Against this backdrop, UNESCO Beirut, in partnership with UNICEF, WHO, UNFPA, and ESCWA, organized on 9 April 2019 an interactive dialogue on “Ensuring Sustainable and At-Scale Engagement of Adolescents and Youth in the Arab region”. The session, held within the framework of the Arab Forum for Sustainable Development organized by ESCWA, aimed at discussing the issue of young people’s engagement and participation in decision-making in the Arab region, as an accelerator and solution to attaining inclusive development and unlocking human potential.

The session gathered speakers from Lebanon and the region, with different backgrounds, as follows: Mr. Abdelaziz Bouslah, Project Manager at the Tunisian Association for Management and Social Stability (TAMSS), Mr. Mohammad Makki Kalaaji, Undergraduate student in Law at the Islamic University of Lebanon, Ms. Hager Ebaid, Representative of the Youth Forum in the Arab Region (Egypt), Ms Hiba Ghandour, Liaison Officer for Human Rights and Peace at the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA), Lebanon, and Mr. Foued Aouni, Director General of the National Youth Observatory - Ministry of Youth and Sport Affairs, Tunisia. 

The session included a video message by Ms. Jayathma Wickramanayake, UN Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth, who encouraged youth in the Arab region to actively engage in their community and be agent for positive change in their society.The interactive dialogue was facilitated by journalist Laetitia Haddad, who is part of the Network for Mediterranean Youth (NETMED), an initiative implemented by UNESCO with EU funding.

The session aimed to support and make the space for the perspectives, opinions and voices of young people at the Arab Forum for Sustainable Development, and to discuss a range of possible actions at the national and regional level to ensure young people’s engagement in decision-making, civic engagement opportunities, and access to citizenship and life skills education.

The panelists discussed challenges faced by youth and the various obstacles to their active engagement in decision-making, including the mismatch between educational systems in the Arab region and the life and work skills demanded in the market, regional unrest, instability and conflict, and low levels of economic and social development. They also shared specific local experiences of civic engagement, as well as good practices and success stories to be replicated at the regional level.

Speaking of her experience moderating and facilitating the session, Ms Laetitia El Haddad, said: “The session gave participants the opportunity to initiate an interesting debate and an open discussion between youth activists and government representatives on potential avenues of cooperation and channels through which to encourage youth to engage in their society and contribute to the achievement of sustainable development goals. At the end, what really seemed remarkable to me, was that all panelists agreed on the necessity to make youth voices heard, and to give youth their right to participate in decision-making processes. And I cannot help but ask myself the following question: if everyone agrees on the importance of engaging youth in order to reach sustainable development in the Arab countries, why are youth still being marginalized and excluded from policymaking processes?”.

Laetitia highlighted the importance of UNESCO’s NETMED Project in building her capacities and empowering her: “When I joined the Networks of the Mediterranean Youth project, new doors of collaboration and dialogue were opened for me, with youth from different backgrounds from the region on the one hand, and with policymakers and government decision-makers on the other hand. It is throughout these exchanges that I have realized that we, as youth, are all facing almost the same challenges, and that we are in great need not only to discuss solutions with stakeholders, but also to advocate for their execution”.