YOUTH LEADERS FROM THE EU AND ASEAN DISCUSS HOW TO EXPAND THEIR ROLES TO SHAPE SUSTAINABLE URBAN FUTURES

BANGKOK, March 31 (Bernama) — Young leaders from South-East Asia and Europe came together in Bangkok for a panel talk and session to debate methods to strengthen the contribution of youth to the sustainable growth of urban areas.

The two-day 'EU-ASEAN Youth Exchange on Sustainable Urban Development'  starting today gathered a diverse and passionate group of youths and experts from the two regions. 

In order to help the young participants launch an awareness campaign in their home towns, a campaign roadmap was jointly created at the event.

In a statement, EU said the two-day exchange culminated in a unique interregional and intergenerational convergence, laying the groundwork for a youth campaign roadmap. 

“Participants were encouraged to implement the campaign in their respective cities, focusing on awareness-raising and youth engagement.

“The campaign outcomes will be presented to policymakers at the ASEAN Mayors Forum, planned for August 2023,” it said. 

The 35 youth delegates from the EU and ASEAN participating in the event are influential community leaders in city development, environmental stewardship and climate change. 

The organisations include the European Youth Capital (EYC), European Youth Forum (EYJ), ASEAN Youth Forum (AYF), ASEAN Youth Organisation (AYO) and the Association of Young Environmental Journalists (AYEJ), along with local government agencies, academia and NGOs.

The exclusive dialogue, which started on March 31, included joint sessions for selected youth and practitioners from the EU and ASEAN. It was designed to highlight the untapped potential of young problem solvers in reshaping their cities and to explore strategies for them to be actively involved in the process of policy-making.

They will take part in a workshop session tomorrow that is being sponsored by the EU in order to jointly develop a campaign that emphasises the voices of youth on important issues affecting their metropolitan communities.

The workshop offered a venue for examining case studies of youth-led municipal projects in ASEAN, encouraging discussions that identify innovative approaches to shared challenges.

The future of Malaysia and the entire globe, according to Nurul Nabila Shohimi, Sustainability Manager of EcoKnights (a non-governmental environmental organisation), lies with young people.

“One of the feedback we get from our youth participants and volunteers at EkoKnights is that they don't get enough access to the right platforms. 

“They want to be involved in policy-making, but they want to also be at the grassroot level, because that's how you connect policy with the real problems happening on the ground."

“The reason I am here is to learn from different people. At the session on Friday morning, I learned a lot from participants from different countries. I was really amazed by, for instance, in Germany, they have youth as young as six years old being involved in their youth parliament,” she said. 

— BERNAMA