Youth Conferences: Effective Forums or Overplayed Events? A Youth Perspective
3 Dec 2007 in Civic Participation
Abdullah Al Thawr is the Youth Programs Officer for the Democracy School in Sana'a, Yemen and a MEYI Youth Ambassador.
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As an active youth leader in my country Yemen, I am invited to attend various conferences in Europe and the Middle East to participate and contribute to solutions for engaging young people around development issues. Some of these conferences are not simply for youth, but incorporate a youth component that ultimately feed into the greater goals of the event.
One might ask, “Why do we need to incorporate youth in planning of national strategies and plans? And why do we need such forums and conferences for youth?” From someone who has participated at conferences that bring young people together, I believe that there is a clear need for such opportunities; and I see a greater number of countries today opening their doors for young people to participate.
I believe that youth – in collaboration with development experts – know best their status and needs. Leaving youth out of the planning and implementation processes results in policies and strategies that are ineffective and might be rejected by the community because they don’t meet with the needs of the target audience. International forums and conferences provide the chance for communication, dialogue and sharing of experience between global citizens. International youth forums result in new-born international joint projects that help strengthen the relations and cooperation between countries.
Recently, I participated at the League of Arab States Youth Forum (LAS) as part of the Yemeni youth delegation invited to attend. I was very pleased with the outcomes of the event as a participant and also as someone who by attending such conferences over time now recognize international and regional efforts in play to improve the participation of young people in the Middle East. For example, one important issue that was reinforced and announced by the youth participants is the definition (and redefinition) of youth. The reality is that we are not just leaders of tomorrow (as most adults view youth) but rather leaders of today as well, and active agents of change.
In the end, we the participants left the forum with knowledge, new experience, new alliances, and new projects, but most important new international friendships. The dynamic energies and commitments made on issues that varied from education and employment to human rights and good governance, capacity building among youth NGOs, European-Arab cooperation, and social inclusion affirmed the interactivity of the forum.
By investing in youth and expanding their opportunities to communicate and participate in dialogue, youth will also invest in their countries.
