AU Youth Division to launch Africa Day #IAmAfrican campaign with TikTok and Trace TV

Addis Ababa, May 17, 2021 (FBC)- The African Union’s Youth Division within the Women, Gender and Youth Directorate has partnered with TikTok and Trace TV to celebrate Africa Day through a half month-long digital campaign titled “I Am African”.

The partnership with TikTok and Trace TV accelerates the vision of the 1 Million by 2021 initiative of Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC).

The initative seeks to provide opportunities to African youth in Education, Employment, Entrepreneurship and Engagement, according to AU.

The overall objective of the “I Am African” campaign is to amplify the AUC 2021 theme of the year “Arts, Culture and Heritage; Building Levers For The Africa We Want”.

The campaign calls on users to creatively express their views on what makes them proudly African across various categories, fashion, makeup, dance, food and music.

This month TikTok Africa will programme a line-up of in-app initiatives to highlight African content with genre-specific playlists, including; Gengetone, Afrobeats, Amapiano and an exclusive in-app playlist.

Critical to the success of the campaign is its amplification through AU Member States to generate interest and capture young people’s perceptions and identities pertaining to the theme, and furthermore, showcase the shared commentary.

The social media platform, TikTok, owned by a Chinese company ByteDance, is used to make a variety of short-form videos of different genres and is getting popularity, including in Africa.

Trace Tv is a global afro-urban entertainment channel to connect and empower the new generation and it is experiencing rapid international expansion, with different feeds present in 60 countries.