Youth Affairs: Commission to provide strategic roadmap, says minister

Final composition of the commission yet to be revealed

LAHORE:

“The Punjab Youth Commission will provide vision, strategic direction and an institutional roadmap to empower the young in accordance with the provisions of the 2012 Punjab Youth Policy,” Minister Rana Mashhood said on Thursday.

The youth affairs minister made the remarks at a ceremony organised to mark the establishment of the Punjab Youth Commission. Mashhood thanked Bargad and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for extending technical assistance to the commission. He said the commission established a precedent for putting an end to mudslinging and striving to ensure effective policy implementation. The minister said the constitution of the commission represented the government’s commitment towards overcoming the challenges the young had been grappling with and emancipating them.

MPA Mary Gill felicitated those present on the occasion. The civil society and the government had joined hands due to Bargad’s efforts. She said this was a positive development. Gill expressed hope that the commission would provide the young with a platform to overcome the challenges confronting them.

Bargad executive director Sabiha Shaheen said the commission would quickly formulate an institutional mechanism to implement the youth policy. She said the UNFPA and Bargad had strived for the formulation of the youth policy and were anxiously waiting for it to be effectively implemented. Shaheen stressed the need for all partners to keep on working in tandem on this account.

Government College of Home Economics Principal Samia Kalsoom said ensuring youngsters’ welfare was imperative for national progress. She said the hard work of the department, Bargad and the UNFPA demonstrated that the government had a positive attitude vis-à-vis youngsters. Kalsoom said this was essential. The commission, constituted to ensure the effective implementation of the youth policy, has been tasked with adequate resource allocation with regard to the youth policy’s implementation. It will also facilitate public-private partnership in this regard and monitor areas where the youth policy has been effectively implemented.

Lawmakers affiliated with the provincial youth caucus, Bargad and UNFPA officials will be included in the commission. Its final composition is yet to be revealed.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2016.