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Beyond 'out-of-the-box': Youth and innovation in Bangladesh

Pauline Tamesis
NO youth issues should be discussed without the youth. With 60% of Bangladeshis under the age of 30, the country has one of the largest youth populations in the world. Bangladesh's march to middle-income status needs to be led by the next generation and their innovations, determination and optimism. The flight of the country's success depends on ensuring greater space for the youth to be leaders, change agents, decision makers.
UNDP supports the government of Bangladesh in creating opportunities for meaningful participation of the new generation, to showcase their innovative thinking and "out of the box" ideas. Bangladesh is emerging as a thought leader in the global South as innovative solvers with limited resources but limitless imagination. Every day challenges of access to public services, dealing with the impacts of climate change, lack of market linkages, poor connectivity and social barriers, such as gender based discrimination, are being addressed by the young people of Bangladesh.
For example, we see enthusiastic young entrepreneurs running over 5,000 Union Information Service Centers in both urban and rural areas, going beyond the call of duty for their communities. They not only bring government services to the doorsteps of the people but also take the lead in tackling social issues such as gender empowerment by providing computer literacy training for women.
In another instance, young Bangladeshi software developers and IT students recently met in an event called hackathon to find ways together to use their skills to solve a social problem they felt strongly about. Out of this event, they developed useful webbased applications on safety, security and maternal healthcare for the Bangladesh application market.
Earlier, UNDP organised the Dhaka meet-up of the global Social Good Summit where hundreds of students and young innovators came to share their views on youths' role in national development and interesting ideas such as Wi-Fiservices in local buses in cities, and online interactive blood banks.
These are just a few of the numerous, innovative solutions the youth of Bangladesh are coming up with to tackle their everyday challenges. While the economy is progressing on the energy and creativity of the youth, they, however, remain at the peripheries of decision making processes. Obstacles still remain for them to participate economically and socially, such as limited access to financial resources, education, and continuing gender and age-based discrimination that is pulling them back from reaching their full potential. It is crucial to enable an environment of encouragement, incubation and implementation of their initiatives.
Through their economic and innovative pursuits, young people are also changing what we understand to be civic engagement and citizens' empowerment. The Savar tragedy is a monumental example of how young people utilised whatever means they had, in this case social media, to mobilise themselves, coordinate relief and raise national consciousness and awareness on workers' rights and well-being.
To capture this very energy, the UN at the global level is reaffirming its commitment to the new generation of upcoming and present day world citizens. Recently, the UN Secretary General's Envoy on Youth was launched with the objective of creating more opportunities for youth to work closely with the United Nations. At the national level, UNDP is finding creative ways to incorporate youth voices in its various projects and programmes, recognising that eradication of poverty cannot and will not happen without youth as part of the solution.
With two million young people entering the job market every year, it is important to provide the right set of skills for the ever changing global demands and emerging industries as well as support new entrepreneurs and their initiatives. Apprenticeship programmes such as the ones provided through UNDP's urban project are training vulnerable urban youth on skills and trade which they identified as relevant in their localities.
Young entrepreneurs are also job creators for their peers, setting up businesses in emerging sectors as ICT for development. These small/medium businesses can be graduated into large scale corporations through financial support and effective mentoring. The Social Innovation Funds Facility supported by UNDP aims to financially and structurally support young innovators who can come up with out-of-the-box solutions to public sector challenges. National level private-public partnership can facilitate scaling up of these innovative success stories to generate greater employment and having lasting impact on the society. The telecommunication sector is an excellent example of a profit-driven industry providing social support and encouraging young people to come up with new mobile technology based solutions for their everyday challenges.
Resonating from what we heard from the students who participated in the Social Good Summit, the young people of Bangladesh want platforms to raise their voices and be heard, as well as economic opportunities that reflect their hopes and aspirations. As the world community fast approaches the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals, we must take proactive roles to include the young generation in dialogues of today, for the better realities of tomorrow.
The writer is the Country Director of UNDP Bangladesh. This op-ed has been written to mark UN Day on October 24, 2013, which this year is focusing