youth centers in Addis Ababa, Mengistu Ashagrie
According to Addis Ababa City Youth and Sport Bureau, there are more than 1.4 million youths in the city. To prepare the youth for development, the city administration is working to establish adequate capacity building institutions and entertainment centers that could assist to cultivate ethical, capable and patriotic citizens.
Even though, developing the personality of the youth lies on the responsibility of the family, youth centered institutions are also necessary to shape their personalities and grow their skills.
Cognizant of the fact, the Addis Ababa City Administration builds 106 youth centers in every Wereda in the capital. According to City’s Youth and Sport Bureau, as the youth centers are not enough comparing with the number of the youth in the city, the administration is now expanding the number of youth centers.
In this regard, youths spoke to The Ethiopian Herald commented that not only their number, but also the service and facility of the centers requires more attention from the city government.
Natnael Gemechu, a youth in Addis Ketema Subcity Woreda 6, said that he only uses library service in the youth center. According to Natnael, there is inadequate shower, outdoor sports, play stations and internet services in his Wereda youth center. In addition, there is shortage of books in the library, so that he could not able to use the center attractively for that matter.
Natnael said that due to the infrastructural problems and insufficient services in the youth center, the number of youths that benefit from the centers is very limited. He said that the centers should include all services required for the youth especially providing outdoor sports and allotting enough books in the library to enable the youth benefited from it.
Yared Tamirat, youth from Nefas Selk Lafto Subcity Woreda 02, on his part said that the youth centers should improve their services matching with the demands of the youth. The youth centers are well constructed but still the services they provide is not enough, even if their services are improving from time to time. The youth center is providing gym service, tennis table, pool, indoor and outdoor sports, cultural and modern art trainings, library and other youth based trainings. But, the centers should improve the services they provide in the required quality and quantity to attract the youth, Yared stated.
The centers can shape the youths in a way they become well-mannered and equipped with more experience, and enable them practice their natural gifts; but there is shortage of inputs, services and quality problems, he said. Since youth is the backbone of the country, it needs modern institutions for practice in addition to recreations, but there are no diversified services in the centers, he added. Science café were built in the center but still it is not started service, he added.
Haregua Alemu, Purchasing Officer in Kirkos Subcity Woreda 8 Youth Center in her side stated that well-constructed youth center is available in her woreda including a modern science café with full facility.
As to her, even though the science café was inaugurated in November by the Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen, it is still closed and out of service. Not only the café but also some part of the building is closed. For this reason, the youths frequently ask officials to provide service from the science café, but the problem is beyond the capacity of the youth center administration, which demands solution from the bureau and from Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), she added.
Mengistu Ashagrie, Addis Ababa City Administration Youth and Sport Bureau Youth Capacity Building and Utilization Director said that efforts are underway to modernize the facility and service of youth centers. He said that youth centers were built with the aim of cultivating the personality of the youth and as major refreshment centers for the youth, establishing a platform for peer learning and other social services, according to recent data collected from the 106 centers.
He said that all 106 youth centers are providing full service and the bureau ranked the service of the centers in to model, middle and low service providers based on the assessment held by the bureau. He added that the bureau is working to modernize and to improve the services and facility both in quality and quantity of all youth centers in the city.
According to Mengistu based on the collected data from the centers; shortage of guideline books, maintenance problems, material shortage, quality problems in their service are among the problems of the youth centers. He added that the bureau classifies the findings to solve in short, middle and long-term.
Mengistu said that since the time is in the age of science and technology, the bureau collaborating with the Ministry to build science café in five youth centers, but still now the science café did not start service and it becomes source of complains. The agreement with MoST was to finalize the science cafés within three months signed in June 2017, still now the science cafes have not started operation. He added that the bureau is working with MoST to start the service and to fulfill the necessary materials.
The bureau, together with other stakeholders, focused on the creation of awareness raising activities in every administration levels in order to improve the standards of the youth centers, and make them more beneficial for youths, he added.