WINDHOEK – The National Youth Council and the Hanns-Seidel Foundation, European Union, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Progress Namibia, AIESEC Namibia and Internet Society Namibia Chapter are hosting a two-day conference in Ongwediva today and tomorrow.
Themed Youth for Global Goals (Y4GG), it aims to bring together both young and senior leaders to form a diverse cross-sector, multi-generational space to engage in conversations about pressing global issues and to incorporate youth opinion into this discourse. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be introduced to the youth who are then to engage them together with the other stakeholders to identify innovative approaches and initiatives that may address the needs of the youth pertaining to the SDGs.
In this respect AIESEC Namibia ran a survey amongst the youth in all the different regions in Namibia to gauge their perspectives on the SDGs, how they can contribute to it, what their challenges are and how these can be addressed. These findings will be presented at the conference.
Similarly, a panel discussion takes place with experts from the banking sector, education sector and business sector, among others, who are to share their knowledge and experiences, followed by break-away sessions under the following topics: (i) SDG#4 Quality Education; (ii) SDG#8 Decent Work and (iii) SDG#9 Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure. The aim of the interactive sessions is to inform the youth about the SDGs and to identify concrete proposals or recommendations on how they can contribute to the SDGs.
An important objective is equally to support the youth through these forums to become better equipped when looking for job opportunities. In this regard they will have ample opportunity to network and obtain information on the issues to be discussed. On 18 October, at the Business Networking Event in Ondangwa, participants will have the opportunity to further engage with experts and obtain information that will be displayed at this occasion. This is the 2nd conference of its kind, following the success of last year’s conference in Windhoek, which was well attended by the youth and representatives from 11 of Namibia’s 14 regions, as well as government, media, civil society, private sector and international organizations. The conference took place under the theme: Sustainable Economic Development Opportunities for the Youth in Namibia and the outcome and recommendations served as input for the 5th AU-EU Summit that took place in Abidjan, Ivory Coast from 28-29 November last year under the central theme: Investing in Youth.
The youth conference in Ongwediva is expected to draw a set of recommendations and aspirations to foster youth actions in line with the SDGs.