Symposium Theme: Strengthening youth to strengthen families

Across the globe there is agreement that the youth of the 21st century are facing more and different challenges than have been experienced by previous generations. The position that the youth find themselves in can be attributed to many social, economic and political factors of which the most concerning one is that only 56% of youth worldwide enrol in the equivalent of high school. In other words, 44% of youth approach their adult life having achieved only grade 8 or a lower education. It is widely agreed that this phenomenon is one of the main contributing factors to the high prevalence of youth involvement in gangsterism and of youth unemployment. Changing family structures over the past two to three decades have also put the wellbeing of the youth in the spotlight with single parents and absent fathers forming part of the reality of many young persons. It is therefore of utmost importance to not only take hands with the National Development Plan (NDP), the National Youth Policy 2015-2020 (NYP 2015-2020) and the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) but to also on a continental and international level create events and platforms to discuss and analyse the field in which youth operate with the view to find solutions that would give the youth a fair chance to become well-functioning future parents and leaders.

The United Nations define persons between the ages of 15-24 years as youth. For the purpose of this symposium, youth will be seen as any person between the ages of 13-24 years.

You are invited to submit an abstract on one of the following sub themes for consideration by the Symposium Coordinating Committee.

Sub Theme 1: Engaging families to work towards relational wellbeing between parents and the youth (i.e. critical reflection on parenting with specific reference to the complexities of parenting youth; the role of fathers in youth wellbeing (where have all the fathers gone?); support for the primary care-giver)

Sub Theme 2: Psychosocial challenges faced by youth (expanding on aspects such as teenage pregnancies; addiction amongst youth; youth violence; youth unemployment; youth and school drop-out; youth at risk; implications of youth challenges on community wellbeing; youth as a previously disadvantaged group) 

Sub Theme 3: Psychosocial interventions aimed at the youth (practice-based interventions to address youth wellbeing; interventions with a multidisciplinary approach; interventions to improve intergenerational relationships; development of policies to address youth and family issues)

Abstract submission guidelines

 Take note that your abstract (only one abstract per delegate) should be prepared according to one of the mentioned themes and either to

a) Report on research findings or

b) Report on strategies/projects/programmes for youth, parents, families, communities etc.

Abstracts should be submitted from 17 August 2018 - 21 September 2018

Please draft your abstract according to the headings listed below in no more than 300 words in total.

Abstracts that report on research findings should contain the following concise statements:

• Title of paper
• Background and Objectives: the description of the problem or the hypothesis, the study objectives
• Method: study methods used or approaches taken
• Results: specific results in summarised form
• Conclusion: Statement about the main outcomes.

Abstracts for reporting on strategies/projects/programmes should contain the following concise statements:

• Back ground: short statement summarising the issue(s) addressed by the abstract
• Methods: a brief description of the project, experience, or program
• Results: a brief description of the results or lessons learned
• Conclusions: a brief statement of next steps / recommendations

TIP: Draft your abstract in text format in MS Word or a similar programme. Please only use Arial plain font in 10 point. Save it as a document once you are sure the content is ready for submission as an abstract.

You will be informed by 1 November 2018 as to whether your abstract was accepted.

You are requested to register by 31 January 2019 for the symposium if your abstract was accepted.

Please include the following information of the author(s) on the abstract

Submit Abstract

Please submit your abstract to ccyfsymposium@nwu.ac.za