One-stop youth campus launched

A one-stop youth campus that offers various services for young people was launched in Windhoek last week.

The #BeFree Youth Campus is based at the Katutura Multi-Purpose Youth Centre.

The opening of the campus follows four years of consultations with young people across the country through the #BeFree movement, an initiative of the One Economy Foundation.

The launch was followed by a series of events taking place at the centre throughout the course of this week. Among the activities was the Young Minds Talk Health open dialogue that brought together adolescents and high school pupils in the community. This was aimed at addressing stigma, providing crucial information and promoting the holistic well-being of young people through a panel discussion with healthcare practitioners.

First lady and executive chairperson of the One Economy Foundation Monica Geingos during the Young Minds Talk Health dialogue at the campus yesterday said a young person will be assigned to the campus to serve as a guide for anyone that needs sign language interpretation. This is to ensure inclusivity for all young people, she said.

“The issue of inclusivity is in the DNA of the #BeFree movement, hence the extension of a satellite located at the Okuryangava informal settlements for young people that cannot make it to the centre. A 24/7 call centre will be operated by a human to link young people to services, as well as mobile clinics for those located further away from the campus,” Geingos said.

According to the #BeFree brochure, the campus is for young people aged 13 to 30 “to receive integrated multidisciplinary services that will help them be free from whatever limits their potential”.

At the campus is an adolescent-friendly sexual and reproductive health clinic, innovation hub and after school learning support and capacity building and skills development. It creates a youth platform of holistic services, including psychological, legal and criminal justice guidance, sexual reproductive health services, skills development, adolescent- friendly entertainment and other critical systems.

Appreciating the platform, 20-year-old Kingsley Schults from Goreangab Junior Secondary School said he is “happy to have received the information”.

“Many of us are afraid of our parents and do not have open platforms like this where we can share issues that are affecting us,” he said.

Shiwashetu Mukete from Girl Up Namibia also spoke on the need to take the conversations into rural areas, as well as the informal settlements, where young people don’t have access to information and services.

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