The Misk Foundation, in partnership with the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations, convened 11 youth leaders from around the world over the weekend to discuss how youth can play a more central role in building more tolerant and peaceful societies and delivering the Sustainable Development Goals.
Held at the United Nations headquarters, “From Dialogue to Action: Tolerance, Peace and a Sustainable Future”, responds to UN Security Council Resolution 2250 which calls on Member States to increase representation of youth in decision-making at all levels. The roundtable session featured the youth leaders engaged in robust dialogue alongside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the UN, Abdallah Y. Al-Mouallimi; H.E. Bader Al Asaker, Secretary General of the Misk Foundation; Mourad Wahba, Assistant Administrator & Director, Regional Bureau for Arab States, UNDP; and Ashok Nigam, UN Resident Coordinator & UNDP Resident Representative for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Youth leaders opened the session by sharing their greatest concerns for the future, with lack of interfaith dialogue, gender equality, violent extremism, access to technology and abuse of social media highlighted by many participants. The participants called on the UN, governments and multilateral institutions to be more proactive in engaging youth in decision-making and solution delivery, from idea, to development to rollout.
Commenting on the event, H.E. Al Asaker, said: “Youth today are facing generation-defining challenges, including violent extremism and climate change. Misk recognizes the need to engage young people today to deliver the solutions they will need to secure the future. Forums like this are vital platforms for dialogue that connect youth with leaders from across government, the private sector and international institutions. They must have their voices heard.”
To facilitate deeper and more productive ongoing dialogue in the policy making process, participants agreed to explore the development of a “marketplace of solutions”. The proposed platform would give youth, government entities, and multi-lateral institutions a channel for direct interaction. Providing a channel to share problems and concerns, marketplace participants could exchange solutions and insights based on previous experience and fresh ideas to address the challenges.
H.E. Ambassador Al-Mouallimi called on youth to be proactive in the decision-making process, and to take responsibility for ensuring their voices are heard. “You [the Youth], today are much better educated than any generation before. You are better informed and better connected with the world and with each other. You must use that opportunity and those advantages to bring energy to the causes you are passionate about,” he said. ‘You have channels like Misk. You have UN agencies. You have the National Center for Dialogue in Saudi Arabia. Organize your thoughts, gather together like minded individuals to develop something well-thought out, and communicate it to the right authority. From our point of view, if we receive something that sounds reasonable, we will jump on it and try to implement it.”
Participants in ‘From Dialogue to Action: Tolerance, Peace and a Sustainable Future’ included:
- Razan Alaqil, Founder & CEO, ATAM for Sustainable Development (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)
- Ahmed Badr, Founder, Narratio (Iraq)
- George Batah, Co-Founder, Syrian Youth Empowerment (Syria)
- Callie Chamberlain, Co-Founder, Harmoni (USA)
- Mallak Husban, Student, Barnard College of Columbia University (Jordan)
- Arizza Ann Nocum, Overall Head, KRIS Library (Philippines)
- Dominic Mathew, Graduate Student, Cornell University (India)
- Abdullah Naif, Founder, Saudis for Peace (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)
- Jonah Obajeun, Founder, Tolerance Academy, Extremely Together Young Leader, Kofi Annan Foundation (Nigeria)
- Victor Ochen, Founder & Executive Director, African Youth Initiative Network (Uganda)
- Fatima Zaman, Countering Violent Extremism Advocate, Kofi Annan Foundation and the Extremely Together Program (UK)
The ‘From Dialogue to Action’ event followed Friday’s Misk-UNDP Youth Forum, which brought together more than 450 young people from over 50 countries. The Forum covered key topics including urbanization & sustainable development, countering violent extremism, inclusion of refugees and arts & culture as a bridge for peace building. The event featured keynote sessions with luminaries including Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies and three-term mayor of New York City; Madeleine Albright, the first female Secretary of State of the United States; Dr. Deepak Chopra, an expert in the field of health and well-being; and Achim Steiner, administrator of UNDP.
