
particular, in this region as part of our counterterrorism
efforts?
I guess, if you can probably tell, my angle is on women and
empowering women. For a little bit of background on me, I sit
on this committee but I also serve on Armed Services as well.
And I really am very intrigued by empowering women, in
particular, to be part of the solution to extremism and extreme
violence.
Mr. Dongala. I can think of--I was recently in--thank you,
Congresswoman.
I was recently in Ethiopia and I can think of--you know
Ethiopia is one of the biggest contributors to peacekeepers.
And they have a lot of--they have women--like they have a lot
of women in the military, actually. And you know one component
that we are not looking at when we are looking at the Sahel is
yes, is the role that women can play.
In a lot of these communities, women, you know they are not
as much combatants but they are the ones that hold the
communities together. I think you know as Dr. Strong said, you
know we need to encourage some of our African counterpart
governments to consider ways to see women as assets in the
field.
One particular organization that I know that I was working
with in Ethiopia, they were working the menstrual cups that you
are washing and reusing. And when she was trying to educate the
Health Ministry, they were like oh, no, our women are--they do
not need that. And so they were not seeing some of the needs of
women as even kind of as co-equals.
So on that note, I just wanted to also say that from the
Sahel terrorism part, youth are--employment is just as
important as military.
Ms. Houlahan. Absolutely. Is that a minute or am I out of
time?
Ms. Bass. No, you have 30 more seconds.
Ms. Houlahan. And with my last kind of minute, if I could
ask a little bit more about your personal experience or your
professional experience with the influence of China in Africa,
particularly in terms of taking away or potentially taking away
jobs from Africans, is there some experience that you can
reflect on that would be helpful as well to this committee?
Ms. Toungara. So I think a lot of Chinese contractors
contract to bring their own employees from China because they
have a certain way of working in a work force that they are
wanting to engage with to do that work.
Ideally, in those negotiations, when governments are making
those negotiations, they need to negotiate to ensure that
Africans are also getting a certain amount of employment out of
those contracts.
So it is I think more of a situation of you know the
Chinese are very present across the continent. They are already
there. They are working. They are finding deals and they are
being sort of aggressive in pursuing opportunities.
And I think where we want to support African workers is in
supporting the governments, first of all, to understand the
universe of options that are negotiable, when it comes to these
deals, whether they are talking about with the Chinese, or
Middle Eastern partners, or European partners, frankly. This is
about empowering the ability to negotiate on behalf of their
populations, and ensure that the knowledge transfer happens so
that African subcontractors get some of those contracts, and
their employees get the benefits, and that Africans are working
and learning how to also do this kind of work in their own
communities.
Ms. Houlahan. Thank you. I yield back.
Ms. Bass. In inner city America, we fight for local hire
because lots of times in areas with high unemployment, the
people that are working do not reflect the folks that live
there.
Mr. Burchett, it is your turn.
Mr. Burchett. Thank you, Chairlady, and thank for foregoing
your questions. I always enjoy your questions a lot more than
mine. So I appreciate you doing that, though. And thank you all
for being here.
I am an odd person. You can ask anybody up here. I am
really into bamboo. I make bamboo skateboards and all kinds of
crazy stuff out of bamboo. It is like God's carbon fiber. But
in Africa, they make bamboo bicycles. We are trying to do that
here but the bamboo is not native. It is called an iron bamboo,
I believe, is the species. There are over a thousand species of
bamboo, oddly enough, but the ones that are native to Africa
are the ones that are conducive to making that.
And there are people that are making that over there and
some businessmen are over there doing it and teaching folks.
And I am concerned folks are being taken advantage of because
you know some poor fellow or lady does not actually know the
value of the American dollar, or whatever the country of origin
that these business people are coming in from, and I worry that
they maybe do not pay them a decent wage. And what I would like
to see is to teach the folks how to start their own businesses
and learn how to do that kind of thing. I mean that is
generational. That is what will change.
Because too, when you go into these countries where the
poor folks are, that is where a lot of the bad people in this
world take advantage of them. And I do not dig that at all. And
I am concerned also about the unemployment rates.
Which countries do you all feel like have made the most
progress to create jobs and which ones are lagging behind? You
know we always talk about Africa and you know, that is a big
country. And I go no, I think it is a continent.
But you know go ahead, brother. I am sorry.
Mr. Dongala. I would have to review the numbers but I can
just go anecdotally, based on the countries that I have been
visiting. I am really impressed by Senegal.
Mr. Burchett. That is fine. We are in Congress. We make
stuff up every day, brother. So you just go right ahead.
Mr. Dongala. I was recently--when I was in Senegal, so I
was impressed by the infrastructure investments that they have
made because what they are doing is decongesting the urban
centers. And that is actually a big problem because if you have
a lot of youth, young people in cities that are under-invested,
you know there is over capacity and that just makes room for
conflict.
So I think Senegal, they have done well in investing in the
roads, and building cities outside of the main city. I do not
know how that reflects too much on the unemployment rate.
Also, I think Ethiopia, I think Prime Minister Abiy is
definitely trying to address unemployment, especially among the
youth in Addis and Oromia because, if you look at where a lot
of the protests and a lot of the conflicts are coming from, you
could overlap the two populations. And so you know idle hands
are the devil's playground, right? That is what my grandma used
to say.
Mr. Burchett. My mama would say that many times.
Mr. Dongala. So these sorts of things, it is important--
these are the numbers that are important to look and you can
also overlap them with the conflict zones.
Ms. Bass. That is your 1 minute.
Mr. Burchett. One minute, Okay.
Would any of the rest of you all like to address that? Go
ahead, ma'am.
Ms. Toungara. Sure, I mean also anecdotally, you know I
think Rwanda has been rewarded by having a very systematic
investment program to bring in dollars and to bring in
investors. And that has led to positive economic growth for
them recently.
Another country that has done well at a high level has been
Cote D'Ivoire, which has achieved seven, eight, 9 percent
growth year-on-year through significant investment, and also
large road construction programs, and such that have helped
create jobs for a lot of people.
The challenges that even in that context people are still
struggling and they are still hungry. You know in Cote
D'Ivoire, for example, you know the people say on ne mange pas
pont, we cannot eat the bridge that we just built. You know we
are still hungry.
And so even when there is significant investment, even when
things are good, the need is still there to try to create
opportunities for entrepreneurship, and other ways for people
to gain, and come and support their families.
Ms. Bass. Mr. Phillips.
Mr. Phillips. Thank you, Chairwoman Bass, and to our
witnesses. I will confess, I did not think we would be talking
about bamboo bikes today and that is why I love this job. I
learn something new every day and, in fact, I already found a
vendor on my phone.
I would like to think that youth bulge is not just a
challenge but an opportunity. And as an entrepreneur, myself, I
am very focused on programs, and initiatives, and best
practices relative to developing young entrepreneurs.
Ms. Toungara, you referenced leveraging the Peace Corps for
STEM training, and public-private partnerships, the SBA, I know
we have the Prosper Africa and the AGOA programs. But if you
could, speak with a little bit more detail about countries and
particularly initiatives, whether they are our own or others,
that are really cultivating small business development and
entrepreneurship.
Ms. Toungara. Well, I think that there are a number of
initiatives. The real challenge is scaling. How do we actually
get more people served and how do we make access to services
and information systematic?
You know one program that I co-developed in my previous
life was a program sponsored by the U.K. Department for
National Development called ENGINE, which was meant to serve
about a thousand small and medium enterprises in Ghana and
support them to scale their small businesses.
We were talking about a context where entrepreneurs are not
seen as positively, necessarily, as people who have government
jobs. So it is also about changing the culture of self-
employment and valuing people who are engaged in self-
employment and are creating formal and informal systems.
The way to channel those services and scale the channeling
of those services is really the challenge. You have
organizations, like a TechnoServe or others, who are good at
service delivery, but they can only hit so many people. And so
my policy prescriptions are about how do you create a more
systemic fashion to work with both governmental and
nongovernmental institutions to standardize access to
information and to be able to get small businesses the
information they need to scale?
Actually, there is a bamboo bike manufacturer in Ghana----
Mr. Phillips. Yes, I just read about it.
Ms. Toungara [continuing]. That participated in this ENGINE
program, actually----
Mr. Phillips. Oh.
Ms. Toungara [continuing]. And that I know and came to
visit the United States a couple years ago. He----
Mr. Phillips. Is it called Booomers?
Ms. Toungara. Yes.
Mr. Phillips. Okay.
Ms. Toungara. Exactly. You know so but he is working with
other alumni of that program to create a small business alumni
association that is advocating for policies that benefit small
businesses because their interests are very different from a
chamber of commerce and what they need is very different from
what a chamber of commerce, that is advocating for larger
business, requires.
And so I think by supporting the ability of these small
entrepreneurs to come together and advocate, to organize, and
by supporting the sort of coterie and sort of infrastructure of
organizations that are touching these small entrepreneurs, I
think that can be effective in empowering people with the
information they need to build their businesses, to change the
culture around recognizing entrepreneurship as a legitimate
economic trajectory, and to help them to then for--scale their
business, and scale the jobs that they create.
Mr. Phillips. I cannot help but think it just took me 3
seconds to find this bamboo bike maker in Ghana. And it just
makes me wonder if there is not a better way also to connect
entrepreneurs in small business in Africa with American
consumers. You know it took 3 seconds but part of it is just
how do you connect the dots. And that is some food for thought.
Mr. Dongala, any comments on entrepreneurship? And I am
particularly focused on I want to know countries that seem to
be doing it better or particular initiatives that seem to be
showing signs of success.
Mr. Dongala. The immediate--the country that I can think
that comes to mind is actually one that Ms. Toungara already
mentioned. Rwanda is doing a really good job with their Rwanda,
I think, Development Board, RDB. And actually, there is a lady,
a Clare Akamanzi, who leads it. She deals at a very high level
but I was really impressed by the granularity of how they think
of--I think it takes like 2 days to open a business in Rwanda,
which is, for Africa, it is actually pretty fast.
Mr. Phillips. It takes about 200 days here.
Mr. Dongala. Yes. And so they make it very--they are
thinking about not only the big investors but even the small
investors and the small entrepreneurs. And this matters
because, when you talk to the young people out there, they are
actually--they are interconnected. They have the social media.
They see everybody doing that and they want to participate in
the global economy.
Mr. Phillips. Thank you.
And Dr. Strong, any perspectives to share?
Dr. Strong. Sure, I think my colleagues have done a great
job of pointing us to some really exciting possibilities but
two things that I would like to offer is that I think we can
look at schools and educational institutions as sites where
entrepreneurship and business growing are also developed.
A lot of educational focus at the higher ed level is
focused on universities but polytechnics, vocational
institutions have been systematically defunded over the years
and yet, these are places where young people develop trade
skills. Many of them run businesses while students without
capital. And so these are opportunities to, in a sort of
structured way, partner with and lend support to young people.
I would also like to direct your attention to the African
Leadership Academy in South Africa, which is a 2-year high
school. And part of what they do is they have students
develop--they incubate businesses over the course of 2 years
and they have a microeconomy within the school itself.
Mr. Phillips. The African Leadership Academy.
Dr. Strong. Yes.
Mr. Phillips. Okay, thank you very much to all of you. I
appreciate it.
Ms. Bass. Mr. Smith.
Mr. Smith. Madam Chair, you know I see representatives of
the African Development Foundation in the audience, Cliff
Stammerman and Mark O'Neil. Cliff used to work on this
committee, as well, years ago. Great to see you.
And I am wondering if you could tell us what can and what
role could ADF, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the
Development Finance Corporation play in creating opportunity
for African youth? What have they done and what more can they
be doing so that those jobs are created?
Mr. Dongala. I was impressed at the amount of--so the
African Development Foundation actually does smaller grants,
you know around $10,000 to $50,000. And I was actually
impressed at the parity that they have with women entrepreneurs
and male entrepreneurs. They actually, if you look at their--I
mean I would have to look again at the numbers but last time I
was with C.D., the president of the foundation, and I was
reviewing the numbers, they were investing in young women
entrepreneurs as much as they were in young men. And I think
that matters a lot because if you go into Congo Kinshasa, you
will notice that a lot of the merchants are women and they run
the market economy. I mean if you want to go the market, I
would take my sister with me because she would help me get the
best deal.
And so I think the African Development Foundation is one of
the few American agencies that understands this nuance and is
pushing the envelope in that regard.
Ms. Toungara. I think in terms of U.S. agencies, in
general, there is an opportunity for them to talk more to each
other and to share learnings. I mean USAID is doing a lot of
work on the ground. MCC is doing a lot of work on the ground.
There are a lot of small lessons learned, out of all of that
programming, that could use some cross-fertilization in
learning.
So for example, you know even in the MCC, I mentioned in my
testimony the program that they are doing in Cote D'Ivoire that
is supporting TVET programming in building educational and
secondary schools. They should be talking to USAID because they
have also built schools. And even though that is an attempt to
do that in a separate marketplace, their approach is that
engage young people and make sure that their voices are heard,
as that programming is rolling out, ways to integrate and
ensure gender parity, and make sure that women are well-
represented as both trainers and trainees in these programs,
and to ensure that there is a feedback mechanism where people
in these communities are able to talk directly back to the
donor and not just be so far away and just have the businesses
interacting directly with us and our programming.
And so there are ways to have engagement from communities
to ensure that programming is demand-led and that we are also
sharing best practices across agencies.
Mr. Smith. Finally, one trip to the D.R. Congo and to your
point, Mr. Dongala, I will never forget it. It was Kinshasa 20
years ago. And there was a big, big project, building project.
So, we went to it. I went with the State Department people. And
I looked around and I said, where are the Africans? Where are
the Congolese? They were all Chinese workers and it was so
oppressive; I think they may have been coerced labor, probably
from the laogai, that were doing the work there. I cannot--they
thought that might be the case as well but we could not prove
it. But it was no Africans.
I yield back.
Ms. Bass. Let me--I know we will be called to votes soon.
But I want to begin my questions kind of how I started by
saying that when I first went to Africa and I first learned
about you know the so-called youth bulge, it just felt like
home because we have some of these same issues.
You can go to one community I represent called South
Central Los Angeles that has a very, very high unemployment,
and you see all kinds of people working but they are not from
the area. So in our communities here, when we have large
unemployment in areas where people do not feel they have an
economic opportunity, it is not surprising to see an overlay of
gang issues.
And so I do not think any of this is rocket science. We
know how to solve these problems in the United States. We just
choose not to, so young people are criminalized.
This situation is a little different on the African
continent but we do know how to solve these problems. It is a
question of political will. And so I just want to cut to the
chase and find out from your three, very specifically, what can
we do legislatively.
I think YALI is a great program. So what do we need to do
to strengthen YALI? What are the weaknesses and strengths of
YALI? What kind of support can we provide to African countries,
in terms of leadership development? Because you can get a young
person--and I think, Dr. Strong, I believe in your testimony
you talked about programs that focused on leadership
development and you can direct people into politics, civil
society, a variety of things that are positive.
So I would like for you each to give us specific
legislative recommendations. Votes have been called. There is
just one vote but we have a few minutes before we all have to
run.
Dr. Strong.
Dr. Strong. Thank you very much for that question. So I
talked in my testimony about three different areas that I think
there are opportunities for legislative policies. You mentioned
YALI. There is the Fulbright Program, TechWomen. I think there
is room for the U.S. to expand that to additional sectors, to
additional focus areas, particular initiatives that invite
young people to come to the U.S. to benefit from the resources,
the skills, et cetera.
Right now, many of these programs have quite a limited
capacity. So if there is an opportunity to expand that and to
include young people who may not be the quote, unquote, best
and the brightest. These programs tend to focus on people who
are ready, relatively more educated----
Ms. Bass. Exactly.
Ms. Strong [continuing]. Skilled. And so I think if there
is a real interest here in being holistic, that we might think
about ways to not target those who are already relatively more
privileged.
Additionally with the YALI program, there are currently
four leadership regional hubs. There is capacity to do more.
Again, many of those focus on people who are already into
careers. But if there was an effort to focus on primary
schools, secondary schools, where we are seeing much less sort
of capacity building around leadership development, I think
that would be quite wise.
And additionally, you know there is, I think, an important
role that countries like the U.S. can play in leveraging our
relationships with African Governments to persuade them to, No.
1, for example, not stay--overstay in office or you know change
their constitution so that they can run for third terms; but
also, to ensure that there is youth representation in
Government, that things like Not Too Young to Run might have a
chance of taking on or getting taken up.
And I think those are my broad areas of----
Ms. Bass. Thank you. Thank you.
Ms. Toungara.
Ms. Toungara. Great. So building on the regional hubs, we
cannot bring everybody here. I mean the demand is just too
high. And so I think there is an opportunity to expand on the
regional hubs for YALI to ensure that more people can get
access to programming via those hubs but that those hubs are
structured to capacitate people to replicate the programming in
their own communities.
So it is not just enough to give a person training.
Ms. Bass. Right.
Ms. Toungara. We should be empowering those people to
replicate, and to go out, and to do more.
And so Dr. Strong mentioned the African Leadership Academy.
The founders of that, I mean their goal, when they are
educating folks through their learning programs, is for those
folks to go out and educate more programming----
Ms. Bass. Right.
Ms. Toungara [continuing]. More people, and establish new
educational institutions across the continent.
And so I think the approach to this programming cannot just
be to train one person. It is a train one person to train ten
thousand people and that is the way that you get Africans
shaping the agenda in their own countries and shaping the
training of their future generations.
Ms. Bass. Do you think there is enough organizations in
Africa that, instead of us funding our own organizations to do
that, we can fund African organizations?
Ms. Toungara. Absolutely.
Ms. Bass. And then maybe you could give us a list of names
of those countries--I mean companies, organizations, you know
NGO's that we can directly fund? That is how you get it to
work.
Ms. Toungara. So I will say absolutely yes, with one
caveat, right? When we give money to organizations, the
standards of procurement, the internal regulatory systems and
processes that they need to have to respond to reporting and
the financial reporting, they are lacking. And so when we give
this money, we also have to be willing to build their
capacity----
Ms. Bass. Yes.
Ms. Toungara [continuing]. To meet our reporting needs.
Because it is not just enough to say oh, here is the bar; you
have to jump this far to get our funding.
So there is an ecosystem there, where we can channel those
funds, but we have to be willing to support the buildup of
their internal infrastructure to be able to receive those funds
as well.
Ms. Bass. Another example that is consistent with here.
Yes.
Mr. Dongala. And I just want to second Ms. Toungara's
comments. You know YALI is a great program but we need to make
sure that it becomes an internalized program.
Ms. Bass. Right.
Mr. Dongala. It is more organic.
Ms. Bass. And that is a good general statement but I will
ask you later to be specific about that.
Mr. Dongala. Okay.
Ms. Bass. I know we fund a major contractor here----
Mr. Dongala. Yes.
Ms. Bass [continuing]. That goes and does YALI.
Mr. Dongala. Yes.
Ms. Bass. But how do we move it so that it becomes African?
Mr. Dongala. Yes. More specifically, I think an
organization that is--if it was in a position financially
better, the African Union could actually execute it, should
have a component or a parallel component to the YALI.
So in that segue, something specifically again, I bring up
the 0.02 percent levy.
Ms. Bass. Yes.
Mr. Dongala. If legislatively we could talk to the--we
could encourage the U.S. Trade Representative to reconsider----
Ms. Bass. Why do we have that?
Mr. Dongala. Huh?
Ms. Bass. Why do we have that 2 percent levy?
Mr. Dongala. So the African Union wants to have the 2-
percent--0.02 percent levy on imports. It is somewhat of a--
under WTO rules, it could qualify as a protective measure.
Ms. Bass. Oh, I see. Okay.
Mr. Dongala. Right. But if we are talking about youth,
youth need protection. They are the most vulnerable.
And so Africa needs to figure out how it is going to
incubate, and nurture, and protect the youth economic potential
in the region.
And the reason why the 0.02 percent matters is that it
gives Africa--the African Union capacity--when we are talking
about capacity-building--to actually act and do it. And so you
know I think if there were more accountability measures, maybe
it would give other people more confidence that this sort of
self-funding measures would go toward what we think it will.
But again, that is one thing that I would stress. I think it
goes a long way into building the capacity to nurture, invest,
and protect the youth of the region.
Ms. Bass. Thank you. Any closing comments that any of you
have? We could start with Dr. Strong.
Dr. Strong. Thank you very much, once again, for the
opportunity to advocate for youth here.
So I think I would just like to echo what I have said all
along, which is that I think you know there is a very needed
focus on jobs, and unemployment, and you know economic
development but I think education cannot be left out of these
conversations.
And the way I tend to think about education is not just
about knowledge, growing, and learning but schools are such
important, historically and certainly in the current moment,
institutions where young people are learning what it means to
be a citizen, where they are developing political identities,
where they are learning the extent to which their governments
and societies will support them. And I think in expanding
opportunities and supporting ways of growing and developing
institutions to be more receptive to young people's leadership,
that will go a very long way in ensuring that youth, when they
become adults, when they move on into positions of leadership
within their societies, that they are equipped with the tools
to do so in a way that is transformative.
Ms. Bass. Okay, I think we better conclude.
Thank you very much for the time. I appreciate it very
much. And I want to continue with your recommendations.
Thank you. We are adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
OPENING STATEMENT SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]