National Union of Eritrean Youth and Students (NUEYS) in its earliest form had begun to materialize through the gathering of Eritrean students around the 1950’s in order to create an organization that opposed the oppression and illegal encroachment by Ethiopia on Eritreans right to self-determination. The first official form of the present day NUEYS was called the General Union of Eritrean Students (GUES) which was formed in 1968 by students from the diaspora. Later the liberation movement this organization evolved when many other student associations came together in the Eritrean city of Keren in 1978 to form the National Union of Eritrean Students (NUES). This organization once again took to another form during its fifth congress in 1987 when it changed its name to National Union of Eritrean Youth (NUEY) in order to incorporate non-student organizations. Finally in 1994 in NUEY’s sixth congress in Asmara NUEY changed its name into its present day form of NUEYS. From its final evolution onwards NUEYS has kept its top priority advocating on behalf of youth and students throughout Eritrea and within the Diaspora and being used as an asset in the national development efforts of youth and students. NUEYS in accordance with its organizational motto “Let the youth be enlightened, Organized, and equipped” has been working on creating and promoting different activities and projects that can motivate and boost the youth’s sense of nationalism, and their drive to develop their nation. NUEYS activities and projects vary from their different departments with a plethora of different types of activities and projects that widen with the ever-expanding potential of the youth. Such as vocational training of a variety of fields, language classes, media productions created in order to enlighten the youth of our culture and overall national diversity, youth festivals and national tours given to the youth of the Diaspora so that they may further get to see and know their country on a deeper level. These are just a few of the events that NUEYS produces. All in all, NUEYS is an organization that pushes to keep Eritrean youth focused on their nation so that they can be prepared able to contribute their part in the development of their nation on its destined path of a future with continued peace and prosperous development. When all is said and done NUEYS is and will always be of the youth, by the youth, for the youth.
NUEYS’ Mission
NUEYS’ mission is to cultivate and produce capable youth by promoting and strengthening Eritrean youth in all aspects of national, regional, and international development processes.
This mission encompasses the values and ideals of the 30-year struggle for independence and, with the same spirit; NUEYS’ mission has been redrafted to include the new challenges faced by the youths in post-liberated Eritrea.
Thus, NUEYS’ main role is embodied in the following functions:
Advocacy and Lobbying: The first and foremost responsibility of NUEYS is to position youth issues in all spheres and at all levels, ensuring that the youths’ concerns and specific needs are provided for and, that the relevant institutions are aware of those needs.
Service Provision: NUEYS provides services that directly address the youths’ problems. However, NUEYS is not there to continue the provision of these services as much as to try to temporarily fill the gap until the responsible body assumes the service.
NUEYS’ Values
NUEYS’ programs and activities are guided by its values. The following are NUEYS’ core values:
- Promotion of national unity, tolerance, and respect for the principles of democracy and human rights.
- Commitment to the total wellbeing of young people physically, intellectually, emotionally, culturally, and morally.
- Active involvement of youth in decision-making and in development programs.
- Respect for human dignity, diversity, and unity.
- Pursuit of equitable and non-discriminatory opportunities for the development of the unique potential of young men and women.
- Respect and support for family integration.
- Respect for law and order, and acceptance of the principles of fairness, equality, and unity in everyday life.
NUEYS Goals
- To build capacity of the Eritrean youth through various types of capacity building activities.
- To advocate for youth involvement, and participation in social, cultural, and developmental processes at the national, regional and international levels.
- To facilitate formal and informal networks among the youth and for youth at national, regional and international levels.
Aims and Objectives
The overall objective of NUEYS is to contribute to the well-balanced development of Eritrea’s youth through the provision of information, education, and services to address all issues affecting young people’s lives. NUEYS also runs with the aim to meet the following specific objectives:
- To build youth that safeguard the sovereignty of their nation while retaining their culture and identity.
- To lobby government and other organizations for the benefit of the youth.
- To build a physically and spiritually confident youth with a passion for education and work.
- To prepare the youth to become active participants in nation building and reconstruction endeavors.
- To prepare the youth to retain the achievements of the martyrs and to pass it on to the coming generations.
- To support and promote the rights and equality of women and fight against negative gender perceptions.
- To advocate and lobby for children’s rights.
- To promote and actively participate in the protection of the environment.
- To ensure the role of the youth for the promotion of peace and stability.
- To establish bilateral ties with various regional, continental, governmental, and non-governmental organizations.
NUEYS Strategies
NUEYS’ strategies are holistic and take into consideration all priority issues that concern the youths.
Key strategies include:
- Working within the framework of the national objectives and policies.
- Integrating activities into packages or program components to deliver multi-messages and multi-services through training, advocacy, and service provision.
- Efficiency, effectiveness, and self-reliance — NUEYS’ operating principles in planning and implementing programs.
- Innovative ways of delivering services and messages.
NUEYS Approach
NUEYS has developed a set of approaches that it will embark on to contribute to addressing youth development priorities. These are:
- Organizing the youths through a network of chapters, groups, and sub-groups, in all the sub-regions, and in schools inside and outside the country.
- Conducting training and educational programs on civic education, literacy, vocational skills, gender issues, human rights, democracy, and health issues.
- Providing health services including reproductive health services, clinical services, libraries, hot line counseling services, provision of condoms and contraceptives, first-aid services, and referral cases to hospitals.
- Providing information and publication—campaigns, seminars, and meetings are regularly conducted on current affairs and health issues to disseminate information and share ideas including through newsletters and IEC materials.
- Establishing and maintaining various clubs, cultural groups, recreational, and sport activities.
- Creating employment initiatives and income generating activities (fund raising, trust fund projects).
- Conducting and facilitating of research on youth-related issues for the sake of decision-making and problem analysis.
- Providing environment and community services, including values transfer programs.