Dow, a global leader in materials science, and LEAP
Africa, one of Africa’s foremost youth-focused leadership development organisations,
recently announced its 2023 partnership for the Pan-African Youth Day of Service (YDoS)
social impact program. Scheduled to commence on the 12 th of August on International Youth
Day, this initiative will engage young people across Africa in a month-long service to their
communities, in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This year marks the fourth edition of this initiative and focuses on rallying young people,
corporate organisations, as well as public and social sector organisations to become active
social agents. The goal is to renew the spirit of active youth citizenship with an emphasis on
spreading the culture of service and collective responsibility. The campaign will feature
different projects championed by young people in various African communities across the
continent.
“We are excited to partner with LEAP Africa once again on this important initiative that drives
sustainable development across the continent through active collaboration, investments, and
empowerment,” said Sami Mainich, President, Dow Africa. “Dow has a long history of
supporting youth development, and we believe that this partnership will help us to advance
our commitment to building a more sustainable future. By working with LEAP Africa, we are
empowering young people to make a positive impact in their communities as they
collaborate to achieve the SDGs. We encourage young people from all over Africa to get
involved and help us build the Africa we want.”
In 2022, Dow Africa – as a headline sponsor – and LEAP Africa mobilized over 4000 young
people across 24 African countries to implement 210 projects which spanned across all 17
sustainable development goals. The projects which were implemented physically, virtually
using digital devices, and in hybrid formats included tree plantings, food drives, beach clean-
ups, medical outreaches, educational workshops and training, and virtual advocacy
campaigns.
In her remarks about the partnership with Dow for the 2023 YDoS campaign, Kehinde
Ayeni, Executive Director, LEAP Africa, said, “We believe in the agency of young people
and the power of their voices, creativity and energy when positively harnessed. The YDoS is
a massive campaign gradually catching on across Africa annually, which we are
immensely proud of. LEAP Africa intends to push young people to think and be involved in
social impact projects to deliver the Africa we want. Leveraging strategic partnerships has
played a prominent role in deepening the impact of our programmatic efforts across Africa.
The partnership with Dow last year enabled us to empower more African young people. We
anticipate greater achievements for YDoS 2023 with this renewed partnership”.
Since its establishment over 125 years ago, Dow has been passionate about advancing
science and innovation to find solutions to questions that can change the world for the better.
Young people are key stakeholders in building a sustainable future, and Dow believes that
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by empowering and partnering with them, it can further its Blueprint thinking, contextualize
its 2025 sustainability goals, and develop tomorrow’s innovators within the African youth
community.
Participants interested in the 2023 initiative can either register their own project, volunteer for
an existing project or sponsor the execution of a project. The registered projects can be
physical projects or active virtual advocacy in different locations across Africa. To learn more
about the YDoS campaign or to register for an event, please visit www.youthdayofservice.org.
Published on Brandfit.
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