Junior Shapers Africa (JSA), a premier male youth personal development organisation in Africa focused on grooming and mentoring male youths to become the responsible future men that Africa desires, has endorsed the commemoration of the 2020 World Day of the Boy Child (WDBC), marked on 16 May.
The commemoration of the Day started in 2018 when a lecturer in the History Department of the University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago, Dr Jerome Teelucksingh, sent a letter to government leaders and NGOs calling for the inaugural observance of the International Day of the Boy Child and since 2018, the Day has been celebrated worldwide on 16 May every year with special events in various countries.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this year’s celebration was done via a virtual event with the theme, ‘Saving our Boys’. Boy child activists across different parts of the world met to discuss what they have been doing to save and empower boys in their various countries.
The Founding Director and Advocacy Lead of JSA, Ethel Marfo, stated that the principles of WDBC align with that of JSA and she is inspired by the global cause to fight for the boy child. She added that she was looking forward to collaborating with many of the boy child activists in Africa and around the world and other stakeholders to champion the advocacy of raising boys’ right globally for a better world.
The ten core principles of the WDBC are: educating and mentoring; honouring boys who are talented and achievers; rescuing boys from poverty; eradicating illiteracy and underachievement; addressing discrimination against boys; promoting positive minds and healthy boys; offering freedom and safety; championing equality and equity; maintaining good values and morals; and, empowering boys.
Boys are inspired to make a difference in the lives of rural girls, children and youth in fulfillment of UN SDGs Four, Five, Eight and Ten. For so long, the focus has been on schooling boys and not raising them right, leading to mental frustration among the younger generation of men. It is high time it is acknowledged that boys have issues too and pay attention to these issues to address them. Raising boys right will inspire them to become responsible men and fathers worth emulating, discover their purpose and enable them to improve their general wellbeing to achieve their full potential for the advancement of the continent.
JSA has been championing male child personal development since 2015 through the provision of grooming, exposure to values, life skills and nurturing careers, mentorship and counselling opportunities for young males in Africa to become confident, responsible and supportive men.
Source: My Joy Online
Photo source: Diana Robinson
