Youth Speak Forum 2016 organized by AIESEC in Sri Lanka will happen on 19th of March with 300 delegates at Sri Lanka Foundation, Colombo with the theme Entrepreneurship and Employability.
Youth Speak Forum is an event that takes place in multiple locations around the world, bringing top young leaders together with business leaders, thought leaders and experts for a conversation around pressing global issues. The aim is to generate new and actionable ideas that will impact the world and its future. AIESEC make this happen by taking the participants through the unique interactive framework of Inspire, Engage, Act.
Youth Speak Forum is a chapter of the global youth movement “Youth Speak” powered by AIESEC which enables young people to voice their opinions and take action. Bridging the gap between youth opinion and decision-making process, Youth Speak mission is to turn global insights into opportunities for real world impact.
AIESEC is a global platform for young people to explore and develop their leadership potential. They are a non-political, independent, not-for-profit organisation with the vision of “Peace and the fulfilment of humankind’s potential” run by students and recent graduates of institutions of higher education. Its members are interested in world issues, leadership and management.
AIESEC in Sri Lanka was started in 1995 and has been facilitating youth leadership activities as well as international internships and volunteer experiences across Sri Lanka. AIESEC in Sri Lanka is positioned as one of the biggest professional global youth organizations operating in 7 universities; University of Moratuwa, University of Kelaniya, University of Sri Jayawardenapura, University of Colombo, SLIIT, University of Peradeniya and University of Ruhuna with over 685 active members, +600 alumni and +200 partner organizations in Sri Lanka. AIESEC develop leadership through international exchanges and every year more than 580 foreign young people come on internships to Sri Lanka both for volunteering in community development projects and to work in companies and more than 70 graduates from Sri Lanka go on exchanges abroad. AIESEC is one of the world’s largest providers of high-calibre youth talent and volunteers.
On 25th September at the UN, 193 world leaders decided to take action in adopting to the Global Goals, a series of 17 ambitious goals to achieve 3 extraordinary things i.e. end poverty, fight inequality & injustice and tackle climate change within the next 15 years. These goals are for everyone, everywhere.
AIESEC believe that youth opinion is what makes the world spin!
Today’s youth generation, millennials are armed with the power of technology, human connectivity and the ability to reach the world with their voices. They’ve lived through challenging times but have also thrived in creating solutions to these challenges. They didn’t give up, but instead committed themselves to making the world a better place. With 1.8 billion young people today, they are blessed with being the most educated and connected generation in history. Just as Ban Ki Moon, the United Nations Secretary-General states “Ours is the first generation with the potential to end poverty – and the last to act to avoid worst effects of climate change”. They have inherited a world where socioeconomic issues are global by nature and increasingly complex.
In December 2015, AIESEC’s young global leaders and representatives from 126 countries and territories gathered at the United Nations Headquarters for AIESEC Youth Action Summit to promote and drive youth participation in the implementation of the Global Goals for Sustainable Development. AIESEC partnered with the Office of the United Nations Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth to bring youth voices into the conversation for the “YouthNow” campaign, a global digital and in-person campaign launched by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to elevate conversations around investment in youth development.
Youth Speak movement is a result of this partnership between AIESEC and UN in participating the youth for the implementation of the Global Goals for Sustainable Development. As a part of this global youth movement, AIESEC has attempted to get the youth feedback through a survey on how they envision the world in 2030 and what are the issues that they are ready to act upon today to make this future brighter. This is a global youth survey run by youth for youth. Sri Lankan youth can contribute to this movement by giving their ideas through the survey at this link: http://youthspeak.aiesec.questionpro.com/
Through the results of this survey it is witnessed that the main concern of Sri Lankan youth is the 4th sustainable development goal “Quality Education” and AIESEC is conducting the Youth Speak Forum 2016 aiming to improve the quality of education in Sri Lanka. Youth Speak Forum 2016 is based on the theme Entrepreneurship and Employability discussing on how we can improve the employability of Sri lankan students/undergraduates through quality education, the importance of Entrepreneurship education and integrating Entrepreneurship to local education.
Youth Speak Forum will include keynotes by guest speakers, sessions conducted under the theme and workshops to convert the ideas that evolve from young minds to actions. Then the selected excellent ideas of the youth present at the Youth Speak Forum would be pitched at the presence of the decision makers of the country as well as the corporate sector. At the end there will be a panel discussion with the invited guests where the delegates of Youth Speak Forum get the chance to clarify their thoughts.
All the Sri Lankan youth who wants to make an impact to the country are invited to participate in the Youth Speak Forum 2016. You can fill the application at this link : https://goo.gl/i3GZ7I. For more details please visit the facebook page :https://www.facebook.com/youthspeakLK/
