Page 22 - FerMun Magazine, 8-10 January 2020

22 THE FERNEY MUNGAZINE

harnessing tech for good. In My vision for BDT’s new Youth Strategy
the same way, they can play an is part of a broader desire to bring
invaluable role in forewarning more diversity to the decision-making
of the potential for abuse. table. Because each of us has our own
valuable contribution to make. Each of
Each of us has a For our part, my generation us deserves to have our voice heard.

valuable contribution can offer young people a And until now, the voice of youth
simply hasn’t been getting enough
broader perspective, bringing
to make. Each of us the voice of experience to airtime.
deserves to have our the conversation so that our This first ITU Futurecasters event is just
discussions benefit from
voice heard. But the lessons learned. Older people the beginning. We hope many of you
voice of youth hasn’t can also offer a bridge to will continue to collaborate with us in
the years to come, through an ongoing
effective channels for change,
been getting through their personal and programme of youth engagement
enough airtime professional networks and that will help us harness your insights
their understanding of the
and your concerns, and translate
frameworks and mechanisms those into concrete policy discussions.
of power. Working together, we have a unique
opportunity to collaboratively forge a
It is this dialogue across shared vision of the world we want –
generations that is so and to make that vision a reality.
important, and so enriching.

At ITU I began championing the need to bring importantly leveraging the power of technology
young people’s voices to the table back in 2010, to bring in the voices of over 4,000 youth through
when our Plenipotentiary Conference established 50 online stakeholder hubs in 30 countries.
an international Girls in ICT Day to promote When I took elected office in January 2019 I
tech studies to girls. That movement has now announced a new Youth Strategy that will see
reached almost 400,000 school-age girls through a youth component added to all of my Bureau’s
more than 11,000 celebrations in 171 countries major consultations and conferences.
worldwide.
The ITU Futurecasters 2020 conference is the
In 2013 I launched the ‘Beyond’ Global Youth first element of this new Youth Strategy. So I am
Summit (BYND 2015) in partnership with the especially proud to welcome you, our very first
government of Costa Rica, welcoming some 600 Futurecasters Youth Delegates.
young people from around the world, but more