Pakistan News & Features Services
The consultative meeting on the Sindh Youth Policy, held at Hotel Pearl Continental, Karachi, on December 24, turned out to be a success story with the proactive participation of the various stakeholders.
The review session, spreading over nearly four hours, was jointly organized by Department of Youth Affairs Government of Sindh, Bargad-Organization for Youth Development, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Syed Faisal Ali Subzwari, Sindh Minister for Youth Affairs, spent more than two hours with the participants before presiding over the concluding ceremony.
Earlier the meeting got underway with the welcome address of Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui, Secretary, Youth Affairs to the Government of Sindh.
Mohammad Saleem Butt, Azad Jammu & Kashmir Minister for Sports & Youth Affairs, and Dr Lal Chand, Member National Assembly, also attended the meeting.
The present draft of the Sindh Youth Policy has been prepared after consultation with youth of all categories and more than 70 organizations and related stakeholders from all districts of Sindh and the review meeting sought feedback and review of elected and non-elected government officials, academia, civil society organizations and youth organizations.
Mian Khuram Shahzad, Programme Coordinator, Bargad, moderated the review meeting and also gave a detailed presentation on consultative process on the Sindh Youth Policy.
Sabiha Shaheen, Executive Director, Bargad, and Iqbal Haider Butt, Youth expert and lead consultant on Sindh Youth Policy project, briefed the participants on the various aspects of the draft policy like vision, mission, mandate, salient features and institutional mechanism.
Dr Khalida Ghaus, Managing Director, Social Development Policy Centre (SPDC), during her comprehensive speech, raised a very relevant question as to why the number of females has decreased over the time as the data suggested
Prof Saeed Siddiqui, Chairman, Sindh Board of Technical Education (SBTE), spoke about the importance of raising the skills of the youngsters in order to let them kick-start their professional career.
Following the plenary discussion group work was conducted where six groups presented recommendations on themes of social, economic and political empowerment of youth, education for youth development, youth and peace-building in Sindh and Governance and Institutional Issues.
Helping Hands Trust and Visionary Foundation rendered extensive cooperation in organizing the event which was attended by a diverse representation from the civil society organizations including Aurat Foundation, Shirkat Gah, School of Leadership, Awareness Pakistan, Network of Organizations working for People with Disabilities Pakistan (NOWPDP), Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, PILER, Institute of Social Research and Development, Packard Foundation and Urban Resource Centre (URC).
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