 presented a common agenda toward the acceleration of the SDGs. One of the key focus of this common agenda, which became then the common agenda for the member state to endorse and to embrace, is of course the younger generation. Hence, I think we need to really want to contribute to achieve the SDG. And to do that, we must continue to prioritize in listening to and working with diverse youth across the world. So one of the overarching initiatives of the IQ youth strategy, the Generational Connect, engage global youth and encourage their participation as equal partners alongside the leaders of today's digital change. The young people should be empowered with the digital skill and opportunity to advance their vision of a connective future. And the really clear demonstration of this is this event where young people are participating and we are having really, really a big community of youth engaging in the effort. So as early adopters of ICTs, young people are really uniquely placed to harness the power of digital technologies. Which can enhance education, reduce youth employment, and promote social and economic development. Another piece of data that might be interesting is that in 2020, the 71% of the world youth, which is aged between 15 and 24 years old, were using the internet. Compared to the 57% of the other age groups. We know that youth is really, let's say, one of the key users of digital technologies, one of the major users of digital technology. On a global scale, in fact, young people are therefore more likely to connect than the rest of the population, despite all the possible and numerous barriers to connectivity across the world. Still, on the other side, we also need to remember and to note that almost 760 million of youth, again, between 15 and 24, worldwide lack internet connection at all. So we have almost 800 million of youth of young people that cannot access internet. So, on one side, we celebrate the first and 11th generation connect, but on the other side, we have this gap to fill. So we have to keep working toward connecting the unconnected youth as we further the ITU engagement with youth regionally and globally, in our initiative, in our events, and in our programs. The generation connect youth summit, which, as you know, will proceed and will be hand-to-hand to WTDC, will be, of course, a very, very important opportunity to really have a meaningful intergenerational dialogue about our collective digital future. So integrating really the youth component, which is very, very key from the common agenda, from the data, from the evidence that we are seeing with the overall digital landscape and digital environment. The generation connect was launched last year at the time that the world was, and still is, facing critical challenges, including global pandemic, as we all are living in, economic decline and climate change. Young people are still disproportionately affected. At least 19 percent of the youth have had their education in some way or some what disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic. But despite these challenges, we have been able to launch this initiative and to empower and engage global youth, thanks to the commitment of all of you and all of us and all together. So it was really, really a collective effort. So I really would like to thank everyone who made this first year of Generation Connecting Powerful. And I can't say on behalf of the ITU, because there was a really, really massive and significant participation from the ITU members, the Generation Connect vision Red Bull members, the Generation Connect regionally youth group, which was and are playing a very, very key role at the regional level. The ITU youth task force and, of course, all the young people that are engaging within this initiative. So we look forward to many more years of impactful and meaningful youth engagement at the ITU. But for this, of course, we need the support of everyone again. And with everyone, I mean, again, the ITU community per se. So members, sector members, of course, the youth group and whoever is really feel part of this movement. So in this meeting, we will hear from Generation Connect regional youth and boys from the ITU members and the other stakeholders. And I will really encourage everyone to continue to contribute with energy, with resources and with the support toward this quite important work to empower and engage youth in the digital development dialogue. With that, I really thank you for all, for being here. And back to you, Carla. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Marco, for this inspiring words and especially for bringing the evidence base. So for bringing really all the facts and figures that would really, that are really highlighting the need to empower and engaging global youth into ITU related matters. And this is why we have a wonderful really panel that is ready to give us all the insights. But before getting into that moment, I'd like really to welcome Junola and Helen from the Generation Connect team to update us on the Generation Connect key initiatives and also what is next for Generation Connect. So Junola and Helen, over to you. Thank you. Thank you so much, Carla. As Marco said, we're celebrating this week the first birthday of Generation Connect. Generation Connect aims to engage global youth, encouraging their participation as equal partners alongside the leaders of today's digital change, empowering youth with the skills and opportunities to advance their vision of a connected future. And we're currently working within the July 2021 to July 2022 plan, which has six clear objectives. We want to solidify the long-term sustainability of our regional youth groups. We want to increase the engagement of the Generation Connect Visionaries Board. We want to continue to find opportunities for young people to learn about the ITU and to meaningfully engage with our events, our initiatives, our activities. And we're really now trying to identify and collaborate with new partners so that they can join us as we try to deliver the ITU strategy. We're also co-designing the Generation Connect Youth Summit with young people and we'll speak a bit more about that in a moment. And ultimately, we hope to really deliver a clear and strong mandate for youth in the Addis Ababa Action Plan. So some of the key highlights from this year. As I said, we have our six regional youth groups. We have our crowd-source youth outcome documents that the youth group worked on. And of course, across all the regions over the last over 90 different events and initiatives happening. We have our 17 amazing Visionaries Board members who are advising us on a global level and across our virtual communities. And maybe we should update this number because this was including our LinkedIn and Facebook groups. But as of yesterday, we're now on Instagram and we already have some followers there. So maybe we should be saying around 700 plus now and hopefully that will grow even more. Earlier this year, we had the Video Pitch Challenge and we have nine winners. So in a moment, I'll play video for them to show some of their work. But one of the most amazing things that we've been able to do is that across ITU events and even outside the ITU, we've been able to have at least 50 young people speaking in global events really contributing to the digital development dialogue. So from Ecostock Youth Forum to some of our in-house events like the Global Symposium for Regulators and so on. So now I am going to share very quickly this video. Do you have a promising idea to connect the unconnected and close the digital divide? In June this year as part of the 2021 ITU Innovation Challenges, ITU launched the Generation Connect Pitch Challenge, a global competition to find promising and meaningful ideas coming from youth to connect the unconnected and close the digital divide. Young ICT enthusiasts between 18 and 30 years of age from across the world have already submitted their ideas. Introducing Packham, an all-inclusive waste management software application that connects recyclable waste real-time to recyclers at just a click. Packham, enabling a cleaner city. Digital inclusion is an urgent matter today. My idea is to establish digital centers to provide safe spaces with reliable internet connection, especially for rural areas. Meet Charles, the cyber security bot. It can help URLs and tell if they're safe or not. Recommend better alternatives, how to build safe computers, provide you with content on how to stay safe. It can help you pretend to be data on filter output in concrete. Up to 10 winners will be selected by a pool of experts and the winning ideas will be featured at the 2022 Generation Connect Youth Summit. Their creators will be invited to virtually join the summit and to be part of the Generation Connect community. Follow the winners and learn more. Keep up with other gen- So we've actually selected the winners already. We have our nine amazing winners and we're so excited because they're actually part of the co-creation of the youth summit. I'm going to hand over to my colleague, Ellen, to share a bit more about some of our top initiatives. Go ahead, Ellen. Thank you so much, Danola, and hello everyone. Good evening, good morning, good afternoon. It is a pleasure to be here. So as Danola highlighted, we have had some exciting initiatives that have provided a strong foundation on which to foster our mission to ensure youth are engaged, empowered, and participating in the digital development dialogue. Our ongoing initiatives, some of which are highlighted on the slide you can see on your screen, continue to build and foster this momentum. As of yesterday, we launched our Generation Connect Instagram account, very exciting, with the mission of raising awareness about the ITU among young people and to promote youth engagement in ITU work and initiatives. We also have the Generation Connect global e-waste icon-a-thon where youth around the world can engage in the design of an icon to promote the take-back of e-waste. On the top right of your screen, you will also see our new Generation Connect podcast, which was just launched today and it's designed by youth for youth, an initiative we are very excited about. Lastly, we have the Youth for Cyber initiative, which aims to develop a global network of student-led associations and universities to help young people explore opportunities within the cybersecurity field. As you can see, youth continue to be at the core of all of our initiatives. Next slide, please. So perhaps our biggest initiative and one I am thrilled to be a part of is the co-design and co-creation of the Generation Connect Youth Summit. This hybrid summit will be held June 3rd to 5th, 2022, right before WTDC and Addis Ababa. This summit has been and continues to be co-designed with a fantastic team of Generation Connect Regional Youth Envoys, Generation Connect Visionaries Board members, IT Regional Focal Points, IT Youth Task Force members, and Generation Connect pitch competition winners. As we approach this exciting inaugural youth summit, we welcome partnerships and support towards sponsoring youth delegate fellowships, providing opportunities for unconnected youth to engage in the summit, and providing special effects, participant gifts, and summit technology. We thank you for your consideration. Back to you, Carla. Thank you very much, Ellen Dunola. Indeed, very exciting and congratulations for having achieved all this really in one year. So a big thanks, but this was not possible thanks to our great, great Generation Connect Regional Youth Envoys, and we are very pleased to have some of them here today at the panel who has been engaged really in the co-design experience and will share with us the expectations for the youth summit and what they really want to see at the youth summit. So the first question is for Mr. Bongani Dlamini, who is the Generation Connect of the Africa Regional Group. Bongani, how have you found being part of the co-design team? Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm not sure if you're asking. Yes. Perfect. I think the process has been very inclusive and empowering. Inclusive in the sense that we've seen young people from across the globe being involved, actively involved in the entire process. From the very beginning, we've had meetings, annual meetings where we met as young people exchanging ideas and basically contributing to an entire process. And what's very empowering is that we're constantly getting feedback from the ITU team and seeing our ideas basically always being there whenever we get an update on how everything is going regarding the summit. And I think this is very empowering in the sense that most of the time, organizations always use youth empowerment and including young people as a very tokenistic thing. Just take a tick on the box. And this process is different in the sense that it's very inclusive. Young people are in the forefront of making this decision and coming up with the ideas. And they're basically part of the entire process in itself. So I'd really like to applaud ITU and Generation Connect for this very inclusive process that ensures that young people are basically in the forefront. And I think what I also gained from this entire experience is learning from other young people and not just learning from basically, I think what's very important is how this process is accommodating of the different cultural backgrounds and takes note of the entire planning process. So yeah, pretty much that I think what I've found from the entire process, the process is very inclusive and empowering. I'm trying to go a bit fast because of time, but I'm not sure if I covered everything and if I was able to answer the questions. So happy birthday once again to Generation Connect and continue doing the great work. And yeah, thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you Bongani. Thank you for bringing these fresh ideas into the discussion and big thanks for really being engaged in the co-design exercise. The other question, the second question is for Miss Naya Zahra, who is our Generation Connect Asia Pacific representative. Naya, why is the Generation Connect youth something important for you? Thank you. Thank you so much for the question and it's really important to question these aspects when it comes to creating an impact as youth and as people who are galvanizing to make an impact. So the word that I've used right now is galvanize. And this is what the summit spends too. Being able to represent GCSP and IT at regional and international arena, I'm eager to translate the outlook and achieve maximum goals of SPG, specifically the same global outcome. And luckily, I see, you know, this GCSP actually made sure that I was able to make it, sure that I, you know, I'm working on these things. I'm also going to make an impact. So this summit is going to galvanize. And one thing that I would like to mention as well is that Generation Connect aims to engage globally and encourage their participation as people partners. And that is something that is really, really important, not just for youth, but for the people who are making sure that youth can have equal rights as the people who are on, you know, on a position that they can make decisions. And that's what this summit is aimed to do. And that's one of the reasons that I'm hoping that people can engage and empower themselves by discussing the most active problems and find their solutions in the summit. And that is what I wanted to say. Thank you so much. Great. Thank you, Niab. We really hope to meet your expectations. Thank you very much. Vladimir, Mr. Vladimir Gurev, our Generation Connect CIS representative, can you please tell us what would you like to see at the youth summit? Yes. Thank you very much. Hello, everyone. Hope you're all doing well. I thought about this question a lot. At first, I thought that an event of this scale should include the most diverse program, a bunch of different events and activities. And it is very important. Don't get me wrong. Righty is one of the keys to engage young people. But in fact, the main thing that I want to see at the upcoming event is interaction, interaction of young people with each other, interaction of younger generation and experts in the field. I believe that this is the main goal of the youth summit. And to achieve it, we need a maximum return in terms of communications, both live and digital. I really hope for a great networking, live streams, commentary, and roundtables. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much, Vladimir. Thank you for being very focused and transparent and very precise with us. Thank you very much. And Mr. Andrea Barbo, our Generation Connect Europe representative. What topics do you hope will be included in the Generation Connect Youth Summit and Youth Declaration? Over to you, Andrea. Thank you, Carla, so much. And thank you, everyone, for being here. And happy birthday from my side and from Romania to the Generation Connect initiative. The topics that I would like to see more included and everybody to be talking about are particularly cybersecurity and environment. And those topics are quite important. We also included in December 2021 when we had the Youth Declaration with the European envoys and we discussed about these topics. And some of us considered that they are the most important, mostly because with cybersecurity, we now see a growing number of threats and a growing number of cyber-related crimes. So we need to somehow make the youth more aware of what is happening internationally on an international level because with the number of phishing attacks of leaks of security, it's quite important to talk about it and to exactly explain to people who are not working necessarily in ICT environments or who are not students of ICT, but they could also fall victims to these kind of crimes because everyone is online. But I don't want to spoil the mood by talking about sad things, but it is true we need to let the youth know that there are some risks while being online, as well there are some opportunities. So cybersecurity is creating a lot of new jobs, a lot of opportunities for young people that they could get interested in. And the second topic, as I was saying, is environment. It's quite a hot topic this year. We also are having a lot of international conferences talking about environmental issues. And I think it would be a nice topic because we really need to discuss the management of eWaste, particularly relating to IT, so eWaste management of what is happening with devices, with electronic devices. And these topics are quite important because they also influence the climate change that we're talking about. And obviously it would be a great idea to include them in the declaration as well and see how ITU could work together with the youth to bring more education into these topics, more awareness, and see what are the pros and cons and how the youth can get access to the opportunities that this offer. Because this is a great chance to fund NGOs, to get more strategies, more jobs, as I was saying. So some way, in a way we could involve more people, also from rural areas, and also women. We need not forget about women because right now in Europe about 30% of ICT students are only women. And we need to grow those numbers and we need women to get more involved into ICT topics and, of course, into cybersecurity and environmental issues. Thank you once again. Great. Thank you. Thank you very much, Andrea. Thank you for highlighting these two top priorities for us, which indeed I hope that we can discuss further with our ITU membership. So a big, big thanks for that. I'd like now to ask Mr. Saif Yusef, Generation Connect from the Arab region, when you think of the youth summit, what are you most excited about? So hi everyone. I hope everyone can hear me. First of all, I want to say that I can explain how happy and honored I am to be part of this wonderful community. So I really want to see in this summit event, like the amount of the creative ideas that we established together, like the amount of the VR, those like hologram, the ideas that are what amazing, and I couldn't even think about myself. It was a collective work, as I said, and also the amount of diversity that we will find, like meeting people with so much experience that we can learn from, and also having fun, and most importantly, be entertained and having fun. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. That is great. So last but not least, I want to turn over to Mr. Tariq Mohammed. I know that it's very early for you. Thank you for being here, our Generation Connect representative of the Americas. Tariq, what do you think youth in your region would want to discuss at the Generation Connect youth summit? So thank you very much, Carla, and good day to all. The Americas region comprises many member states, each with its unique personality and culture. In preparing for this morning's session, I posed a short survey to youth in my region, including the Generation Connect youth envoys, right? So the youth in the Americas region are interested in hybrid capacity building workshops during the summit, which offer a mix of technical digital skills, such as on AI and 5G, as well as entrepreneurial skills and on digital innovation. The youth are eagerly interested in discussing the ongoing and upcoming ITU projects that are out there, particularly those which involve rural connectivity, meaningful connectivity, and digital inclusion, as well as technologies to combat climate change. We would like the support of the union, member states, and other stakeholders in creating employment positions for youth and graduates to support these projects as we wish to fill the common gaps which exist. We, the youth of the Americas region, want to get involved and take actionable, measurable steps towards improving our society at national, regional, and international levels through the support of the ITU. And with that, I'd like to thank the ITU for this opportunity to speak and yield the floor back over to Carla with many thanks once again. Thank you, thank you, Teric. And thank you to all of you. It has been really great. Thank you for bringing here, for being so really transparent and so incredible, really telling us, you know, your needs, amplifying, you know, your requests, etc. So a big thanks for that to our incredible Generation Connect Original Youth and Boy. And now it is a great pleasure, after our Regional Youth and Boy, to invite our and to hear from our ITU members on how they see Generation Connect and their own children, their own two artists. So I'd like first, here we have, sorry, Ms. Inga, who is the Head of International and Public Relations Division at the Communications Regulatory Authority of the Republic of Lithuania. We have also Mr. Ottman, Almoana Amar, Program Manager at the MISC Foundation and Generation Connect Visionary Board Member, and Mr. John Omo, Secretary-General of the African Telecommunications Union. So I'd like to start with Ms. Inga. Why is it important for member states to listen to young people? Inga, over to you. And thank you Carla. Thank you very much for giving me the floor and good day, dear colleagues. It's my great pleasure to be here today and speak at this event on the importance for member states to listen to the voice of young people. To start with, maybe you recall that in his speech on the first day of COP26, the Italian Prime Minister, Mr. Mario Draghi, referred to the significant input of young people over the last few years to the climate agenda. And he noted that young people have done us all a service by bringing the climate issues in the front of political debate on the regional and global level. And these thoughts of Mr. Draghi resonated with my own strong belief that youth should have the ability to speak up and be listened by those who are in leadership positions as we can learn so much from them. So therefore I was really delighted to hear that ITU launched the Generation Connect initiative and especially I was thrilled when the regional group for Europe was formed with 24 absolutely incredible young people who were motivated to be engaged with the ITU and its work. And I recall their energy and strong will to contribute on the first meeting in December last year. So when I read the youth declaration that was developed by this Europe group in a very short term and in inspiring collaborative spirit. So I was really pleasantly surprised to see how well young people grasp the most complex problems. And then their requests were very well aligned with the work that we as member states do at the ITU level and also at our national levels. The declaration identified the same top priorities for action that are the core focus at ITU and also on the regional level and of our daily work as member state administrations. So I have seen this group very hard working on the outputs and represent the voice of European youth at various events and ITU conferences such as ITU Regional Innovation Forum in 2021 to name. And these are the opportunities that the young people of Europe representing their countries have had. And this is thanks to ITU Generation Connect. They were able to voice their expectations, also share their experiences and also call upon stakeholders for additional partnerships to address youth concerns. But we are here not only to listen to the voice of young people but also to implement their requests and incorporate them in our daily work and contributions. Moreover, we should see them as our equal partners in the discussions on hot issues because they are building the future and they are here to change the world into better, much better I think. So having said that, I would like to thank first of all the ITU Office for Europe for creating the opportunities for these young people of Europe group to present their views and to be part of the ITU community. I also would like to thank the Global Team of Generation Connect and especially to Madame Doreen Bogdan-Martin for the continued support for youth case. I personally look forward to attending the youth forum at the WTDC next year and also encourage all colleagues to be there also. And moreover, I hope to be able to connect further with this group in other formats at all possible levels so that we could understand the expectations better and reflect the voice of young people in our future work. So happy first anniversary Generation Connect and I'm looking forward to many, many anniversaries in the future. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much Miss Inga for this powerful message and indeed we want to hear from young people what we want to also implement. So really look forward that the next year will be another milestone that we want to achieve of course with all of you and a big thanks for your support. Also a big thanks to the role of the ITU Regional Office because we know that they are they are instrumental in this overall exercise. So a big thanks. Mr. Rotman, if I can turn over to you, what are the key things you think we need to see at the Generation Connect youth summit? Thank you. Hello everyone and thank you Carla. I'm honestly looking forward to seeing young people. I think that's as one of the key events that's going to be dedicated to youth next year. I would like to see plenty of youth at that event. So what we know when we say about youth we're talking about almost 50% of the world population that's close or under 30 years old. That's a lot of young people and unfortunately many of those young people are facing challenges in education and employment and mental health and in many areas and this was even before COVID-19. So when COVID-19 came around these challenges came even bigger for young people. So we've seen many more than one billion young people have their educations affected. Many have been removed from their jobs. Many have seen or have been affected by the mental health toll that sitting at home takes and we've seen that across the ages not just from young people at you know K-12 but even young people who are just moving into their first jobs. Now when we're talking about technology it's usually we're talking about youth as digital natives and so during this summit we have very good opportunity to highlight technology as a way for good especially when we're trying to reach an upscale as many young people as we can. So during the summit I'm really looking forward to seeing four key things. One is of course young people being the majority of attendees from all over the world sharing their perspectives and we've seen earlier today just this hour on how six different groups have come together and they talked about their viewpoints and I think having that collective thinking process being showcased at the summit is very important. As Miss Inga has also mentioned we also need to focus on implementation and luckily enough we have the Generation Connect program for this because it runs across the year so a lot of these policies could be advocated. The decision maker is not only across the international stage but also at the local level as the different groups can advocate to their own decision makers too. I also would like to see maybe some upskilling activities as well so generally this could be taken in the form of workshops on learning not just the basic digital skills but maybe the more advanced one. AI of course is taking center stage, we can talk about programming, we can even talk about blockchain, we can talk about all of these new conversations that we've been having especially now with things like the metaverse occurring. Lastly honestly around this is focused on action and this could be taken in the form of campaign increasing awareness so in one year we have really scaled up across the Generation Connect program and we have included a lot of young people within it and we just launched Instagram to reach to more young people but we need to have more platforms like this also joining in and so that's where we're helping in as well within MISC and where we're helping as well within the Y20 but I also encourage young people to do that during the summit as well. So it's the perfect platform to do that and honestly if it's IETU dealing with it then it's going to be fantastic so looking forward to seeing everybody there. Thank you, thank you very much Mr. Otman for adding another key words which is action in addition of course to upskilling so we really look forward to build on the work that you are actually already doing at the MISC Foundation and that also many of our members here and panelists are already doing the first participants so we really hope that this is you know something that we can all work together so a big thanks for for for that contribution and I'd like now to turn finally to Mr. John Omo so Mr. John what is the role of partnerships in amplifying youth voices on a regional and global level? Thank you. Thank you very much you can confirm hearing me. Yes we can hear you. You're hearing me thank you very much I certainly want to add my voice in thanking the ITU and in particular the Director of BDT for this wonderful initiative certainly that you know seeks to engage with and for young people so that they participate as equal partners alongside ICT leaders in the digital transformation era it's a good practice that we in Africa you know partnering and collaborating have always advocated and we we are quite happy that a number of young people from Africa participating in this and so we we want to thank the ITU for that we we we look forward to you know a robust youth forum at the first of its kind BDT meeting in Africa next year and we do hope that we will all be in that forum now in terms of partnership really I think you know in Africa we we we we send we share knowledge through Proverbs and one of the Proverbs in Africa is invest in the youth and you get a future what you teach a young person you will that young person will continue to be in knowledge I think for so long we have we have relegated the young people to be receivers of the various initiatives that that we ICT leaders undertake and not as partners that whose voices need to be heard and so that is one of the things that I think is is quite positive about this and the partnership that comes with it is partnership in capacity building and and and I think that that the youth need to be empowered with knowledge and skills that will help them effectively participate in decision-making and I think partnership is is the best way to do that knowing what this organization can offer in terms of capacity building and what the other organization can offer so partnership would make it possible for ICT stakeholders to come together and build sufficient capacity for youth and youth-led organizations to enable them participate effectively in ICT decision-making and project implementation now in terms of impact certainly you get a better impact through partnerships rather than each organization going into to a project at at individual level and so we we think that through partnership we will be able to share good practices that are proven effective in in in our organizations in our regions and and and and that only serves to amplify the voices of the youth regionally and global globally so the replication of such practices often leads to greater and a better impact in my view the youth we've had this need that we invest in projects we invest in them I've just mentioned that invest in the youth and you have a future you have a positive future and and I think we have been operating in silos and and so I think through partnerships we are able to invest a lot more in the youthful population be it in terms of the new technologies that are coming up and so I think there's a greater achievement when we pool resources in partnership to invest in the youth in in a much better way again through partnerships we are able to understand the key challenges that are facing the youth because I mean you have heard the youth speaking of their experiences from various regions and so through such dialogue through partnership we are able to understand their needs to understand the opportunities that each and every region or each and every organization can bring to the fork so that we harness those opportunities for the betterment of the youth and that can only happen when we we we are partnering as opposed to when we are we are competing again better support I think it's only possible through partnerships increased positive exposure we are currently running you know an Africa innovation challenge and we've been able to cooperate quite a bit with the BDT ITU in this regard and we find that you know there are projects that the BDT the ITU is running that are quite focused on the youth and so through such synergies we are able to have the youth from Africa the innovative youth from Africa a lot more exposed to the opportunities that are available in other organizations and other regions and I think that again is only possible through such partnerships lastly and certainly by no means least I could go on and on is the issue of digital agenda divide rather I think one of the youth young people have spoken about this I think from Europe again girls and young women have been on the receiving end of the struggle for ICT development and we just need to bring the issues that concern them on the table and deal with them in such a way that we we don't we don't we break the divide but also don't disenfranchise the other gender and so I think by sharing knowledge by engaging in partnerships young women that are involved in ICT are able to know what opportunities exist and that way we are able to you know bridge the gender divide in ICT development in a much much better way be it with the civil society the private sector of governments and I think that again is only possible through partnerships again better policies are only possible when we benchmark and know what organizations are doing in terms of practices that have been successful and so unless you partner with organizations and get to know what they are doing what has been successful what has been failure so that you avoid side failures it's it's not possible to develop meaningfully and so partnership gives us the opportunity to know what has worked in other in other regions other organizations and to adapt our policies and regulatory practices in order to target the youth population the youthful population a lot more so really I think we have no option we have no option as as the ICT leadership in terms of whether we should or should not involve and empower the youth in terms of our activities and so let me just say that I think I think our future is in our hands as ICT leaders and that hand really is the hand of the youth because as Kofi Annan says any society that does not succeed in tapping into the energy and creativity of its youth will be left behind and so the ICT as a society as a community would be left behind if we don't tap and harness the creativity of the young people get them involved in our projects get them involved in our debates get them involved in our in our policymaking process so that their needs are catered for not as as youthful partners but people who have the future of ICT in their hands because when we exit the scene it is the youth that will be developing these ideas and implementing them so I think there's a great more to be achieved through partnerships than through you know doing things in a single way and that's the reason we at the ATU have had to partner with the ITU on a couple of projects and I do think that this initiative is one good project that when conducted when implemented successful will see the youthful voices had a bit more a lot more and their needs catered for in our project planning in our policymaking processes and so forth thank you very much for listening to me thank you very much thank you Mr Don for this incredible incredible insights a big thanks you added very very I was trying to take to take notes many many key messages you know better policies special attention of young women to young women and and and and girls exposure to new opportunities impact and then of course you know the sentence that I think that we will quote you from now on is that the future is on our hands and our hands is our youth so a big thanks that is the best way of really conclude this this session and before moving into the closure just because we have five minutes more I'd like to open the floor maybe for one or two questions I don't know if we have ready some participants that wants to take the floor yeah I can see Mr Santiago from Canada the floor is yours thank you good morning and thank you very much Carla and your colleagues it's a pleasure to be here I'm just going to briefly take the floor to congratulate the ITU the BDT you and your colleagues Silvia I was very touched and move Mr Romo with your intervention to the point thank you so much I think that I mean I would have nothing else to add to your very very pointed comments other than reiterate our commitment to youth and particularly youth in developing least developed countries and and we're hoping to finalize as we speak an internal procedure that would allow Canada to support the participation of 12 young women from developing countries hopefully from Africa at the youth summit and at some of the first days of the WTDC we believe certainly as John has said that I mean we are in the hands of the youth we owe them the future and as it relates to ICTs it will be critically important that they as early adopters lead the way and of course connecting the unconnected for sustainable development and personally I've always been concerned with what the connectivity means connecting to what and what for in essence I believe that as we move towards the WTDC that the focus should be and continues to be on improving the quality of lives of everyone in the world it is not only about entertainment it's not only about tiktok it's not only about instagram there's a wonderful applications but we need to focus on specific specific issues that will improve the quality of their health their education their employment their family and social relations so again thank you so much all of you congratulations to the ITU and I hope that we can formally announce our commitment to bringing those 12 wonderful young women to Africa from Africa to the WTDC thank you very much a card back to you thank you thank you Mr Santiago that is the best gift that we could receive you know for our birthdays so a big thanks for for that contribution and and we really thank you know your support for starting to put also some some substance you know into into the overall organization of the youth summit so a big thanks and ladies and gentlemen distinguished participants since we are towards the end of our session I'd like now to invite miss Sylvia Paul who is the head of the digital society division uh in the BDT to share her crossing remarks Sylvia the floor is yours thank you thank you Carla and once again I finished one of these sessions so inspired so hopeful from first of all from the messages from our youth envoys so smart their comments and then also so hopeful from our other members thank you Santiago you're going to be officially Canada will be officially the first contributor and I hope many will follow to getting young people as Osman said we need to have the young people physically at the summit so thank you Canada for this for this announcement and and thank you for all the members and I think one big message that they use first of all we have a big event to organize we're super excited about it we want to really think out of the box and do things differently and we really need everybody's support we will need the young people the youth envoys we will need our members we will need our sector members our academia we will need the IT staff our youth task force and under the leadership of Mr. Eek Bogman I'm sure we're going to organize an amazing summit but a meaningful summit for everybody so thank you very much we encourage you to support us in this process the months are flying by and I'm sure we're going to be very soon at the summit so thank you for joining us this session and enjoy the next session at TDAC thank you Karin thank you thank you Silvia for this yeah for your inspiring remarks so I think that we really need to conclude the session but before doing that if you have any ideas any suggestions on really on how you can promote youth engagement in your region please write it in the chat we will save all of this and then as we all see ITU's generation connect initiative catalyzes youth action for digital transformation gives young people a voice and opportunity to be empowered engaged and to participate in the advancement of the digital development agenda for present and future generations so before we move to the DAG we ask the members of our ITU generation community what does it mean to be connected and what does generation connect means to them so let's watch this video and let's hear the answer and in the meantime we will prepare for TDAC thank you very much thank you everyone what does it mean to be connected to be connected is being part of something bigger without physical barriers to be connected means to have a bond with someone or something that is established on common goals interests aspirations or even feelings that leaves you with a good impression we are connected when we can communicate with anyone anywhere it means to be open-minded to have an opportunity to express my potential and build the inclusive and innovative digital world being connected is being part of something much bigger and discovering new ways to change our world by sharing values and ideas believing in each other to achieve our goals for me being connected means being able to use technology to bridge the gaps that both exist and divide our society today what does generation connect mean to you alliance marvelous partnership hope inclusion and life inspiring innovation networking sharing interconnected change megas exchange innovation opportunity empowerment connecting the unconnected thank you again