Wilton Park Youth Dialogues
The WANA Institute is partnering with Wilton Park in organising a series of youth dialogues in 2017 and 2018. A total of seven events will be held in the United Kingdom, Jordan, and South Africa with other venues to be confirmed.
The dialogues will bring together youth, government, NGOs, civil society, academics, educationalists and business leaders, for a positive and action-oriented debate on youth ambitions and young people’s role in addressing local, regional and global challenges.
The first conference took place in the United Kingdom from 7 to 9 June, 2017, and focused on the growing intergenerational gap which excludes youth from decision making processes, and risks creating a future that fails to meet their needs. WANA Institute’s researcher Alethea Osborne brought a Middle East perspective to a discussion about the reality of youth disengagement from civil and political life. The report can be found here.
The second conference took place in Jordan from 16 to 18 October, 2017. It focused on the role of youth as peacemakers in the region, how their actions can be supported and strengthened, what barriers young peacemakers face, and how can they be overcome. The conference also showcased emerging local initiatives to empower young people in their role in peacemaking and peacebuilding. How can such initiatives be scaled up to optimise young people’s grassroots efforts in the face of extremism and radicalisation? What role can formal and informal education play in developing young people’s citizenship, their active participation in their own communities and in wider society? And how can a culture of peace be supported where young people are heard and represented in a new model of governance? Read the press release here.
The fourth and fifth Youth Dialogues will discuss global youth unemployment. In July 2018, participants in the fourth conference were asked how we can create economic opportunities for young people and build their skills and resilience to tackle the crisis of youth employment in Sub-Saharan Africa. The fifth conference will take place in Jordan from 16 to 18 October, 2018, and will focus on employment in West Asia-North Africa, the most youthful region in the world with the world’s highest youth unemployment rate.
The Institute is delighted to announce that WANA researcher Barik Mhadeen has been elected Middle East Youth Ambassador, and will be attending all conferences spread out over 18 months.