This week, Bahrain witnessed the successful completion of the Youth Speak Forum by AIESEC in Bahrain. This is AIESEC’s very first Youth Speak Forum which ran for two days from the 21st the 22nd of October 2016.
More than a 160 young students ranging from the age of 15 to 25 participated in this eventful forum for discussions and workshops circling three specific SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) which were Climate Action, Quality Education, and Gender Equality. These SDGs had been identified based on a questionnaire answered by the Bahraini youth.
Youth Speak is an event which aims at bringing together both young and senior leaders in order to create cross-sector and multigenerational keynotes for inspiring conversations to engage the participants in order to act.
The main focus of Youth Speak is to create action steps following conversations instead of simply conversing about pressing global issues.
The conference started with a welcoming speech by the President of the University and Board Member of AIESEC, followed by an address by the President of AIESEC Bahrain who spoke about the history and achievements of AIESEC. Following this, an inspirational speech was made by HE the Patron of the conference, Sheikh Abdulla, where he spoke about climate change, quality of education and gender issues.
The morning session of the first day was concluded with yet another inspirational speech by Mr Amin El-Sharqawi, UNDP Resident representative in Bahrain, where he spoke about the 17 sustainable development goals of the UN. The event was attended by Ms Ruqaya Mohsin and Ms Edyta Przybyla from Marketing and PR and over 125 students and distinguished guests and speakers.
The keynotes were conducted by Amal Alsaffar and Anfal Fekri (Climate Action), Suad Alhalwachi and Yaqoob Alnajem (Quality Education), and Yasmeen Fraidoon (Gender Equality). This was followed by several workshops for each SDG on the same day and presentations by the participants on the last day as a part of Youth Speak’s Inspire/Engage/Act initiative.
The president of AIESEC in Bahrain stressed on the importance of these forums and their role in broadening the horizons of the youth and their mindsets. AIESEC goes on to thank its following partners in this forum, Rowad and UNDP, along with Bahrain Development Bank, Bahrain Economic Development Board and Applied Science University in hopes that the launch of this new event will trigger future partnerships in an effort to develop the youth in Bahrain.
It is worth mentioning that AIESEC in Bahrain has previously organized over 100 other conferences and forums since the year 2006. Youth Speak is the first of its kind to be enabled by the organization which specifically targets the youth in Bahrain who are not part of AIESEC.
Lulwa Al Zain said: “Listening to the speakers gave me a better understanding and insight on the 3 SDGs. Participating in the Quality Education workshop truly opened my eyes on what I thought was the norm in teaching students, is not necessarily a pro-active way in teaching them. It is a great opportunity to be able to attend the 2-day AIESEC event.”
AIESEC is a global, independent, non-profit organization run by students and graduates that aims to enable youth to convert their ideas into actions in issues mainly related to leadership and management.
The President Professor Ghassan Aouad also a member of the board of AIESEC, hosted at ASU, AIESEC forum that was held on 21 and 22 October 2016 in Abdulla Nass hall, and coordinated with the Deanship of Student Affairs and Evening Studies. The forum was under the patronage of HE Sheikh Dr Abdulla Bin Ahmed Bin Abdulla Al-Khalifa, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
