Dr. Laurent Zessler, UNFPA Country Representative, congratulated the Government of Afghanistan for this critical milestone and added, "Youth empowerment, development, ASRH and youth reproductive rights are at the core of UNFPA's mandate and we will continue to work closely with the government, youth and reach out to provide opportunities to the most vulnerable and marginalized youth, in particular girls."
Kabul, Afghanistan - 25-26 June, 2013
The Ministry of Information and Culture with the technical and financial support of UNFPA, UNICEF, UNDP, ILO and Counterpart International prepared the draft of Afghanistan's first National Youth Policy. During the first day of the National Youth Policy Conference, the Minister of Information and Culture, Dr. Sayed Makhdoom Raheen and Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs, Mr. Temor Shah Eshaqzai welcomed 500 participants to publicly share and discuss the country's first National Youth Policy. Youth representatives from all 34 provinces participated in the conference.
The event took place at the Radio Television Afghanistan conference hall in Kabul. Representatives from youth organizations, leaders from the civil society, government officials and members from the international community presented their views and comments on the importance of the policy and its implementation.
The process for developing the policy began in late 2012 through a technical committee comprised of officials from 13 line ministries, representatives from youth and other civil society organizations and members from the international community. An earlier draft of the policy was presented to more than 500 young women and men in a series of consultation workshops across Afghanistan in Bamiyan, Herat, Jalalabad, Kabul, Kandahar, Kunduz and Mazar-e-Sharif. The two day conference marked the presentation of the final policy to the public before it will be submitted to the Council of Ministers for consideration. After the Council of Ministers approves the policy it will be sent to President Karzai for approval.
Dr. Laurent Zessler, UNFPA Country Representative, congratulated the Government of Afghanistan for this critical milestone and added, "Youth empowerment, development, ASRH and youth reproductive rights are at the core of UNFPA's mandate and we will continue to work closely with the government, youth and reach out to provide opportunities to the most vulnerable and marginalized youth, in particular girls."
"Once President Karzai signs the National Youth Policy, it will serve as a guiding document for all new youth programs. The policy will serve to guide the development of a 5-year National Youth Strategy", said Mr. Sayed Saiedy, Director, Policy and Program, Deputy Ministry of Youth Affairs.
Afghan youth received a unique opportunity to speak during the event. Many of the youth who volunteered to speak on behalf of the Afghan youth believed that Afghanistan needed this strategy many years ago. Ms. Fatima, a youth representative from Herat province said, "I am pleased to be standing here today and to witness a great achievement by the Afghan government, National Youth Policy. I understand that not only youth but generally the Afghan public criticize the government for being too late with such great initiatives, however, the Afghan people, particularly the youth, we have to play our own part. We have to be proactive, we have to step forward and put pressure on the Afghan government to work for us".
In the afternoon of the first day of the conference, a panel consisting of deputy ministers and senior advisors from Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled; and Women Affairs; Public Health; Education and Counter-Narcotics ministries as well as the Senior Deputy Country Representative from UNDP and ILO's Enterprise Development Specialist and Officer-in-Charge provided recommendations for implementing the policy in the areas of health, education, employment and youth participation. The panelists reminded the audience of the criticality of providing the necessary resources for operationalizing the strategic document.
Video message from UN Youth Envoy, Mr. Ahmad Alhendawi, on the occasion of the National Youth Policy Conference, held in Kabul from 25-26 June 2013.
In his message, Mr. Alhendawi congratulates the Afghan Government to having achieved this critical milestone and calls upon the international community's commitment to implementing the youth policy.
UNFPA has taken the lead in providing technical support to the Deputy Ministry of Youth Affairs for developing Afghanistan's first National Youth Policy.
