Survey: Youth Participation in Politics Down in AfricaPolitical and civic engagement by African youth is declining and is particularly weak among young women, according to new Afrobarometer survey findings. The findings point to a significant gap between empowerment aspirations of the African youth and the reality of youth engagement. The findings are part of a new report titled ‘Does less engaged mean less empowered? Political participation lags among African youth, especially women’, published Friday on International Youth Day by Afrobarometer, a pan-African, non-partisan research network that conducts public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, economic conditions, and related issues in more than 35 countries in Africa. According to the United Nations, the theme of the 2016 International Youth Day was “The Road to 2030: Eradicating Poverty and Achieving Sustainable Consumption and Production”. At the same time, Zimbabwe and UNICEF have released a report concluding that the southern African nation needs about $45 million to address the health care and employment needs of the country's youth.