Young voices, new visions Today’s youth are tomorrow’s future leaders. They will embrace the power of information and communication technologies (ICTs), be digitally fluent, shape digital futures, and live an ICT-enabled lifestyle. It is important that tomorrow’s leaders are given a voice and a platform to share their visions of the world and to live their dreams. It is crucial that they are introduced to ICTs at an early stage in their career development. The Information Age is full of challenges and opportunities, which youth must be able to grasp in order to shape their own future. According to United Nations statistics, more than a billion people are aged between 15 and 25, while almost another 2 billion are even younger, representing, in total, almost half the world’s population. In many developing countries, young people comprise the majority of the population. Clearly, bringing ICT to the young has tremendous social, economic and cultural implications for the future. Young people will bring their talent, energy and innovative ideas and fresh thinking to the ICT sector. Familiarity with ICT is already enabling young people to disseminate their own ideas, and it allows them to become socially and economically active on a global level. Young people are not only consumers of information, but also its creators. As avid users of new technology, whenever it is available, the youth of today are far more aware of their environment. Giving them the tools to share their visions will help make a better future for themselves and their communities. 96