KARACHI: The Sindh government has started working to establish youth development committees at district level all over the province to engage youth in constructive and productive activities to enhance their skills and promote their talent.
This was announced by government officials during a two-day training workshop on Sindh held by Bargad, a national level organisation working on youth development, and OXFAM in collaboration with Sindh’s sports and youth affairs department here at a local hotel on Saturday.
The workshop “Sindh Youth Policy (SYP) 2018 – Formulation to Implementation: Agenda for Youth” was meant to support implementation of the newly enacted SYP 2018. Thirty representatives of youth groups from across Sindh including youth from Empower Youth for Work (EYW) project in Jamshoro attended the workshop.
Caretaker Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Dr Junaid Shah, Sports and Youth Affairs Administrative Secretary Dr Niaz Ali and Bargad Executive Director Sabiha Shaheen were among the notable speakers.
Sports minister in his interactive discussion with youth representatives said that the province has formally adopted a youth policy and upcoming governments are bound to invest more on youth.
He encouraged the youth to be in touch with government officials, elected leaders and ministers to promote youth development in the province.
Sports and Youth Affairs Department secretary said that the provisions of youth policy should be implemented as it has been announced. The Sindh government is particularly interested to uplift girls in its youth development initiatives, he said.
Sabiha Shaheen thanked the government of Sindh, OXFAM in Pakistan and youth groups for implementing the SYP 2018 right after its approval in May 2018. She said that the workshop was a first major step to link youth groups with youth affairs department.
During this two days activity, the youth representatives got orientation about the contents and process of SYP 2018 and learnt about working of governance structures in Sindh and as to how the SYP 2018 would proceed ahead to fulfill its pledged initiatives.
They designed an implementation plan and advocacy projects for implementation of the SYP 2018. They particularly worked on youth employment and health rights issues in Sindh. These plans and projects will be submitted to sports and youth affairs department.
The youth representatives resolved that link between youth of Sindh and the sports and youth affairs department was an imperative for success of the youth policy, demanding an early and efficient implementation and mass awareness about contents and government promises made in the newly enacted SYP 2018.
