THE 2016 SAIIA YOUNG LEADERS DECLARATION

The 2016 SAIIA Young Leaders Declaration is a statement of recommendations from South African youth aimed at implementing the COP 21 Paris Agreement, the African Union's Agenda 2063, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The document outlines specific demands for municipal, provincial, and national governments across five key areas: accountability, education, basic needs, economic development, and stakeholder engagement, while concluding with a pledge of youth commitment to these global and national goals.

• The youth call for increased government transparency and accountability across all levels. This includes urging municipal governments to facilitate smoother handovers between administrations to maximize Integrated Development Plans, provincial governments to eradicate corruption in the Reconstruction and Development Programme, and national government to increase transparency regarding financial assistance from international donor agencies.
• Recommendations for education focus on reducing inequalities and integrating technology. The declaration urges municipal governments to work toward universal internet access, provincial governments to improve public school transportation and feeding schemes, and national government to implement equitable free education at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels in line with SDG 4.
• To address basic needs, the youth propose specific environmental and health interventions. These include formalizing informal waste collection, rehabilitating the Marian Hill Landfill Site in the eThekwini municipality to generate electricity from methane, and providing free feminine hygiene products in schools and community centres.
• The declaration emphasizes energy and food security, calling for the subsidization of renewable energy infrastructure like solar panels in all houses. Regarding food security, it recommends promoting intergenerational farming knowledge, upgrading commercial farming methods to be climate-adaptable, and implementing the Gauteng 20 Year Food Security Plan.
• Economic development recommendations include the implementation of tax-free Specialised Economic Zones in rural and coastal areas and the use of Operation Phakisa to drive the blue economy in coastal municipalities. The youth also urge the national government to restructure state-supported entities like the NYDA to better enable entrepreneurship.
• On social stakeholders and climate change, the document urges provincial governments to create climate change strategic units to coordinate mitigation and adaptation strategies. It also calls for better representation of women in municipal decision-making and the reduction of stigma surrounding the LGBTQIA+ community.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2016). THE 2016 SAIIA YOUNG LEADERS DECLARATION. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Young-Leaders-Conference-Delaration-2016.pdf

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. THE 2016 SAIIA YOUNG LEADERS DECLARATION. 2016. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Young-Leaders-Conference-Delaration-2016.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=THE 2016 SAIIA YOUNG LEADERS DECLARATION |date=30 June 2016 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Young-Leaders-Conference-Delaration-2016.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs20162016, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{THE 2016 SAIIA YOUNG LEADERS DECLARATION}}, publisher = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2016}, month = jun, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Young-Leaders-Conference-Delaration-2016.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }