Written by Frank Ntarindwa

Rwanda’s Youth Minister, Abdallah Utumatwishima, told an enthusiastic group of CorpsAfrica volunteers, youth volunteers, and change-makers, all driven by the common purpose to steer Africa towards a prosperous change, to “never graduate from volunteering.”

Utumatwishima made the remark on June 16 during the CorpsAfrica event held at Kigali Conference and Exhibition Center (KCEV), intended to empower young Africans and foster the continent’s future leaders.

“Volunteerism shapes direction, brings motivation, personal growth as well as community and country development,” he said.

“As you bring solutions to the community, you curb health risks, diseases, and presentation—which, in turn, saves a lot of money that would be spent—hence, volunteerism is an income-generated activity to the government,” he added.

During the roundtable discussion that showcased inspiring initiatives and perspectives of Pan-Africanism were; Hon. Protais Musoni, Chair of Pan-Africanism in Rwanda, Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Minister of Information (Ghana), Caren Wakoli, Founder and Executive Director of Emerging Public Leaders Foundation and, Dr Bouchra Rahmouni, Director of the Social Innovation Lab, UM6P (Morocco).

The forum addressed the importance of youth participation in governance, decision-making processes, driving positive change in various sectors, from technology and entrepreneurship to politics and social activism–from which young people in the house were reminded to be frontrunners, and be the change the African continent wants to be.