Dean Najam Speaks on International Youth Day

Adil-Najam-Pakistan-Youth-Day-UNDP

August 12 is celebrated globally as the international youth day. The Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, Dr. Adil Najam, who is also the lead author of the forthcoming Pakistan National Human Development Report (PkNHDR) which focuses on the future of youth, featured in two important events related to International Youth Day in Pakistan.

Dean Najam joined via skype and spoke at a national experts roundtable on youth empowerment that marked the International Youth Day. The roundtable was organized by the United Nationals Development Programme in Pakistan of which the PkNHDR is a project. The roundtable discussion was chaired by Marc-Andre Franche, the country director of UNDP Pakistan.

Along with co-lead author Dr. Faisal Bari, he presented the basic framework and key findings of the forthcoming Pakistan National Human Development Report and led the discussion in the opening session. The framework for the report suggests that there are three essential ‘drivers’ or ‘levers’ of youth empowerment in Pakistan, the so-called 3E’s: education, employment and engagement. Dean Adil Najam stressed that in each of these a focus on quality is as or more important than one solely on quality.

A snapshot of the report’s framework is provided in the video below, featuring Dean Adil Najam.

Later, Najam was joined two colleagues in leading a “Twitter Chat” on the subject of youth employment in Pakistan that was sponsored by the PkNHDR in collaboration with Newsweek Pakistan. The 75 minute long TwitterChat (#YouthJobs) reached over 1 million people with over 100 active participants.

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