With a strong belief in their potential, along with the respect and awareness they deserve that they are part of the stakeholders and the future of humanity, youth should play important roles and take part in driving the 2030 Agenda, or Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to design their own future alongside adults from all sectors.
The Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) – Youth Forum 2024 gave a venue for 450 adolescents from 36 countries in the Asia Pacific to convene, consult, share ideas and showcase their initiatives that foster a sustainable world, as well as develop policy change recommendations to find sustainable solutions to problems. The APFSD-Youth Forum 2024 was held in January 2024 in Bangkok under the theme of “Reinforcing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Eradicating Poverty in Times of Multiple Crises: The Effective Delivery of Sustainable, Resilient and Innovative Solutions in Asia and the Pacific with Young People at the Forefront”.
Wanitcha, or ‘Dream’, a World Vision Thailand youth leader, had a chance to participate in this forum. “It is a great pleasure to be part of this youth forum as a representative of the youth of Thailand. I’m proud and glad. It was a great opportunity to share knowledge with my peers from many countries. They were fun and friendly. I grew my confidence in conversing and exchanging experiences with them. It was very useful.”
Wanitcha is from Chantaburi province. She has been involved in World Vision Thailand’s youth development initiatives since she was a lower secondary school student. “Just like other children, I tagged along with my friends to join the youth activities. I felt impressed and continued participating in various activities until I started playing the role of a youth leader in 2020, when I, along with other youth leaders from Makham district, Chanthaburi province, had a chance to support World Vision Thailand staff in the COVID-19 Response. That was the very first time I experienced that poverty was real and present in our community. I was inspired to support everyone to have equal opportunities and improved well-being. To equip myself with the knowledge to help the vulnerable and support poor children improve their quality of life and sustainable resilience, I decided to study at the Faculty of Social Administration, Thammasat University. I’m a second-year student now.”
As a World Vision Thailand’s youth leader, Wanitcha plays a key role in co-designing and proposing policy recommendations on ending violence against children to relevant government agencies. Meanwhile, she works with her peers to drive education betterment and address climate change.
“Having a chance to join this youth forum, I gained information, knowledge, ideas and resources that I can build upon other projects in the future. One of the initiatives of other youth from different countries that impressed me is, for example, the chatbot of the youth from India that provides information on education and reproductive health. We can apply this technology in some activities to be done in Thailand. The other initiative that got my attention was that of the youth from Mongolia who developed an application that promotes more safety for girls. It also advocates the society to grow awareness of gender equality, which SDG 5 entails.”
SDG4 ensures inclusive and equitable quality education for all; while SDG5 aims to achieve gender equality. These are the areas that get Wanitcha’s attention. She wants to take action around these to make a difference.
“Globally, education is not accessible for many children. We should change this mindset. Instead, education should reach all children. Parents must prioritise this and support their children to access education. Communities must create learning-enabling environments. The government must endorse policies that actively drive education to reach all children. Education will improve the quality of all citizens and the quality of life of women. More knowledge will create a better understanding of gender equality and lead to the acceptance of gender diversity, zero discrimination and reduced stigmatism.”
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Read more
Youth Call-to-Action from countries across the Asia Pacific in APFSD-Youth Forum 2024 : https://arrow.org.my/apfsdyouthforum/
