THE YOUNG POLITICIANS UNION

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ABOUT YPU
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  What is YPU  

The Young Politicians Union (YPU) is an inter-party youth organization consisting of young people of all political parties who assist in promoting unity and multi-partism and encourages the youth to participate in active politics.

YPU also collaborates and networks with governmental departments, political parties, civil society organizations and other organizations internally and externally.

YPU is present in 28 districts where they meet very regularly. Additionally it exists a YPU group at Chancellor College. All of them are combined by the National Secretariat in Lilongwe.

YPU is funded and supported by the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation (KAF).

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  History  

The YPU was registered in 2005 following a resolution of the graduates of the 2003 Training of Young Politicians (TYP) programme.

The Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation in Malawi has been supporting the TYP Programme, aimed at consolidating the democratic process in the country, for which it signed a partnership contract with the Center for Social Research of the University of Malawi (CSR) in February 2001. The TYP was premised on the following political and governance indicators:

  • Generally weak inter and intra-party democracy coupled with manipulated party conventions
  • Lack of distinctive party ideologies, programmes, hence the prevalence of recycled leaders
  • Young politicians often (as)used to encourage violent and undemocratic activities
  • Regionalist and sectarian parties characterized by partron-client relationship
  • Limited inclusion of woman and youth in the parties` executive positions, often woman and youths used as support forces and instruments of mobilization

In order to let the young people acquire knowledge, 9 Modules were developed for the TYP Programme, which are still used in the workshops of the YPU (and can be downloaded on this page). These modules cover the following thematic areas:

  1. Introduction to Politics
  2. Political Parties: Systems, Structures and Functions
  3. Civil Society and Democracy
  4. Rights and Responsibilities
  5. Gender Relation and Political Participation
  6. Political Communication
  7. Economic management and Democracy
  8. Leadership in a Democracy
  9. Conflict Management

With the vision to continue the work which was done by the TYP programme, the YPU was formed to facilitate for sustained inter and intra-party youth collaboration, peaceful coexistence and networking at national and district levels.

In 2005 KAF sponsored 22 inter-party district training workshops, which reached over 450 participants from various political parties countrywide.
Prior to these Workshops, selected TYP graduates attended a Training of Trainer (ToT) workshop aimed at equipping them with material knowledge and training skills to train their conterparts.

In 2006 KAF provided financial and technical support towards 18 YPU district training workshops, which were attended by over 710 participants.

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  Aims and Objectives  

The YPU focuses on unity, democracy, cultural values, active political participation, leadership and civic education on social concerns amongst the youth to create a conducive environment for the development of the nation.

YPU is formed to:

  • promote democracy (especially inter and intra-party democracy) and rule of law.
  • promote unity and multi-partism.
  • improve the capacity of generating party ideologies and programmes.
  • enhance the role of women and youth in the parties’ executive positions and especially avoid their use as support forces and instruments of mobilization.
  • create a best trained, capable, active, critical and democratic thinking mass of young politicians who may take on leadership roles in future.
  • liaise and network with governmental departments, Non-Governmental Organisations and other organisations internally and externally.

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  Achievements  
  • Boosted interest among the young people to actively and positively contribute to the democratic development in Malawi.
  • Improved peaceful coexistence and collaboration among young people from different political parties. Inter-party rivalry among active party youths has declined substantially.
  • Enhanced the level of leadership responsibility, which has enabled some former graduates of the training programme to assume senior positions in their parties including being appointed/elected into the National Executive Committees (NEC) or National Governing Council (NGC) of their parties.
  • One former TYP graduate from Chikwawa, Hon. C Luya, MP, of RP managed to make it to parliament in 2004, while many others stood as candidates in the same election.
  • Enhanced personal skills and capacity in training others. Some of the capable graduates were provided with training of trainers in 2004 and were later used as Facilitators in the district training workshops in 2005 and 2006. It is hoped that other agencies will also utilize them as qualified and experienced trainers in issues of conflict management, democracy, leadership, gender and political participation and political communication.
  • With funding from KAF, opened a National Secretariat in Lilongwe and received a donation of two used computers from National Youth Council.

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  Structure
 
  Membership  

Membership is open to any Malawian youth who:

  • is a member of a political party.
  • is aged between 18 and 35 years.
  • has acquired at least the Junior Certificate of Education (JCE) as educational qualification.

There is an annual membership subscription fee of MK 150 per person, members of the National Secretariat are supposed to pay MK 500 per year.

All prospective YPU members will be required to fully complete the YPU Membership Registration Form. The Form and a passport photo will be required to be submitted to the National Secretariat or through the KAS Office.
  Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)  
  • Is the YPU a political party?
    No, YPU is an inter-party youth organization, but not a political party itself. Members of all political parties can join YPU in order to achieve the common aims, but every YPU member stays a member of its political party (as it is a precondition to join YPU).