Mission and Purpose
Registered as Youngstars Development Initiative, it focused on young people between the ages of 18 and 35 with a view to mentor them into becoming high pedigree leaders. The founders believed that this type of leaders to be capable of providing accountable and impactful democratic governance in Nigeria.[1] Based on the conviction that youths as agent of change have the capacity and energy to demand good governance, the club re-invented the power of young people by focusing on creating awareness about self-actualization, accountability in government, active political participation and development of home-grown democratic innovations.
Origins and Development
As a non-profit youth-based organization with limited finance, it started operating in 1996 from a barber’s shop in Jos, a city in the Middle Belt area of Plateau State, Nigeria. Kingsley whose parents could not finance his post-secondary education decided to impact his immediate community through political education. A few youths in the city converged once every week to discuss youth-related issues such as national and state politics, music and entertainment, sport updates, relationships and time management in his shop. Over time, the youth club developed into an advocacy group with a vision to steer young Nigerians to their full potentials.[2] In late 1995 when Kingsley could no longer afford the rent for his barber shop, the weekly meetings collapsed. In order to reach more youths across the country with this message, he extended the activities of the youth club to secondary schools in rural and urban Middle Belt Region of Nigeria through pep-talks on youth-related matters.[3]
Organizational Structure, Membership, and Funding
Funding and support for the Youngstars Foundation is provided by the National Democratic Institute for Public Affairs (NDI), International Republican Institute (IRI), National Endowment for Democracy (NED), USAID and other international donors.
Specializations, Methods and Tools
Through television programs on the Nigeria National Television Authority (NTA) from 1998 to 2003, Youngstars Foundation was able to form alliances and partnerships with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), Nigeria Federal Ministry of Youth Development, LYNX Foundation in the US, National Democratic Institute (NDI), USAID, 2Face Foundation, British Council in Nigeria, World Youth Alliance in US, and Office of the Presidency on Millennium Development Goals to mention a few.
Major Projects and Events
In 2011, the foundation used non-partisan Nigerian celebrities such as Innocent Idibia (2Face), Jude Abaga (M.I), Olubankole Wellington (Banky W) and Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo (D’banj) as the association’s ambassadors in a USAID-sponsored concert that was organised to educate Nigerian youth on participatory democracy.
The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) and 2Face Foundation collaborated with Youngstars Foundation in 2015 to mitigate election violence in Nigeria. This was achieved through “Vote Not Fight: Election No Be War”, an internet-based project.[4] This innovative democratic inclusion project adopted Nigerian popular music artist, 2face Idibia, as its ambassador to pilot voter education towards the 2015 general elections. Several other partnerships and collaborations with other pro-democracy groups in Africa have attracted youths from different sub-Sahara African states including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and South Africa.[5]
Analysis and Lessons Learned
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Publications
"I Voted Now Wetin" Movie Handbook
See Also
References
[1]. Interview with Kingsley Bangwell, 42 years, Executive Director of Youngstars Foundation, Abuja, Nigeria, on 27th April, 2017.
[2]. Interview with Kingsley Bangwell, 42 years, Executive Director of Youngstars Foundation, Abuja, Nigeria, on 27th April, 2017.
[3]. See: http://www.youngstars.interconnection.org/history.html
[4]. UzochukwuIgboanugo (2017), Nigeria Political History: Democratic Governance and Social Management. Raleigh: Lulu Press, Inc.
[5]. See: http://youngstarsfoundation.org/about/
External Links
http://youngstarsfoundation.org/
Notes
Lead image: Youngstars Foundation/Facebook, http://bit.ly/2DyLSbH