YALS 2027 · Accra

The African Youth General Assembly

A working chamber of young Africans, seated by country, negotiating one document across a single day and signing it that evening. Everybody who walks in has a country, a title, a committee and a seat. Nobody is an audience member.

54Named briefs
6Committees
550Delegates
1Declaration

You will not be watching

The Assembly produces the Accra Youth Declaration 2027, drafted in committee, adopted in the House and signed the same evening. It goes to the office of the African Union Youth Envoy and to the permanent missions of participating countries, carrying the name of every signatory.

You sit for your own country, not an assigned one, and you hold a named brief rather than a seat number. A delegate told in November 2026 that they are the Assembly Member for Cross Border Trade and Customs for Ghana has twelve months to become the person in the room who knows that subject. That is the whole design.

The title lasts the year, not the day. It is allocated when your registration is confirmed and held until the Declaration is signed.

Six committees, nine briefs each

Each committee drafts one chapter of the Declaration. All six come together in the House in the afternoon. A committee above fifty members sits in parallel chambers negotiating the same chapter, and the texts merge on the floor.

01

Peace, Security and Governance

Conflict prevention, electoral integrity, constitutionalism, anti-corruption, displacement, security sector reform.

02

Trade, Industry and the AfCFTA

Cross border trade, access to finance, local manufacturing, informal markets, digital payments, transport corridors.

03

Climate, Energy and Natural Resources

Adaptation finance, energy access, extractives, land and soil, shared water basins, food systems, the blue economy.

04

Education, Skills and Employment

Curriculum reform, technical training, recognition of qualifications across borders, first jobs, teacher supply.

05

Health and Social Development

Primary health systems, mental health, local pharmaceutical manufacture, disability inclusion, social protection.

06

Digital Technology and Innovation

Data governance, artificial intelligence and African languages, connectivity costs, platform work, online safety.

How a title is allocated

You choose three briefs in order of preference from the full list of fifty four. Titles are then allocated in the order registration fees are confirmed. The delegate who settles in March chooses from fifty four. The delegate who settles in October chooses from what is left.

1Your first choice

Granted if no compatriot in your delegation already holds it. Duplicates across countries are deliberate: the Zambian and Kenyan Assembly Members for Water Security and Shared Basins are counterparts, and they will disagree.

2Second, then third

Taken in the order you ranked them, under the same rule.

3Nearest available brief

If all three are held inside your delegation, the secretariat offers the closest remaining brief in the same committee, then in your second choice committee.

4An office or a mission

Where a delegation has exhausted its briefs, an office seat or a place on an observer mission. Nobody finishes this process without a title. That is the commitment.

The naming rule is subject first, country second. Assembly Member for Water Security and Shared Basins, Zambia.

Offices of the House

Roughly one delegate in six holds an office rather than a brief, and several offices are held alongside one.

The Bureau

A Speaker of the House and two Deputy Speakers, elected by the House on the day. Candidates declare in advance so the House knows who it is choosing, and the Clerk presides over the election before handing the chair to the Speaker.

The Table

Clerk of the Assembly, two Assistant Clerks, and a Serjeant at Arms who carries the mace and has charge of the floor.

Committee offices

A Chair and a Rapporteur for every chamber, by application, plus a Secretary who keeps the record of what was agreed and in what order.

Counsel to the Assembly

Twelve seats. Holds the master text and advises Chairs on whether an amendment sits consistently with what the House has already adopted.

Press Corps

Twelve Assembly Correspondents write the Hansard and run the media desk. Every intervention is recorded by title, country and name, and published within a week.

Delegation offices

Head of Delegation for every country, with a Deputy, Spokesperson, Secretary and Whip as the delegation grows.

The day itself

08:30 – 09:00

Delegations seat. Flags and placards out.

09:00 – 10:00

Opening plenary. The Clerk takes the chair, the Credentials Committee reports, and the House elects its Speaker and two Deputy Speakers.

10:00 – 12:00

Committees sit. General debate, then brief groups negotiate their paragraph, the Rapporteur produces a draft, amendments are taken and the chapter is adopted.

12:00 – 13:00

Lunch, and delegation caucuses settle their positions before the House sits.

13:00 – 15:30

The House sits. Seating by committee bloc, six blocs facing inward. Each chapter is presented by its Rapporteur from the table, then questions and amendments from the floor.

15:40 – 16:15

Adoption and signing of the Accra Youth Declaration 2027.

16:15 – 17:30

Presentation of the Declaration to the African Union Youth Envoy’s office and diplomatic guests, closing plenary, then the Practitioner graduation and the summit photograph.

A member's first intervention in committee is a maiden speech: ninety seconds, heard without interruption, and the Chair calls them by full title to make it. Members are addressed by title and country throughout, never by name.

Floor rules

Five hundred and fifty people cannot catch the Speaker's eye, so the speaking list lives in the delegate portal. A member requests the floor and says whether they are asking a question, moving an amendment or speaking to the chapter.

No delegation speaks twice on a question until every delegation wishing to speak has spoken once. Three minutes on a first intervention, ninety seconds afterwards. Most amendments carry by acclamation, by placard when the voices are unclear, and by recorded division read from the roll for final adoption.

One vote per delegation, whether that delegation is one delegate or fifty. If individuals voted, four or five large countries would carry every question.

Choose your brief

Titles are allocated in order of confirmed payment. Register, settle your fee, and pick from the full list.

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