A few years ago, I decided to explain the “birds and bees” to my 11-year-old daughter because I believe that a healthy attitude towards our bodies and sexuality is something that should be fostered in childhood. I was stunned by the knowledge she already had on this matter. From my experience living and working with youth, it has become clear to me that the tides are turning. Gone are the days when we considered youth as numbers, passive dependents or a generation waiting for parental guidance.
Thanks to their social awareness and to the new technologies, Arab region youth have become agents of change. Arab millennials use social networking to broadcast their concerns and change their status quo. Today’s influencers and innovators in the Arab region have proven that they can create social change and mobilize their communities for a cause. Watching Ahmed El Ghandour from Egypt, a.k.a. daheeh – “the nerd” in Egyptian – and seeing how his shows on science, politics, arts, philosophy and other topics reach almost 20 million viewers is impressive. The same is true of Hanin Shath from Palestine who launched an awareness campaign about persons with disability in Gaza. She not only succeeded in changing the social perception of this marginalized group but excelled in creating engaging programs to motivate the disabled and fully integrate them into society.
Today, 274 million Arabs are under age 30, a huge number and potentially a tremendous resource throughout the Arab region. We often hear the phrase “we must invest in youth.” But what does it really mean to invest in youth? At the outset, states need to put youth at the center of their engagement and development priorities. While several Arab states are making progress by endorsing policies to empower youth, they must do more to harness the demographic dividend as young people are facing daunting challenges. The Arab region still has high levels of child marriage, adolescent pregnancy, maternal mortality, emigration, political unrest and unemployment. Although these topics are equally important, states need to break them down into priority areas to effectively harness this population size and achieve rapid development. Morocco might prioritize access to education for all, while Kuwait might decide to focus on innovation. Each state must decide to act in line with its national priorities and guide the implementation of youth-related policies, services and programmes accordingly.
But Arab states alone will not be able to do it. This entails a collective effort with local organizations and international institutions like UNFPA to engage at the state-level all stakeholders, including youth, through policy dialogue and the like, to realize the demographic dividend. First, developing policies and investing in youth requires that governments know the segment’s size, gender, location and age breakdown of their present and accurately predict future populations. Second, Arab states must recognize that traditional policies are no longer suitable for non-traditional situations. We need to use a structured and innovative approach based on design thinking to address these complex problems. New modalities to visualize solutions must be sought out in a way that meets youth needs more effectively. In practice, this means that we need to adopt growth mindsets to generate ideas and transform them into concrete pilot projects.
All heads of states agree that marginalisation of youth is an invisible nail in the coffin of development in the Arab region. The alternative to this nail requires investing in youth and their rights. The future not only belongs to them but will be shaped by them. It is urgent to focus on youth not only as subjects but as change makers and agents of human development in the region. Only a change of mindset will ensure sustainable societies that allow the 274 million to serve at the community or national level. Initiatives like Hanin’s and influential vloggers like Ahmed provide a path forward. Like the birds and the bees talk, individual initiatives should be taught and encouraged at an early age.
Dr Luay Shabaneh is UNFPA’s director for the Arab region