Dedras NGO, in partnership with CARE Benin/Togo and ECOWAS, celebrated the 2025 International Youth Day belatedly at CEG Gbégamey in Cotonou on September 4 and 5, 2025. The celebration kicked off the day before, on Thursday, September 4, with a sports march from Bio Guera Square to Fidjrossè Square.
In the courtyard of CEG Gbégamey, the colors of ECOWAS and CARE Benin/Togo framed a celebration focused on the future. Dedras NGO, initiator of the IMPACT-ECOWAS project, marked the belated celebration of International Youth Day 2025 with a gathering of about a hundred young people, education authorities, ECOWAS representatives, and technical partners.
“Youth is not just a category to support, but a force to be activated,” stressed Rafiou Ba-Agba, representative of the Departmental Directorate of Secondary Education, Technical and Vocational Training (DDESFTP).
The institutional tone did not overshadow the call for boldness. Before a hundred mobilized youths, Daniel Djodjouhin, Food Security and Nutrition Coordinator at CARE Benin/Togo, praised “ECOWAS’s unwavering commitment to social cohesion” and recalled the spirit of IMPACT-ECOWAS.
“Young people are not only beneficiaries of change, they are key actors in it,” he said.
The goal of the day was to mobilize and promote local initiatives ranging from entrepreneurship to sexual and reproductive health, while highlighting “50 years of ECOWAS’s commitment to regional integration, peace, and development.”
As for the program content, project manager Mouhoutarou Alassane detailed the ongoing projects in northern Benin.
He mentioned socio-community infrastructure, training centers, market access, women’s empowerment, and social cohesion. “We have identified 100 young people in vocational training schools and initiated the registration of 50 groups in order to support 1,000 women in their income-generating activities,” he specified, before announcing a direct benefit for Cotonou.
“The project will set up a multimedia center here, at CEG Gbégamey, to allow young people to access educational, professional, and civic information.”
Youth as protagonists of their future
One of the highlights was the speech of N. Fridaous Ibrahim, spokesperson for the youth. “We are not just the future, we are the present. Believe in us, invest in us,” she urged.
Her words were echoed and amplified by Jonas Houédou, representing the ECOWAS ambassador, who tied the event to the community’s 50th anniversary.
“There can be no sustainable development without youth inclusion, nor genuine peace without their empowerment. You are the faces of this ambition.”
Thierry Tchédé, IMPACT-ECOWAS project officer within Dedras NGO, revisited the spirit of this belated celebration. “We want to strengthen youth involvement in local initiatives, showcase their actions in crafts, agro-processing, and entrepreneurship. Youth is not tomorrow, it is today,” he explained.
The ceremony concluded with a tour of exhibition stands showcasing processed products, craft and agricultural innovations, followed by a panel led by young beneficiaries.
They shared their journeys, challenges, and hopes, thus confirming that the initiative led by Dedras with the support of CARE Benin/Togo and ECOWAS is indeed giving shape to its ambition: making Benin’s youth a true driving force of sustainable development and social cohesion.