The African Union Youth Volunteers Corps (AU-YVC) which is set to celebrate its 10 years anniversary this year, has urged more young people to apply for the programme.

The programme is a flagship of the African Union which recruits, trains and deploys young African professionals to serve as professional volunteers for a period of 12 months across the continent.

The AU-YVC programme will soon be looking to recruit the 11th Cohort. The vacancy announcement will be posted on the AUC careers portal: www.au.careers.org.

The programme continues to promote volunteerism to deepen the status of young people in Africa as key actors in Africa’s development targets and goals.

It enhances youth participation in policy development as well as brings to life relevant interventions towards achieving the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), H.E Moussa Faki Mahammat’s One Million by 2021 initiative.

The One Million by 2021 initiative seeks to provide African youth with concrete opportunities in the areas of Education, Employment, Entrepreneurship, and Engagement (the 4Es).

To date, approximately 11,000 young people have applied for the programme, 989 trained and 546 have been deployed to various AUC departments, organs and partner organisations across Africa.

The Department of Human Resources, Science and Technology has begun preparations for the commemoration of the AU-YVC 10 year anniversary through a digital campaign to showcase the decade long work the AU has done on youth mainstreaming and encourage youth to apply for the 2020 intake on the AU Youth Programme social media platforms.

The programme objectives are to establish a common understanding of the values and philosophy of the AU-YVC, build leadership and professional ability of AU Youth Volunteers and prepare them for their one-year service in another country.

Applicant needs to be a citizen of an AU member state living on the continent or in the diaspora.

The applicant needs to be aged between 18-35 years, and have a post-secondary certified qualification(s) (TVET, Bachelor’s, Master’s, etc.)

Applicant should be available in 2021/22 to dedicate 12 months to professional volunteer services and willing to live and work in another AU Member state.

Applicant should be proficient in at least one AU working language (Arabic, English, French and Portuguese) and have at least one-year verifiable volunteering experience and one-year professional work experience.