More than half of young people in the world today live in Asia Pacific (Source: UNDP)Hanoi (VNA) - More than 500delegates, including hundreds of young people, partners and governmentofficials from 20 countries, exchanged ideas, knowledge and experiences toinfluence policy initiatives on youth entrepreneurship and social innovation atthe second Asia Pacific Youth Co:Lab Summit, which opened in Hanoi on April 4.
The event was jointlyheld by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Citi Foundation,with the collaboration and support from the Vietnamese Ministry of Science andTechnology and the Vietnam Volunteer Centre.
According to the AsiaPacific Human Development Report 2016, more than half the young people in theworld today live in Asia Pacific and 1.7 billion are under 25.
The report furtherstates that close to 71 million young people, aged 15-24, are unemployedworldwide, of whom 33 million are in Asia Pacific alone. Nearly 220 millionyoung people are neither at school, nor at work, presenting a daunting crisisthat calls for an urgent response.
Co-created in 2017 byUNDP and the Citi Foundation, Youth Co:Lab aims to empower and invest in the youth,so that they can accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDGs) through leadership, social innovation and entrepreneurship.
Over the last two years,Youth Co:Lab projects have been implemented in 20 countries and territoriesacross the region, with national dialogues, regional summits and social innovationchallenges reaching over 48,000 participants.
The initiative hasbenefitted over 2,500 young social entrepreneurs and helped launch or improvenearly 500 social enterprises.
Youth Co:Lab has alsoestablished partnerships with more than 100 key ecosystem players to strengthenthe Youth Empowerment Alliance to support young entrepreneurs, particularlyyoung women and marginalized youth, by connecting them with businesses,incubators, accelerators, and financing mechanisms to develop their ideas into viablebusiness models for sustainable social impact.
Speaking at the openingceremony, Valerie Cliff, UNDP Deputy Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific,said the UNDP’s mandate at Youth Co:Lab is to play the role of an integratorand strengthen the ecosystem connecting young people with governments andbusinesses to scale impact.
“This is how we can align the grit anddetermination of young change makers to meet the ambition of the SDGs,” shenoted.
Tran Van Tung, VietnameseDeputy Minister of Science and Technology, said in the current context ofglobal integration and development, startups and innovation play an importantrole in economic development, addressing global difficulties and challenges aswell as achieving sustainable development in each country and all over theworld.
The Youth Co:Lab Summit 2019 is a significantevent for the innovative startup community and the social impact enterprises,in particular. The summit will enable an exchange of ideas and help furtherdeveloping the start-ups, through incubation, innovation, expanding connectionsand international cooperation, he said.
The two-day summit willconclude with the Youth Co:Lab Regional Social Innovation Challenge, where 30teams, pre-selected during the national social innovation challenges heldacross 16 countries respectively, will pitch and showcase their socialenterprises and ideas to a panel of esteemed judges.-VNA
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