What is your dream for creating a better future for you, your family and your country, and how can you make it come true?That is the question 25 youth were working hard to find innovative answers to last weekend when they participated in the workshop My World – My Actions – Our Future organised by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Educat, a not-for profit organisation.According to Andreas Norlem, Educat’s Executive Director, the workshop aimed to use the voice of Rwandan youth to take concrete actions and influence the development agenda in Rwanda and globally.“The 25 boys and girls aged between 16 and 25 years brought ideas on how to improve topics such as gender equality, education, healthcare and environmental issues to secure a brighter future for Rwanda,” Norlem told Education Times.Through a fun, dynamic and action-orientated workshop the youth developed and tested their ideas on Saturday before they presented them to a panel of experts consisting of Minister of Youth and ICT, Jean Philbert Nsengimana as well as senior representatives from the United Nations (UN) and Rwanda Development Board (RDB).“We should start up a Campus Savings Scheme (SACCO) to help us as university students to save in order to be able to raise funds for our tuition fees which were recently scraped off for some of students by the government,” said Shadadi, a participant in one of the five groups that were formed out of the 25 youths.The workshop is a Rwandan add-on to United Nations’ global survey ‘MY World’, using the voices of youth to shape a new development agenda in Rwanda and beyond. The workshop is the first of its kind on a global scale and makes Rwanda a front-runner in using youth voices to potentially influence the development agenda after 2015 that marks the deadline for the current Millennium Development Goals.“I appreciate and support the collaborative effort from Educat and UNICEF to bring the global My World Survey into action and have Rwandan youth develop concrete ideas that could help shape the future development agenda in Rwanda and beyond,” said Jean Philbert Nsengimana, the Minister of Youth and ICT.The minister added that youth participation in Rwanda was vital to move the country forward and that the initiative was providing the youth with tools to take action and be change makers in their communities and in their country.
