The Commonwealth has released a virtual event called the Commonwealth Action Series for young people to have a louder voice in policy decisions affecting them. The series will run from July to December featuring six episodes; (1) Taking Charge of Our Future, (2) Trade, Entrepreneurship, and Employment, (3) Technology and Innovation, (4) Youth Development, (5) Governance and Rule of Law, and (6) Environment. The themes of each episode will focus on the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) pillars.
Engaging Youth through CHOGM Pillars
The series will engage youth from 54 countries and discuss issues and solutions that would have been presented to Commonwealth leaders at the CHOGM that was set to take place at Kigali, Rwanda earlier this June 2020. However, it was postponed because of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The pandemic has limited movement on a global scale. It has exposed young people’s need for spaces where they can meet and discuss the challenges they face while finding and creating solutions that use their ingenuity and resources.
Social media and the internet been effective tools and engaging youth and providing them with a platform to share and discuss their opinions with fellow youth from all over the world.
The Commonwealth is using these tools to reach young people everywhere so that an inclusive and equitable strategy can be applied in building back better.
Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland, shares that “young people are active in the fight against COVID-19”, adding that youth are showing leadership and are making ‘vital efforts’ in their communities.
It is important for all young people, regardless of their background, to have opportunities that foster an inclusive and equitable society to drive transformative change in local and global settings. There is an urgent need to ensure society’s most vulnerable groups are not left behind.
Youth Development: Inclusive, Equitable, and Accessible Opportunitie
The first three episodes of the Commonwealth Action Series were held from July to September. Theme Four, Youth Development, will be launched this 27 October 2020. The session will talk about youth development in terms of Inclusive, Equitable, and Accessible Opportunities.
Episode 4 will feature a sub-session that focuses on road crashes, highlighting it as the “biggest killer of youth in the Commonwealth”.
The session focuses on reasserting the potential of young people across the Commonwealth in shaping the future. Young people are responsible, capable, and energized in charting their future. Young people do not just aspire for a better world, they act and deliver tangible solutions.
The fourth episode of the Commonwealth Youth Action Series will feature members of the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety. The youth panelists will dive into issues surrounding safer roads and sustainable mobility, highlighting the fact that more than a thousand young people lose their lives to the world’s roads on a daily basis.
The Commonwealth, with 60% of its population under the age of 30, faces the growing threat of a failing and unsustainable mobility system.
Join youth and road safety activists, through the Global Youth Coalition, in taking local and global action to fight road crashes as one of the global killers of youth. Register today!