Young employees and UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth swap ideas to bolster youth-led actions
30 September 2020, Rome – FAO Director-General QU Dongyu, the UN Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth Jayathma Wickramanayake, young employees from FAO and youth from across the world met today to spark and share ideas on how youth can play a greater role in building a better future.
The online discussion was part of Innovation Wednesdays – an event held by FAO’s Youth Committee twice a month. It brings together youthful employees from FAO and invites special guests from within the Organization and abroad to inspire innovation and help ignite FAO’s way forward.
Over 200 youth – including from Angola, Brunei, Chile, Ghana, Egypt, Italy, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines, Senegal and the US – participated in today’s event.
The UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth lauded the creation of the FAO Youth Committee and the initiatives it has already sparked, and invited participants to share their good work across the UN system, including with her office.
“This is a good example that we can bring to others,” said Wickramanayake, adding that the Committee could also play a role in ensuring greater synergies between innovation-focused initiatives across the UN system.
“Be pro-active, create space for you and your peers – such as this committee – to contribute to solutions,” added the Envoy on Youth.
On innovation, Wickramanayake stressed the need to start first with identifying the problem and “not just doing innovation for the sake of it”. Innovation should also be used, she said, to address the root causes of problems and solve these “for good” to benefit all youth.
In this respect, the Youth Envoy mentioned challenges she identified and tried to address since taking on her role, such as fighting the stereotyping of youth and creating opportunities for them to engage more fully with the UN to share their ideas and solutions, and connect with policy makers.
Examples she listed included the Summer Of Solutions initiative, which enabled young people to propose solutions to climate challenges that were presented at the 2019 UN Climate Summit; and improving knowledge sharing amongst youth in the global south through the UN’s South-South Cooperation.
Participants at today’s event had the opportunity to exchange with the Envoy on Youth on topics ranging from innovation-friendly environments, how youth-focused initiatives yielded successes to employment, and other ways for youth to contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and learn more about the UN’s Youth2030 strategy.
Young employees key to leading the transformation of FAO “from a traditional to a digital organization”
The FAO Director-General thanked the Envoy on Youth and all participants and reiterated his full commitment to the Youth Committee, which he launched last year along with the FAO Women’s Committee.
Young employees are essential to better delivering on FAO’s mandate, Qu said, adding that he counted on youth to lead the transformation of FAO “from a traditional to a digital organization”, and by extension, bring the benefits of innovation and digitalization to farmers.
As more FAO employees in Rome are returning to working in the office, the Director-General reflected on the “important role” both the Youth and Women’s Committees played during the pandemic in “helping us to come through the lockdowns”.
The pandemic has changed our lives, said the FAO chief, but “you (young employees) adapted faster”.
Qu noted that youth should look at the pandemic as an opportunity “to build a more transparent, inclusive, interconnected, and greener world”.
Qu also urged young employees to continue to be a “driving force”, to “build yourselves”, and use the Youth Committee as an ongoing “channel of dialogue for youth” to engage with Members.
About 40 percent of FAO’s employees are under 40. They represent the future of FAO, said Qu, and are key to establishing innovative and modern work processes at FAO and across global agriculture.
More about the FAO Youth Committee
The FAO Director-General launched the Youth Committee on 18 September 2019.
The volunteer-based committee - made up of FAO colleagues from headquarters as well as regional, liaison and country offices - is charged with tapping into the potential of FAO’s young employees to create a more dynamic workforce.
The work of the Youth Committee contributes to the the Youth Envoy’s workplan of realizing the potential of young people in the UN, while engaging and mobilizing young people in sustainable development.