On the 8th of July, the Intergenerational Dialogue of the Asian Parliamentarians and Youth Advocates on Meaningful Youth Engagement Forum was held organized by The Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) and supported by The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Y-PEER Asia-Pacific Center. This forum was held online because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Hanna Yoon attended who is the director of KGMLab and founder of APDA global young leaders course, with students on behalf of Korea.This meeting mainly discussed the importance of youth engagement and its modalities in the Asia-Pacific region and what we should improve.
First, the meeting started with welcoming guests from Hon, Ichiro Aisawa, Acting Chair of APDA/JPFP, and the Supporting Partner from Mr. Bjorn Andersso, Regional Director of UNFPA APRO. Both people mentioned how meaningful the participation of young people is in modern society.
There was time to talk about the gaps in meaningful youth engagement. In this meeting, Ms. Situ Shrestha mentioned the ten gaps as an example. For example, Lack of inclusion or a proper platform for youth engagement, Mental health issues, Lack of education, and unemployment problems. Moreover, this meeting also mentioned examples of meaningful youth engagement at the Asia-Pacific regional level. It made it clear that there exists plenty of meaningful youth engagement. Examples of youth engagement are The Asia-Pacific Forum On Sustainable Development (APFSD), The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
In this meeting, there had a time three youth advocates and three parliamentarians discussed; where young people are meaningfully engaged in their countries and afterCovid-19 how the youth engagement is maintained in each of the countries. Ms. Siva Anggita, director of Partnership Youth TB Movement from Indonesia said, "In Indonesia, the government includes young people mostly however, it is clear that there has a finance gap between youngsters."
Next, in the third session, each of the ten country groups discussed what gaps in each country and what kinds of policies related to youth engagement at the local or national level. For example, the group from Pakistan mentioned a lack of disabilities rights and challenges while working on sexual reproductive and health rights.
This meeting mentioned the recommendations from youth advocates such as enabling political frameworks, promoting collaboration and dialogues between the government and young people, and strengthening the political empowerment of young people. Also needs-driven reforms such as youth policies were reviewed and revised following new emerging challenges, issues, and aspirations of the youth.
Lastly, the meeting came to the conclusion that young people's participation in politics is more important than ever and the participants pointed out that government agencies and various organizations should join forces to achieve this.
Writing by
Yeon Seo Lee
student of APDA global oung Leaders Course
Planning/General Manager
Hanna Yoon. (Ph.D. in Media and Governance)
Director of KGM Lab.
APDA Strategy and Communications Consultant.
Founder and General manager of APDA Global Global Young Leaders Course.
Adjunct Professor at Soongsil University.
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