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The Youth are the custodians of development in any country as they dominate the demographics. Being the largest group in history, the youth have a positive role to play in peace building, promotion and maintenance. This also feeds into achieving SDG 16 attaining peaceful societies. Zimbabwe with the youth occupying 67.7 % of the total population, this year's International Youth Day theme Youth Building Peace resonates well as the 2018 elections are around the corner. Despite commitments and pledges from political leaders, Zimbabwe has had violence towards, during and after elections as evidenced in 2008 harmonized elections. The perpetrators of such violence argued to be the youth, only leaves the youth as a vulnerable group that can be used to drive political agendas.   However, Zimbabwe is known as a peaceful country that has no war, unrest and high risk security threats. Therefore, the Youth Building Peace theme for the International Youth Day speaks to the positive rol

Dear Zimbabwean Youth By Alfred Towo  The International Youth Day 2017 is dedicated to celebrating young people’s contributions to peace, conflict prevention and transformation as well as inclusion, social justice and sustainable peace. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development committed to fostering peaceful and inclusive societies and affirmed that “Sustainable development cannot be realized without peace and security”. Goal 16 aims to ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels. As young people, this is the time to take stock of our lives and address the deeply embedded culture of violence to defuse tensions, prevent violence and uphold peace in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is battling an upsurge in illicit drug trafficking, abuse and the associated mental health problems, which mostly affect the end users, their families and the communities they live in. Undeniably drug abuse has a big influence as it lead directly to increased i