�Harnessing youth power key to dev�

Empowering the young by protecting them and investing in them can open up avenues for accelerated development, said speakers at a round table discussion at The Daily Star Centre yesterday.
The discussion on “Harnessing the Power of the Young”, jointly organised by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and The Daily Star, was chaired by  Fazle Rabbi Miah, Deputy Speaker of Parliament. Professor Dr A K M Nurun Nabi, Vice-Chancellor of the Begum Rokeya University spoke at the meeting as a special guest.  Eshani Ruwanpura, Programme Specialist (Youth), UNFPA, presented the keynote address.
The global youth population (15-24-year-old) is approximately 1.2 billion, which may rise to 1.3 billion by 2030. As mortality and fertility rates decline, countries are witnessing a period where the ratio of working-age population is high. But this demographic advantage will yield dividends only if the country invests massively in health, education and skills development, especially for the adolescents and youth. Promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment require special attention in Bangladesh.
Improvements in the health sector, especially targeting women and children, will contribute towards improved child survival. If families have fewer children, the government will have more resources to invest in education of the surviving children. If an economically-enabling environment is created the educated youngsters will also get well-paying jobs.
Child marriage prevents girls from completing their education and seeking employment. This leads to high teenage fertility rate that currently stands at 113/1000. More importantly, 65 percent of the women currently aged between 20-24 years were married by the age of 18.
 “Norms in Bangladesh are good, but child marriage, which is also related to dowry, is a very negative one,” said UNICEF's child protection specialist, Amy Delneuville.
 “We hold many discussions about empowering the education sector, but these meetings won’t be fruitful if we do not involve the young people in policy making,” said the Deputy Speaker.
 He also urged the Ministry of Youth and Sports to improve the monitoring of the National Service Programme as young men and women, who were supposed to get three months of training, did not get properly trained. The trainers should be monitored closely since there are allegations that they illegally pocketed the money allocated under the National Service Programme.
“The people who go abroad to work do not get good wages as they do not know English, while the people from India and Pakistan enjoy better income opportunities. We must train the people, who want to go to the middle-east countries, if we want more remittances,” said Miah.

 

�Harnessing youth power key to dev�

Empowering the young by protecting them and investing in them can open up avenues for accelerated development, said speakers at a round table discussion at The Daily Star Centre yesterday. The discussion on Harnessing the Power of the Young, jointly organised by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and The Daily Star, was chaired by Fazle Rabbi Miah, Deputy Speaker of Parliament. Professor Dr A K M Nurun Nabi, Vice-Chancellor of the Begum Rokeya University spoke at the meeting as a special guest. Eshani Ruwanpura, Programme Specialist (Youth), UNFPA, presented the keynote address. The global youth population (15-24-year-old) is approximately 1.2 billion, which may rise to 1.3 billion by 2030. As mortality and fertility rates decline, countries are witnessing a period where the ratio of working-age population is high. But this demographic advantage will yield dividends only if the country invests massively in health, education and skills development, especially for the adolescents and youth. Promoting gender equality and womens empowerment require special attention in Bangladesh. Improvements in the health sector, especially targeting women and children, will contribute towards improved child survival. If families have fewer children, the government will have more resources to invest in education of the surviving children. If an economically-enabling environment is created the educated youngsters will also get well-paying jobs. Child marriage prevents girls from completing their education and seeking employment. This leads to high teenage fertility rate that currently stands at 113/1000. More importantly, 65 percent of the women currently aged between 20-24 years were married by the age of 18. Norms in Bangladesh are good, but child marriage, which is also related to dowry, is a very negative one, said UNICEFs child protection specialist, Amy Delneuville. We hold many discussions about empowering the education sector, but these meetings wont be fruitful if we do not involve the young people in policy making, said the Deputy Speaker. He also urged the Ministry of Youth and Sports to improve the monitoring of the National Service Programme as young men and women, who were supposed to get three months of training, did not get properly trained. The trainers should be monitored closely since there are allegations that they illegally pocketed the money allocated under the National Service Programme. The people who go abroad to work do not get good wages as they do not know English, while the people from India and Pakistan enjoy better income opportunities. We must train the people, who want to go to the middle-east countries, if we want more remittances, said Miah.