Yolokazi Mfuto

Eastern Cape Sunday Heroes

Nominee's Province:
Eastern Cape

Age:
25

Project Name/Description:
UN Population Fund & The University of Fort Hare

More info:
https://www.facebook.com/yolokazi.mfuto.7

Yolokazi Mfuto, 25, is the youth advisor at UN Population Fund in South Africa. The youth advisory panel is a structure of young people that is entrusted to represent the views of young people with regards to sexual reproductive health and rights, gender-based violence, comprehensive sexuality education and the rights of the LGBTIA+ community. The youngster from a small town of Alice in the Eastern Cape joined the programme in 2018 as one of three young people from the province. “My distinctive role has been to influence policy and implementation thereof, especially within government structures,” Mfuto says. She also works in the student governance and development unit under student affairs at the University of Fort Hare, where she focuses on working with student formations. “I’m greatly inspired by my past and the fact that I grew up in a village where success was not guaranteed. I am now a beacon of hope for many young people whose parents cannot afford education. I will always be indebted to my people and I will always represent the ideas of the marginalised and the poor,” she says.