Groupe Jeunesse Espoir (Youth Hope Group), founded in 2002, is a non-governmental organization run by young people and adults from different nationalities promoting youth integration in the decision-making process, as well as in the drafting of development policies in the Democratic Republic of Congo. GROUJES’s interdisciplinary vision is based on the belief that active youth involved in researching solutions to community problems can make a difference and eventually influence governmental action, especially in the fields of technology and sustainable development.
Besides their major goals, which are to facilitate youth to gain access to new communication and information technologies or campaigning for the implementation of genuine youth policies by the state, GROUJES is also committed to the promotion of Earth Charter principles and uses the Earth Charter as a soft law document and ethical framework. By infusing its moral and environmental values at the local (home), regional (community), and national (state) levels, GROUJES seeks to inspire in others a sense of global responsibility to help build a more just, peaceful and sustainable world.
Africa Technology Experience (‘Afritech Xp’), a major project of GROUJES, drew its inspiration from the four pillars of the Earth Charter to develop a programme that takes sustainable development criteria into account. Based on the observation that most of the industrialized countries over-consume high-tech products, Afritech Xp aims at raising awareness and informs actors from diverse backgrounds (developers, programmers, researches, students, etc.) on how to use these high- technology products in a more sustainable and eco-friendly manner. For that purpose, concepts such as eco-management or eco-responsibility are being promoted and explained, most notably through the implementation of four different sub-projects:
– Relook Your Mobile ‘RYMOB’
– TV Show ‘Eco-Geek’
– 243 Innov-Club
– Recycle Now ‘REMA’
Each of these projects aims to bring together major actors from the fields of technology and the environment as well as leaders of several youth organizations. Ultimately, the goal is to raise consciousness and reduce the generation of waste and pollution linked to the production and consumption of these products, while also improving access to information technologies for young people.
For more information, please visit the GROUJES and Afritech’s XP Web sites.