Dr Bilal, policy makers to discuss youth matters

Vice President, Dr Mohamed Gharib Bilal

Vice President Dr Mohamed Gharib Bilal will tommorrow host a discussion on youth with the country’s policy makers. The aim of the discussion is to get views on how the next set of development goals for the youth should look like.

The discussion is part of Action 2015, a citizen’s movement of nearly 1,000 organisations around the world coming together to raise awareness of how important 2015 is.

They also demand truly ambitious agreements to end poverty and inequality in the world.

The vice president’s dialogue with the youth will be held at Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dar es Salaam, where the youth selected from all over the country will raise their voice to what they feel are top priorities ahead of the 2015 UN Summit that will come up with a new set of development goals.

2015 is a unique opportunity for world leaders to accelerate progress towards the eradication of extreme poverty and preventable, treatable child and maternal death by 2030 where Leaders meeting at the UN will agree a new set of goals on development targets that will replace the Millennium Development Goals (which ran from 2000 to 2015).

Speaking ahead of the event, Oscar Kimaro of Restless Development said youth in Tanzania comprise about 60 percent of the total population with those 15 years old now being born when the Millennium Development Goals were unveiled.

“The post-2015 development agenda is about building a better future for these people. They will be 30 years old at the end of the second set of the MDGs in 2030.

“These are the people who will hold our leaders accountable for decisions being taken this year. Their voice and perspectives are important in this process,” he said.

Expected at the event will include the Minister of Information, Youth and Culture, Dr Fenella Mukangara, ONE Africa Executive Director Dr Sipho Moyo, ONE Campaign ambassador in Tanzania, Diamond Platnumz, AY and many other government as well as leaders of civic societies.

As part of the launch of action2015, similar activities are taking place in over 50 countries, including South Africa, Liberia, Nigeria, Lebanon, Norway, Britain, USA and Sri Lanka.