“The challenges young people face on digital future and sustainability”

The Future Youth Summit 2018 was organised by the Commonwealth Youth Innovation Centre in collaboration with the Commonwealth Youth Council in Malaysia. It consisted of more than 200 delegates from all over the world alongside experts, professionals and change-makers. 

This three-day programme was a success in introducing the challenges youth face, and will face in the future, in aspects of digitalism, creativity, sustainability and inclusivity.

One of the themes was “A Future of Digitalism”, where global experts were invited to discuss the vital issues in relation to digitalism. 

The panelists were fiery and passionate in addressing the curious questions of the delegates. Some of the interesting topics that were touched were Big Data, Bitcoin and many more.

Alongside that, we also had a session titled “A Future of Sustainability” to understand the concerns in relation to climate change and the efforts we could take to tackle it. The delegates were given great exposure in regards to such matters from our panelists.

The rest of the themes included “A Future of Creativity” and “A Future of Inclusivity.” The discussions held were very interesting and took into account a wide range of topics. 

The delegates were also given a chance to personally experience such ideas via workshops and activities during our breakout sessions. They were given tasks to conduct, role-play activities and the chance to make policies governing the said topics. 

It was very eventful and interesting for each of the delegates to carve out their point of view in a meaningful manner.

The highlight of the conference was having Dr Vandana Shiva as our keynote speaker. She is a well-known environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate and an Indian scholar. 

Her remarkable speech on the importance of chasing your dream and the power of youth left everyone in awe. She also spoke on the vitality of having a clean and pure lifestyle with simple variants of food and culture. It was simply humbling and refreshing to hear her speak.

As the Head of Speaker Management, I was given the opportunity to indulge in discussions with Dr Vandana. We spoke about Theirworld and our efforts in making education more accessible to every child worldwide.

I also had the chance to speak to her about the various campaigns the Global Youth Ambassadors are having and how it is creating a wave of awareness around the globe.

In addition to that, I was also blessed to speak about Theirworld and our missions in eradicating education inequality worldwide. This was said during my interview with a local newspaper and online media.

Other than discussions and activities, delegates were given the opportunity to attend our prestigious gala dinner, officiated by government officials and ministers. One of the keynote guests was Damir Fattahkov, Minister of Youth Affairs of Tatarstan. 

Delegates were given the chance to meet and mingle with Mr Damir, alongside discussing future action plans in a more casual setting.

We also had many High Commissioners, ministers from Pakistan, businessmen and diplomats grace the gala dinner. The crowd was entertained with colourful performances and delicious food.

The Future Youth Summit 2018 was a great success. Delegates were exposed to the various challenges that youths would face in the future and methods they can be used to combat them. 

This, however, would not have been possible without the efforts and sacrifices by the organising committee that worked hard to make this inaugural event a majestic one. 

I look forward to work with these bright minds in the near future for more events that allow young leaders to shape their way of thinking.

The youth are not only the leaders of tomorrow but also the leaders of today.