ORGANISATION BACKGROUND
Operation Young Vote (OYV) was established in 1999 as a voter registration campaign project by young people to target their peers across Zambia.
The goal was to increase youth participation in governance and democratic processes, as they were underrepresented despite being the majority.
OYV aimed to create a critical mass of young people across the country, organized at national, sub-national, and community levels.
The organization designed program delivery systems to respond to the needs of young people in different communities and provinces. OYV was formally registered in 2000 and has since created a network of chapters in all provinces and most districts.
These chapters are democratically formed structures that have been enhanced over the years, leading up to various elections.
Since its inception, OYV has recruited over 96,700 members from local communities, institutions, and churches.
The organization takes pride in its success in mobilizing and enhancing young people’s participation in elections, from 2001 to 2021. OYV’s mission is to ensure that young people contribute meaningfully to Zambia’s development, with a focus on political and democratic governance, economic governance, corporate governance, socio-economic development, and resilience to shocks.
MISSION
In order to transform this vision into reality OYV has set out on a mission to establish itself into “A Young people focused NGO, working in partnership with Young People across the country and sectors (urban and rural, with disabilities and without, female and male, in-school and out of school affiliated politically and not, employed and not employed including all other young people) in order to ignite and enhance their involvement in life endeavours and improve their livelihood (through engagement in wealth creation as a means to fight poverty) and ensure their participation in decision-making at all levels; through advocacy and lobbying, leadership development and capacity building, research and policy analysis, mobilization and information dissemination.”
VISION
Operation Young Vote’s envisioned end is “ A generation of empowered, motivated and patriotic young people fully participating in governance and the electoral, leadership and decision making with passion and love for green environment in a just, equal and poverty and HIV/AIDS free society”.
AIMS
“Empowering Zambia’s citizens, especially the youth and children, to fully participate in the country’s decision-making processes and development, while advocating for their rights and well-being, to drive positive change and inclusive governance.”