Channelling the energy of the youth in a proper way to make them active partners in the activities of nation building is a priority for every country as they serve as the pillars of the future of the nation. The United Nations celebrates International Youth Day on 12th of August every year to recognise the importance of the youth’s role in society. Nations across the world organise different youth-oriented events to mark the day and make them aware of their responsibilities, duties to the community they belong to and their rights and privileges.
Qatar National Commission for Education, Culture and Science (QNCECS) celebrated the International Youth Day recently under the UN slogan for the day “Transforming Food Systems: Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health”. Office of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) in Doha, Arab Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organisation (Alesco) the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, the Ministry of Culture and Sports and one of the winners of the Scientific Excellence Award participated in the event.
During the event, Secretary-General of the QNCECS Dr. Hamada Hasan Al Sulaiti highlighted the role of youth in developing and building societies and called on all community institutions to study how to transform the energies and creativity of youth into positive production elements that serve and develop society culturally, socially, economically and environmentally.
Guimar Bayo, on behalf of the Director of the Unesco Regional Office in Doha, said that this year’s Youth Day celebrations are based on innovative solutions by young people to meet the challenges facing our food systems, as transforming food systems for human and planet health requires addressing threats to our environment.
Innovation is an interesting subject for the youth as they always strive for changes. One of the important traits of their personality is that they always aspire for something new as they don’t want to cling on to the past, instead, have the openness to accept new things. They have the wish to learn new things and they are prepared to make all efforts and sacrifice to effect a social change. What they need is a little bit of encouragement by recognising their efforts. Providing them with enough tools, opportunities and required material and financial support will definitely go a long way in tapping their enormous potential.
For the youth across the world, environment protection has emerged a favourite cause as they draw a lot of inspiration from the young activists like Greta Thunberg. We can see the role of youth behind numerous inventions in the recent past especially in the field of agriculture as they are constantly in search of newer ways. What they expect from others are ears to listen to their ideas, strategies and recognition of what they do. Let us help them to be harbingers of a prosperous new world where there is no hunger and fear.
