DIPD supports political party youth’s contribution to the National Youth Forum

DIPD supports political party youth’s contribution to the National Youth Forum

by DIPD on June 22, 2016

On 11-13 June 2016, 400 youth participants from more than 30 youth groups and networks gathered for the third Myanmar Youth Forum in Monwya. DIPD’s Myanmar Multiparty Democracy Programme sent a strong delegation of political party youth to contribute to the forum.

“Not being assigned to any responsibilities and roles because of the worry that they would make mistakes is deterring youth. They will learn by doing. They will correct the mistakes. When the elders make mistakes, they do not have time to correct them. When youth do, they have time. The history of human development is about correcting and learning from mistakes” said U Ko Ko Gyi, a well-known political activist since the 1988 student uprisings. Hearing those inspiring words, applause soared among the 400 youth participants at the third Myanmar Youth Forum in Monwya from 11th to 13th June. The event was initiated by National Youth Congress and organized by a working group formed by the participation of more than 30 youth groups and youth networks.

Youth from all 14 states and regions were invited to the forum and the DIPD program in Myanmar sent a delegation of political party youth to contribute the forum, including representatives from five parliamentary political parties, namely the National League for Democracy (NLD), the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), the Ta’arng (Palaung) National Party (TPNP), the Pa-Oh National Organization (PNO) and the National Unity Party (NUP).

Sai Kyaw Thiha, who is a young member on the central executive committee of SNLD, appreciated being invited to observe at the forum: “Holding such a big forum is good. It provided space for youth to discuss and share their feelings and thoughts on important issues. As a member of an ethnic party, I learnt a lot about what youth in central Myanmar think and what their interests are. I am glad to see youth with disabilities, LGBT youth groups and youth from different religious backgrounds. ”

In the forum, five workshops were organized to discuss issues of fundamental importance to youth, including addressing the threat of drugs to youth, youth participation in the peace-making process, promoting human rights and democracy, the role of youth in environmental conservation, and the national youth policy. The participating youth identified underlying problems for each specific issue and youth participation in politics is one of the interesting topics for youth in political parties. They agreed that they should be given a role to participate in 21st-entury Panglong Conference, which is one of the important events in the peace making process, and promoted cross-political cooperation through issue-specific youth networks, such as a nation-wide network of youth peacemakers. Each workshop developed a follow-up plan such as regular meetings, campaigns, awareness raising trainings and advocacy workshops.

Myanmar to adopt a national youth policy

Myanmar plans to adopt a national youth policy in 2016. In 2012 and 2014, the first and second Youth Forums were held and here the participating youth started calling for the adoption of a national youth policy. This year, their prayers were heard. The policy formulation will be led by the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, and the Director of the Department of Social Welfare explained the process and timeline on the second day of the Forum. According to his presentation, the policy formulation process will be completed in October 2016 and the forum participants are supposed to nominate representative from the respective states and regions to participate in policy drafting committees.

Building strong networks

The forum was also a great opportunity for party youth participants to network with youth from different parts of the country, hear youth voices and take updates and knowledge of the national youth policy to their parties.

Khun Soe Maung of PNO shared his reflections: “Attending the forum allowed me to see that we need a good youth policy in the party. And I would suggest that more party representatives should be allowed to participate.”

MMDP will continue to support youth in political parties and believe that supporting political party youth to participate in the national youth policy-making process will improve the inclusiveness of the policy.

From: Myanmar, News and updates