|
UNLOCKING POTENTIAL
They’re energetic, idealistic and ambitious, but often feel
marginalized. Youth are Egypt’s greatest strength (a relief
since youth ages 18-29 account for 50 percent of the population),
but also its biggest challenge. Creating economic security for future
generations is a full-time job. And, frankly speaking, Egypt needs
some career counseling.
Too many youth are graduating only to find that their high school
or college degree doesn’t translate into a career. The skills
gap has grown incalculably wide, and disillusioned youth are being
sapped of the energy that companies should be tapping into.
The importance of solving this issue was made clear at last month’s
International Youth Forum (IYF) in Sharm Al Sheikh, a conference
that gathered 800 young men and women from around the world to express
their ideas and concerns about peace and human security. Over three
days, youth from nearly 100 different countries explored ways of
achieving peace within their societies, highlighting the need for
education reform, greater cultural understanding and increased political
participation. But by the end of the conference, a clear consensus
had emerged: economic security is a prerequisite for peace (though
some argued that without peace, there can be no economic security).
Admittedly, the conference was in many ways a PR stunt to broadcast
a sanitized image of Egyptian youth – with hand-picked participants
representing more accurately the haves than the have-nots. But what
I found genuinely constructive, was the spontaneous networking that
took place on the sidelines of the conference. Every university
has its share of proactive students – they organize campus
rallies, manage charity events and run for class president. They
also tend to gravitate to motivational events such as the IYF.
And even amongst the hundreds of youth attending the conference,
they clearly stood out.
Between sessions, these bright young stars spent their time meeting
like-minded individuals from around the world. And watching the
interaction was truly inspiring. The young men and women showed
remarkable maturity, discussing over lunch or coffee ways of funding
their interest group’s activities, comparing best practices,
planning advocacy strategies and even holding merger talks.
In fact, these are just the sorts of skills major international
organizations are seeking. And it led me to the conclusion that
perhaps we’ve been going about it all wrong. Rather than assuming
youth need to acquire career skills from scratch, we should identify
the ones they already have, and find ways to develop them to their
full potential.
CAM MCGRATH
Submit
your comment
Top
|
