The rationale behind this article is both principled and practical. Young people are agents of social change and affected by social change. Young people will live with the consequences of decisions taken today longer than any other sector of the community. Young people are not only the leaders of tomorrow, but should rightly be viewed as active and legitimate participants in society today. Furthermore, if young people's problems are to be addressed effectively, it is necessary for youths to be involved in the process as the perspectives that they can provide will lead to better solutions

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF ZAMBIA
For the seek of those who don’t know where Zambia is, it is in south-central Africa. Its neighbours include Tanzania, Malawi, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Mozambique and Congo DR
According to the United Nations report of 2003, Zambia’s population currently stands at 10.8 million people. The life expectancy is 33 years. Zambia has a large population of refugees, most of them from Angola, but there have been increasing numbers escaping the Zambia has moved from being a major copper producer and potentially one of the continent's richest countries at independence in 1964 to one of the world’s poorest countries. A colonial legacy, mismanagement, debt and disease are said to have contributed to the country's tribulations. Politically, it switched from colonial government into an era of one-party rule lasting 27 years. A multi-party system emerged in the early 1990s.The country is landlocked and sparsely populated by more than 70 ethnic groups, many of them Bantu-speaking. It is known for its spectacular scenery in places such as the Victoria Falls along the Zambezi River, the Bangweulu Swamps and the Luangwa River valley. Even so, Zambia In the late 1960s Zambia was the third largest copper miner, after the United States and the Soviet Union. World copper prices collapsed in 1975 with devastating effects on the economy which still receives most of its foreign earnings from copper, and there is some optimism about the future of the industry, which was privatised in the 1990s. Electronics manufacturers have fuelled demand for copper. Aids is blamed for decimating the cream of Zambian professionals - including engineers and politicians - and malaria remains a major problem. Three-quarters of Zambia's population lives below the World Bank poverty threshold of $1 a day.fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Being a poor country, in Africa especially, there are a number of problems faced by the youths in this country and these are my area of concern as a youth. Most of these problems, which will be mentioned here, are actually from personal experience in my journey as youth in this country.

LACK OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
Being a youth is one of the most challenging stages in life, at this stage in life, the choices you make are what determine what the future holds for you. In Zambia, youths don’t have so many choices as pertaining to there future. The biggest problem is finding the opportunities that can determine your future. By this I mean education [tertiary education]
Immediately you finish your high school they are very few opportunities to go further on in education. This is not to say that they are more opportunities when entering junior high or high school. In 2000 1,589,544 pupils were enrolled in primary schools and about 161,300 in secondary schools. Vocational and teacher-training schools had nearly 8,200 students. They are only two universities in Zambia: The University of Zambia which was opened in 1965 in Lusaka is the country’s leading institution of higher education; it has about 6,200 students. The other university in the country is the Copper Belt University which was opened 1987 based in mining town of Kitwe

LACK OF ACCESS TO INFORMATION
With information communication technology [ICTs], the biggest problem is access to information tools. The most difficult tool to access is the computer [internet, in particular]. In Lusaka [capital city of Zambia], there are no Internet cafes that provide free Internet facilities. Even at the university of Zambia where I am a student they is no free Internet even though, people pay 600us$ per year as tuition fee!!! If a varsity student can’t afford Internet, what more an ordinary poor person who earns less than a 1$ per day? They are very few people who are computer literate, even those who are computer literate have to pay a heavy price for training.
Access to computers and the Internet are not the only problems when talking about communication. Other forms of communication are very expensive. Telecommunication is more expensive in Zambia than any other country in southern Africa. To most youths, owning a cell phone is just something they dream of. Internet is also very expensive, as a result they are very few people who surf the Internet.

DAILY INCOME&INCENTIVES
Compared to other nations of the west which have welfare systems for their citizens, in this country each person has to fetch for themselves. There’s no way whatsoever that government can give you free cash. As a result of this most youths are paid by political parties (either those in opposition or in government) to destabilise political opponents.

EMPLOYMENT
According to ILO/SAMAT 2000, Zambia has a labour force of 4,037,000, in which Youths (12-24) formed 33.4% and 67.5% are unemployed. In 1999, the youth unemployment level (12-19) was 38% and stood at 29% for those aged 20-24 years. (Monitor for Human Rights and Development Issues).In 2000, the Zambia Statistical Office stated that those aged 15-25 years constituted half the total 6 million unemployed. The informal sector employs 78% of the youth labour force, while the formal sector only employs 11% (SARPN)

POVERTY
About 40% of the population in developing countries live in absolute poverty. Areas in of poverty concentration include: sub-Sahara Africa, south Asia and parts of Latin America where three quarters of the population live in poverty and two third of the worlds population reside. In Zambia, 80% of the population are poor or live in poverty. The remaining 20% of the population is the one that considered to be living above the poverty datum line.

HIV/AIDS
Young people are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection and
Frequently carry the burden of caring for family members living with HIV/AIDS. Lack of access to HIV information and prevention services and a host of Social and economic reasons contribute to their high risk. Stigma and
Discrimination can be particularly damaging to young people at a time
When they are trying to consolidate their identity and establish their
Place in the world. In Zambia AIDS prevalence (15-20 years) was estimated at 20% (Horizon).HIV/AIDS currently poses the largest health threat as the public health sector is stretched to the maximum with the outbreak of the pandemic. In 2001, HIV/AIDS prevalence for the 15-49 was 21.52% (UNDP). However the Zambian Health demographics survey estimates HIV/AIDS prevalence for the same age group as 16%.

CONCLUSION
There has been widespread recognition that youth participation is a vital component of social development. The challenge now is to transform that recognition into practical reality and ensure that this participation is meaningful and taken seriously. Zambia is rich in mineral resources and its mining industry is its dominant sector and major earner of foreign exchange. Zambia has about the best emeralds in the region and these compete reasonably at the international market. The agricultural industry is another element in the economy. These sectors have the potential to serve as employment and self-employment ventures for youths given that the educational and skills needs of the sector are matched in Zambia’s educational system

Information is critical to development, thus Information communication technologies (ICT) as a means of sharing information are not simply a connection between people but a link in the chain of the development process itself. There’s no doubt that information technology the world over is a cross cutting issue in the development endeavour. However, in order to ensure that effective communication is attained as major tool for development, there’s need for policy direction to guide information technology service providers. It is in this line that the government of the republic of Zambia has indicated that it was finalising the national information policy which was formulated this year at the national IT policy symposium.
Although the country has seen a sharp rise in the number of information service providers, the vast majority of the citizens still can’t access these facilities. It is also evident that most service providers are concentrating on the line of rail. Furthermore the level of appreciation of information technology from most people is very low.
Detailed analysis of experience around the world reveals ample evidence that IT if used in the right way and for the right purposes; it can have a dramatic impact on achieving specific social and economic goals, as well as playing a key role in broader national development strategy.
ICT initiatives targeting specific development goals have proved successful and can be regionally or nationally scaled contributing to the critical mass and the threshold levels needed to ignite a virtuous cycle of development.
It continues in such circumstances, the increase use and pervasive impact of ICT can substantially enhance the ability of a nation to address the full range of development goals.

ICT is a critical enabler to sustainable socio economic growth and also a vital ingredient for effective national or regional coordination in the creation of large markets .The development of the World Wide Web and internet has further enhanced the available computing power. The result has been that information is easily transferred and transmitted instantaneously between and among individuals, organizations and their subsidiaries around the world.
This has in essence made the value of information in national development grow substantially.
Ultimately, these developments have had by far a decisive impact on most of the countries of the world, making the concept of globalization a reality. Globalization has also meant that nations have to compete for the same scarce resources wherever they may be in the world and in this process information has emerged as one of the major tools for harnessing global resources.
According to the UN, ICTs can also play a crucial role in preventing violations of human rights and inducing remedial action. ICTs have the potential to help realize and give more meaning to the rights enshrined in the universal declaration and subsequent covenants through its networking features. ICTs can help monitor the observance and implementation human rights instruments.
Women being among the less privileged people around the world are able to use computers to communicate globally taping into world wide networks. Women are talking with one another planning and strategizing as if the whole world were there own community. With the use of the internet some women in developing countries Zambia not to be left out have been able to improve their daily lives through greater access to useful, practical information on income generating activities, agricultural production methods and health. In addition women in different localities are now able to link up through national, regional and international networks. ICT enables the sharing of ideas insights and experiences among themselves and with others.

This process of electronic networking leads to the strengthening of groups and individual women’s skills and contacts facilitating the related processes of empowerment and democratization.
ICTs serve as a valuable vehicle for combating poverty and fostering economic growth. They offer untapped potential to generate access, disseminate and share knowledge at societal levels and promote a networked economy. Given these characteristics, ICTs can be powerful tools to tackle problems of poverty and can also strengthen informed decision making at all levels. ICTs can increase the capacity off governments to deal with economic and social challenges e-government is an especially promising area of ICT applications for developing countries. It permits more efficient and transparent administration at lower cost fosters broader public participation and helps give the poor improved access to government services and a greater say in public decisions.

On the other hand ICTs reduce isolation, facilitate international co-operation and provide access to vast amount of information, although serious problems of access remain. ICTs are not only the significant factor in the performance and growth of economies the importance of which is continuously growing but they also represent a novel and effective tool to help advance sustainable human development .ICTs allow faster delivering and a more adapted content of technical assistance in a variety of sectors ranging from long distance education, fare medicine, environmental management to strengthening of participating approaches and the creation of new livelihood.
Above all, ICTs open up the humankind making people enlightened. People have access to learning on time and many such opportunities. An educated person is the key to the development of any country. This is so because he/she understands the environment around and how to manipulate resources to bring about development.
It is clear that the adoption and utilization of ICTs for national development is not only a necessity but a driving force in terms of competitiveness , self - sustainability and survival overtime , it is expected that ICTs will change the whole pattern of people's lives ,as completely as broadcasting , telephony and high speed transport did in the past.
In conclusion I would like to urge the global community to make sure that access to ICTs is equal to everyone regardless of gender, age or race. Unless if access to ICT is improved it will be difficult for planet to become a global village.

POVERTY

In broad terms, poverty is a synonym for deprivation and covers all or most aspects of hardships. It implies lack of material and cultural goods which constraint the normal development of individuals. Therefore, to be poor is to be incapable of calling for one’s own resources to meet family or own biological needs. Poverty means to live in a permanent state of isolation and insecurity, to live in inadequate housing and to work in poor and inhuman conditions.
In general, poverty is one of the common identifying features of developing economies and is exhibited in the form of low income, high infant mortality rates, poor housing, low life expectancy and so forth.

OVERVIEW
1.2 billion people around the globe live in “extreme poverty”. They subsist on less than one dollar per day. Seventy percent of the poor work and live in rural areas. Progress to date to reduce poverty has been well below the levels required to reduce it significantly. The consumption and production ratios have been very skewed. A very small percentage of the world consumes the majority of goods produced and resources available. The inequalities are devastating. With the escalating rates of unemployment, especially for youth, the impact s made on political, economical and social stability cannot be ignored. In most countries, especially sub-Saharan Africa, the AIDS pandemic has completely altered the shape of the population pyramid. Swarms of young people are suddenly faced with a situation where they need to directly address domestic issues and needs through creating livelihoods for their families. The job market is saturated, and in a lot of cases, shrinking, such that even those with necessary skills and qualifications cannot be formally employed

TYPES OF POVERTY

They are basically four types of poverty. These include; Absolute poverty, Relative poverty, Institutional poverty and Subjective poverty.
ABSOLUTE POVERTY

This is a situation where a population or a section of a population is only able to meet its bare subsistence essentials of food, shelter and clothing in order to maintain a minimum level of living. In other words, it refers to the minimum levels of consumption that are necessary for human survival and it focuses on the economic dimensions of living such as access to basic needs of life. It is very common in developing countries, especially in rural areas.

RELATIVE POVERTY

This implies lagging behind other income groups or individuals in terms of access to existing opportunities or facilities that enhance the quality of human development or quality of life, such as education and health .It focuses on the issue of social stratification and the concept of class comes in. furthermore, it is the inability to have access to goods that are considered customary in a given society. This type of poverty is common in developed countries and urban areas of developing nations.

INSTITUTIONAL POVERTY

This is the new type of poverty induced mostly on third world counties by developed nations where the developed nations introduce technologically advanced lifestyles and a new consumer oriented ideology, which cannot be part of the communal society. It is acquiring tests, wants and needs which one has no financial capabilities to afford or manage

SUBJECTIVE POVERTY

This refers to one’s perception of about his/her poverty status. This is irrespective of access to basic needs or customary needs in a given society. It focuses on one’s own personal analysis his/her poverty status irrespective of locational factors, social groups or gender considerations.

POVERTY DATUM LINE

This is the real income per head or expenditure which is used to determine the proportion of people whose incomes falls below a certain minimum level necessary for human survival.

POVERTY GAP

This is the sum of the difference between the poverty datum line and income level below that line

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AND COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF POVERTY
-A high level of per capita income is no guarantee of low poverty levels. Therefore, there’s need to have an adequate knowledge of the economic characteristics of poverty in order to formulate effective management policies. To attack poverty it is vital to have detailed knowledge of its location, extent and characteristics.

-Poverty affects a disproportionate number of women. In practically every country, more women than men have the lowest level of income. In addition, there’s an increasing incidence of poverty in female-headed households representing 17-28% of the total world households. Furthermore, the dual role of women in these households puts an n additional heavy burden on them. Poverty of female-headed households is related to their economic status. They are basically three reasons why women are more affected by poverty than men. These are:
a) Women are in general terms less educated than men
b) Women have less employment opportunities than men.
c) Women have less access to capital, land and technology which affects efficiency in production


-Most poor people are located in rural areas and are primarily engaged agriculture and associated activities.

-Two–thirds of the absolute poor scratch a living from subsistence agriculture as small-scale farmers or as lowly paid labourers. The remaining one –third are located in urban areas as informal traders.

EXTENT OF POVERTY

About 40% of the population in developing countries live I absolute poverty. Areas in of poverty concentration include: sub-Sahara Africa, south Asia and parts of Latin America where three quarters of the population live in poverty and two third of the worlds population reside. In my own country of origin, Zambia, 80% of the population are poor or live in poverty. The remaining 20% of the population is the one that considered to be living above the poverty datum line.
Although poverty exists in developed countries, it is less in total numbers and percentages

Hai TIGers, it's certainly been a long time.Any way i have been busy with my life.But please do watch out bfor my coming updates!

TAX ON COMPUTERS REDUCED IN ZAMBIA
As a youth activist who is concerned with the development of ICTs in our country Zambia and even our continent Africa, I must say that I was greatly touched by the recent announcement by the Zambian government’s decision to reduce customs duty on all computers from 15% to 5% .I believe this is the first step in the right direction towards the development of information technology and advancement of communication in our country though we still have a very long way to go. Though the government is expected to lose about U$160,000, I can only say that this is worthwhile as this loss is going to bring about development. Am happy because the government is starting to implement the national IT policy. The national IT policy was drafted after the national IT policy symposium that took place at the intercontinental hotel in Lusaka from 24 to 25 August last year. Our organisation (Rescue Mission Zambia) represented the Zambian youth and made several recommendations of which one of them was reducing exercise duty on computers coming into the country.
Kalaluka,Lusaka-Zambia