Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — There are almost two billion youth in the world today. That’s a quarter of the world’s population, a number big enough to propel development and influence change.
In an interview on CNN Philippines’ Headline News on Thursday (August 13), Ahmad Alhendawi, the first UN Secretary General Youth Envoy said his appointment by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was an opportunity to elevate issues that concern young people.
“I was appointed to do two things,” he said. “First is bringing the UN together with all the UN agencies in a harmonized fashion to support young people, and the second is to elevate youth issues and to open up bridges with government, civil society, and other youth organizations to discuss what else could be done to support and invest in young people.”
The two billion youth population, he said, is the largest generation of young people in history.
Ninety percent of them are in developing countries.
In the Philippines, Alhendawi said, one of the most crucial issues that need to be addressed is teenage pregnancy.
But he said he was encouraged by the government’s commitment to continue working on the issue.
“The United Nations is here to support and advance efforts,” he said. “But this is beyond the only the efforts of the government or the UN. Reversing the high number of teenage pregnancy could only be possible by having public awareness.”
He added that progress in reducing the number of teenage pregnancies worldwide is good.
“We have to make sure we can reverse the numbers of teenage pregnancy and make sure that girls are girls and not moms,” he said.
With “youth” defined in the country as people aged 30 and below, another big issue is unemployment and underemployment, which is a global issue, according to Alhendawi.
He said: “I think this segment of the population faces some unique challenges because it affects certain transitions in life – transition to higher education, transition to independence, the transition to get your first job and to make sure that job is a decent one.”
Alhendawi said that there are about 74 million unemployed young people worldwide and that almost 600 million jobs in the next 15 years are needed.
He said: “We need to shift the narrative and not just talk about seeking jobs, but also creating jobs and have young people invent jobs. But to do that, we need to support them with better loans, with better access to finance, and better coaching so young people could also contribute to solving this crisis.”
Both issues are crucial for youths all over the world.
Alhendawi said the Philippines’ biggest assets today are its 30 million young Filipinos.
He said with that many young people, a “huge development” is about to happen.
He made it clear, however, that the development would not happen overnight.
