Young Africans have been challenged to move beyond one-off community service and make volunteerism a year-round effort as the continent seeks to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The call comes ahead of the 2026 United Nations International Youth Day, set for August 12 under the theme “Different Contexts, Common Aspirations,” which highlights the common hopes and goals of young people despite differences in their social, economic and cultural settings.
LEAP Africa is now seeking to give the call greater momentum by transforming its Youth Day of Service (YDOS) into YDOS 365, a Pan-African initiative designed to encourage young people to take action in their communities throughout the year.
The initiative focuses on volunteerism, active citizenship, leadership and locally driven solutions to community challenges linked to the SDGs, rather than limiting youth participation to a particular day or month.
Speaking in Nairobi on Saturday, LEAP Africa Director of Programmes and Partnerships Amabelle Diana Nwakanma said YDOS was first conceived during the COVID-19 period at a time when young people needed renewed purpose and a cause they could rally around.
“Young people needed something to reignite them, to challenge them, and we started to conceive of what would be the thing that is worth coalescing around,” she said.
Nwakanma said the need for young people to take part in solving community problems has become even more urgent as the 2030 deadline for achieving the SDGs draws closer, with Africa still facing gaps in several areas.
“We want our young people across Africa to be encouraged to be mobilized in their active citizenship, in their leadership development, to specifically focus on solving community problems that align with the SDGs” Nwakanma said.
She said young people already have ideas capable of addressing problems around them but require support, resources and trust to turn those ideas into practical action.
“They are ready. They are here. They need to be trusted. We need to give them the ropes to go forward and get out of their way.”
LEAP Africa acting programme manager Abdullahi Ibrahim said the organisation's new approach was aimed at ending the idea that volunteering should only happen on a designated day.
“We are proud to say that we have come to a place where we are saying YDOS should no longer be a day of service, should no longer be a month of service. It should now be YDOS 365,” he said.
Ibrahim said the change was driven by the belief that young people can contribute to their communities at any time and that lasting change requires continued action.
“There is no day that there shouldn't be something transformative happening. There is no day that someone cannot volunteer their efforts,” he said.
The programme has also grown beyond short-term volunteer activities, with LEAP Africa noting that some young people who took part have gone on to establish social-impact enterprises and non-profit organisations.
Through YDOS 365, the organisation plans to support young people in developing and incubating their ideas while helping them build projects that can continue operating after the initial volunteer activities.
Mumbi Keega, head of Dow Eastern Africa, said the company had backed the initiative because of the important role young people have in shaping the continent's future.
“We cannot have a monopoly of all the solutions. The things that we get from these young people are really incredible,” she said.
Dow has supported YDOS for four years, working with LEAP Africa to mobilise young people across the continent.
The initiative has so far brought together more than 7,000 volunteers in 37 African countries, with impact studies showing that the programme has reached more than six million indirect beneficiaries.
LEAP Africa also said its partners have provided more than $200,000 (Sh25.8 million) in micro-funding to young people seeking to put community-focused projects into action.
The organisation is now seeking additional partners to provide funding, expertise and other resources that can help young people develop their community ideas into lasting projects aligned with the SDGs.