加载中…年轻人的参与是解决全球问题的关键
(2013-04-10 09:57:23)
标签：
杂谈 |
分类： 政治与经济 |
Jane Morse | Staff Writer | 2013.04.08
齐纳特•拉赫曼担任国务卿克里的全球青年事务特别顾问及全球青年事务办公室主任。
华盛顿——如果未来是属于年轻人的，那又何必要等到未来呢？
这看来是美国国务院（U.S. Department of State）目前采取的让年轻人参与外交的新策略。
国务卿克里（Secretary of State John Kerry）的全球青年事务特别顾问齐纳特·拉赫曼（Zeenat Rahman）说：“我们相信青年是解决世界上许多最紧迫问题的关键，而且我们认为年轻人的参与能使我们的工作更有效力。”
拉赫曼于2012年6月就任全球青年事务办公室（Office of Global Youth Issues）主任。她表示：“我想传递给年轻人的核心信息是你们对国务院很重要。”
拉赫曼说：“我们在改善与年轻人的交流互动方面正在取得突飞猛进的进展。自从我就任以来，得到大使馆及领事馆协助的青年理事会（Youth Councils）的数目翻了一番，我们让私营部门合作伙伴参与探讨如何能为年轻人改善经济机会，我们切实努力与年轻人进行真正的双向对话，并协助增进有助于发展他们的技能和社会关系网的机会。”
目前共有61个得到大使馆和领事馆协助的青年理事会。据拉赫曼介绍，它们致力于在美国外交人员与积极进取的年轻人之间建立联系，这些年轻人通过识别在同龄人中间和当地社区引起共鸣的问题和担忧，在青年发展、公民及政治参与、冲突解决、增强妇女自主权、平民安全及教育等问题上主导推行自己的行动计划。
拉赫曼说：“很多理事会才刚刚起步，但是青年理事会成员为了在他们的社会中实现积极的变革正在协同努力。”
国务卿克里与中美洲青年大使见面。青年大使项目是国务院旨在培养年轻人的领导能力并鼓励他们参与社区事务的项目之一。
她接着说：“在阿尔及利亚，理事会成员举办培训班，向阿尔及利亚年轻人传授写简历和求职面谈的技巧。尼泊尔的青年理事会通过每周播出的广播节目提高了社会对青年社会活动人士所做的努力以及尼泊尔妇女的法律权利的意识。”
她还说：“在墨西哥，蒙特雷（Monterrey）和新拉雷多（Nuevo Laredo）的青年理事会正在努力防范高危青少年加入帮派，而柬埔寨的理事会将与私营部门协作并把重点放在增加年轻人的就业和实习机会上。”
拉赫曼指出：“这些理事会能够持续发展的原因在于，年轻人自己在这些与美国外交人员合作展开的行动计划中发挥着主导作用。”
拉赫曼说，考虑到全球约有7500万年轻人没有工作，欧巴马总统（President Obama）着重强调创业并将其作为美国全球参与的一个支柱，并强调创业作为个人改善经济状况的最强有力的途径之一的重要性。国务院利用社交媒体手段及开办培训班，努力帮助年轻人获得他们成为成功的创业家所必备的商业技能，例如如何拿出新创意、制定经营计划以及如何赢得潜在投资者。
拉赫曼说，国务院于2012年12月在迪拜的全球创业峰会（Global Entrepreneurship Summit）上启动了“青年创业行动计划”（Startup Youth Initiative），并吸引了200余名年轻人参与。她说：“在这项行动中，我们通过旨在培养实践能力的[培训班]已直接影响了青年创业者。我们还在每个地区突显一批创业家新星，为其他年轻人树立榜样，并促使将更多的资源投入于在他们中间打造领导力和创业能力，以此宣讲青年一代能为解决年轻人所面临的经济问题作出贡献的意义。”
“青年创业行动计划”的下一次活动将于4月在印度举行。
有关全球青年事务办公室及2012年全球创业峰会的详情请见国务院网站。
Read more: http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/chinese/article/2013/04/20130408145391.html#ixzz2Q1P6Gvrt
Youth Involvement Critical to Addressing World Problems
By Jane Morse | Staff Writer | 05 April 2013
Zeenat Rahman serves as Secretary Kerry’s Special Adviser on Global Youth Issues and Director of the Office of Global Youth Issues
Washington — If the future lies with the young, why wait for the future?
That seems to be the new tack the U.S. Department of State is taking by engaging young people in its diplomacy.
“We believe that young people are critical to addressing many of the world’s most pressing problems, and we think our work is stronger when young people are involved,” says Zeenat Rahman, who serves as Secretary of State John Kerry’s special adviser on global youth issues.
As director of the Office of Global Youth Issues, a position she assumed in June 2012, she says: “The core message that I have for young people is that you matter to the Department of State.”
“We are growing in leaps and bounds in improving the way that we engage with young people,” Rahman said. “Since I began my tenure, we’ve doubled the number of Embassy and Consulate-facilitated Youth Councils, we’ve engaged the private sector partners to see how we can improve economic opportunities for young people, and we’ve worked really hard to engage in an actual two-way dialogue with young people, and facilitating opportunities to develop their skills and networks.”
There are currently 61 U.S. Embassy and Consulate-facilitated Youth Councils. They serve, according to Rahman, to connect U.S. diplomats to motivated young people who drive the development of their own action plans on topics such as youth employment, civic and political engagement, conflict resolution, women’s empowerment, civilian security, and education by identifying issues and concerns that resonate with their peers and the local community.
“Many of these councils are fairly new,” Rahman said, “but Youth Council members are collaborating to create positive changes in their societies.
“For example, the council in Madagascar designed and conducted public opinion surveys about ethics in politics and used the responses to draft a Code of Conduct for politicians. Youth Councils in Latvia and Macedonia are connecting through an exchange program that examines solutions to youth unemployment in both countries.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Central American Youth Ambassadors. The Youth Ambassadors Program is one of a number of State Department Programs designed to develop leadership skills and promote community involvement among young people.
“In Mexico, Youth Councils in Monterrey and Nuevo Laredo are working to prevent at-risk youth from joining gangs, while the council in Cambodia will collaborate with the private sector to focus on enhancing employment opportunities and internships for youth.
“What makes these councils sustainable,” Rahman said, “is that the young people themselves are leading on these initiatives in partnership with U.S. diplomats who are committed to youth empowerment.”
Mindful that some 75 million young people around the world are without jobs, President Obama has highlighted entrepreneurship as a pillar of U.S. global engagement, underscoring the importance of entrepreneurship as one of the most powerful ways for individuals to improve their economic circumstances, Rahman said. Using social media tools and workshops, the State Department works to assist young people in attaining the business skills they need to be successful entrepreneurs, such as how to develop innovative ideas, build a business plan and win over potential investors.
The State Department, Rahman said, launched the Startup Youth Initiative in December 2012 at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Dubai and reached 200 young people. “Through the initiative,” she said, “we have directly impacted young entrepreneurs through hands-on skills building [workshops], but we are also highlighting some of the rising entrepreneurial stars in each geographic region, providing role models for other youth, driving additional resources towards building leadership and entrepreneurship capacity among them, and providing a positive narrative that frames youth as part of the solution to many of the economic problems that face young people.”
The next Startup Youth Initiative program will be in India in April.
Learn more about the Office of Global Youth Issues and the 2012 Global Entrepreneurship Summit at the State Department website.
Read more: http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/article/2013/04/20130405145301.html#ixzz2Q1P8BRuB
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