The International Youth Day commemoration was in Blantyre at Bangwe Youth Centre in August 2018. The Guest of Honor Minister of Labor, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development Hon. Francis Kasaila was going through the pavilions that had been mounted by different organizations that were working with the Youths/doing Youth initiatives. In the picture our youth advocates @Christina Chilimba and Hastings Anelka Banda were talking to the Minister when he visited MaiKhanda pavilion about creating safe spaces for youth in different sectors in our country with recommendation of the Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Children and Adolescents + Nutrition project they were involved in with MaiKhanda Trust stating that the project ensured their participation in planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation in the process ensuring meaningful youth participation. The champions pleaded with the government and other organizations that they should put much effort in involving and creating platforms where youth can be involved even from the grassroots.

The minister accorded that indeed youth have a crucial role to play in all sectors and that the impact of their participation cannot be understated. He also highlighted that he was familiar with the work of MaiKhanda Trust especially in reproductive health and he expressed that it is even important that we are involving the youths as issues of Reproductive health equally concern them.

IYD had been commemorated under the theme ‘Safe Spaces for Youth’. National Youth Council of Malawi UNFPA Malawi Population Services International – Malawi Youth Net and Counselling (YONECO) were some of the organizations present at the commemorations