Civil Engineering July 2021 | Vol 29 No 6

CEO’ s Corner T here are a few assumptions that motivate the significant capability of youth (defined as the age group between 15 and 34 years) with the potential to make innovative contri- butions material to our socio-economic success. Circumstances are, in part, illustrated by worsening mental health and higher levels of anxiety and depression (American Psychological Association). Broadly, the key issues of concern are loss of life and feeling unsafe, global warming and climate change, separa- tion of families, sexual harassment and assault, effects of social media related to conditioning and stereotyping, and a significant amount of fear about the future of the country and the world. Each of these concerns connects not only to our National Development Plan objectives, but also to the purpose and target indicators of several of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), namely: Q Q SDG 3 – Good health and wellbeing Q Q SDG 5 – Gender equality Q Q SDG 8 – Decent work and economic growth Q Q SDG 10 – Reduced inequalities Q Q SDG 11 – Sustainable cities and communities Q Q SDG 13 – Climate action Q Q SDG 16 – Peace, justice and strong institutions. If such concerns can be transformed into material initiatives, we may have useful approaches to progressing initiatives. Notwithstanding the concerns, it appears that one could support the notion that youth may have greater care for societal issues. All of South Africa’s development plans have socio-economic objectives to mitigate similar concerns assumed to be shared by communities in general, and not unique to our youth. In keeping with the need for significant structural reforms, we have to allow for greater and fundamental contributions from youth in all stakeholder groups towards all aspects of our economy. The current youth unemployment rate of 46.1% (Statistics South Africa) provides further motivation for this. Saying that almost half of our youth are unemployed is an indictment of our current leadership. This figure is set to grow if trends are not urgently reversed. Admittedly, a low-growth to stagnant economy, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, has tested leadership and leaders that have delivered historic value are now also proving to be ineffective. Agencies tasked with advancing youth initiatives have yielded limited success. The pandemic has negatively affected youth employment far worse than unemployment of older adults, leaving 1.2 billion youth exposed globally (United Nations World Youth Report, 2020). We have to work on employing more youth in multiple sectors in our mainstream economy, in addition to creating an environment conducive to entrepreneurship. Incremental changes will no longer suffice to make material changes, which is why fundamental re-engineering of our economy is required to give meaningful effect to our socio-economic woes. To achieve such, youth must make greater contributions to leader- ship and the necessary reforms while standing as equals with adults. No longer can we say that adults have all the answers – they don’t if the last decade is anything to go by. While current leaders are focussed elsewhere, there lies the opportunity for youth to exert a greater appreciation for the SDGs with initiatives that weave these goals into regulatory reforms and policies with the aim of implementation. The underlying focus has to link innovation and digital ecosystems with socio-economic value, for example. Current methodologies are based on historic paradigms of thinking that have not made material impacts on our socio- economic development. The vulnerable remain and have grown in number. Therefore, methodologies and/or ideologies must be revisited and overhauled where necessary to become effective. In adopting a transformative mindset, leaders should remove barriers and provide platforms that foster engagement on devel- opmental concepts as it applies to community, national, regional and global development. As it pertains to South Africa, youth contributions have to include engagement on topics of diversity, inclusivity, and equality, which are often referred to as altruistic. Such issues can no longer remain talking points, which is a sure way to maintain our non-egalitarian society which does not progress social justice. If current leaders are unable or unwilling to address such issues, youth may be able to chalk out innovative solutions. Youth, including current leaders, must focus on thinking and aspire towards social development solutions. We may not know exactly how much work is needed to bring us to a single economy with equal access op- portunities, but it is certainly destined to take decades. YOUTH ADVANCEMENT THROUGH DIGITAL INNOVATION & DEVELOPMENT South Africa is fortunate to have organisations and agencies Involving youth perspectives in infrastructure development This article serves to reflect on the circumstances of our youth, and their experiences, hopes and aspirations in a pandemic within a slow-growth economy. 10 July 2021 Civil Engineering