DHAKA: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Bangladesh hosted the first ever ‘Youth Dialogue’ with the Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) mayoral candidates at the Theatre Institute Chittagong (TIC) in the port city on Monday.
Bangladesh country office of UNDP issued a press release regarding the matter in the afternoon.
The release said, “With the theme ‘Raising Young Voices!’ the Youth Dialogue aimed to strengthen advocacy for youth inclusion surrounding policy issues that matter to them.”
The event also provided a platform to the young people of the port city to identify and voice their queries before the upcoming city corporation elections, it added.
Around 200 young people from all over the port city participated at the event representing mainstream youth as well as different marginalized groups.
Eight out of the total 12 mayoral candidates participated in the Youth Dialogue. All of them emphasized tackling corruption, building youth leadership, addressing youth unemployment and improving public services and spaces.
Along with all the mayoral candidates and invited young people, UNDP Bangladesh country director Pauline Tamesis and senior officials from UNDP Bangladesh county office were also present.
Highlighting UNDP’s involvement Tamesis said, “UNDP is excited about this dialogue and is committed to follow up with such dialogues in future, facilitating a platform for engagement between youth and elected candidates”.
The participating youth were also enthusiastic about the dialogue and reflected that it was a good platform for the mayors to pledge their electoral mandate which will help the young people make informed decisions when they cast their votes.
The dialogue revolved around a number of public policy issues proposed by the young people.
UNDP received over 150 questions from different youth organisations as well as from social media platforms reflecting a wide range of issues and queries from young people.
From those, the UN Youth Advisory Panel (UNYAP) selected around 20 questions that were asked to the mayoral candidates during the event.
BDST: 2100 HRS, APR 20, 2015
SR/RR
