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Young leaders from across the region will be flying to Bahrain this weekend to discuss and implement social, economic and environmental projects revolving around the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Middle East and Africa YouthSpeak Forum (YSF) 2022 will be taking place on Friday and Saturday at the American University of Bahrain, and will focus on three SDGs – Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG12), Climate Action (SDG13) and Life on Land (SDG15).
The event is being organised by AIESEC Bahrain, which is part of the global youth-run not-for-profit organisation focused on empowering young leaders in more than 120 countries.
“Our aim with YouthSpeak is to gather insights on what the youth think while also creating and championing projects that they care about,” Hussain Khalid, AIESEC Bahrain national director of business development and human resources, told GulfWeekly.
“With the forum in Bahrain, we also want to help young leaders actually implement these projects and offer them a chance to get their project sponsored. And after YSF, we will also be holding upskilling sessions for Bahrain-based delegates to guide them in implementation.
“This is where the ideas will get fleshed out and we will come up with concrete ways of making the projects happen.”
The previous YSF for Middle East and Africa was held in Dubai, UAE, last year, attracting 250 visitors, centred around ‘The Future of Work Post Covid.’
The theme for YSF 2022 is ‘Accelerating climate action, sustainability and accountability.’
The goal this time is to attract 300 delegates, aged 18 to 30, from nine countries within the region. During the two-day event, there will be a number of keynotes as well as a series of workshops focused on project management.
There will also be a panel discussion centred on the role of youth in achieving SDGs by 2030 through social entrepreneurship and a session highlighting previous success stories.
“We developed this agenda after talking to aspiring social entrepreneurs and understanding what they want, and the bigger takeaway will be the network they will become part of,” Hussain added.
“There are more than 20 non-governmental organisations as well as a number of social ventures with whom delegates will be able to connect, to help bring their social vision to life.”
For more details, follow @aiesecinbahrain on Instagram.
