 Hello everyone. Hello everyone and welcome to the celebration of youth digital chain makers for Sustainable Future. I am Mabat Thomas Amai and I will be moderating this session today. In celebration of International Youth Day, ITU will be highlighting a lot of youth change makers across the globe who are harnessing the power of digitization towards solving digital, social and economic inequality that we have in this world. We are graced with different speakers, particularly generation connect envoys from Europe, Africa and Asia. And we also are graced with the presence of the BTD director, Dr. Cosmos Zava Zava. I will now give the BTD director an opportunity to give us a keynote address. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. I think it's a good afternoon for everyone. We don't have time differences among the regions, but with Asia, of course, good evening. So thank you, moderator Mabat Thomas Amai for the introduction. Good afternoon again. As we come together to celebrate the International Youth Day 2023. It is both an honor and a privilege to be among the future visionaries of the digital space. This morning when I was scanning through the news, as I always do, I found a very interesting story. It was written by Mr. Berger Sasan, who is an Nigerian, and it is entitled, Our IT Youth Fellowship Inspired My Career. Mr. Sasan received an ITU 2001 Youth Fellowship to join us at the Youth Forum. He notes that this transformed his career, and he has just received an invitation for them from the UN Secretary General to join his Internet Governance Forum Leadership panel, and is doing well in his career. I want to congratulate him, and I have no doubt that we at ITU will also help you to scale new digital heights in the future. As a generation of digital natives, your youthful perspective, coupled with your digital skills, gave the world a real chance to navigate a new path. Break down old barriers as you bring to the table ideas and solutions that could change the world. That's why we are celebrating you. The youth is a digital changemaker's home way of great hope in to help create a sustainable future. We are keen to listen and to learn from you. I firmly believe that the youth, you, you have a critical role in contributing to the achievement of SDGs. And that is why it has been and will remain my unwavering objective to pave a digital pathway where every young person, regardless of the agenda, ability, education, and the social background, or a geographical location is equipped with the necessary skills and tools. And these are just to navigate. These are not just to navigate but also to lead in the digital world. Our commitment at ITU is not a distant ambition. It's an actionable agenda. You may already know for over two decades, ITU has been at the forefront of identifying and addressing the needs of young people, assisting them in their digital journey. The relentless efforts are reflected in the resolutions made or adopted by our member states, and they are accompanying implementation strategies all designated to achieve digital inclusion for everyone everywhere. And I look forward in the coming years or one year and a half to be holding a youth summit, which is going to be revolutionary, and which is going to be a great success and that all of you and others who are not here present will be part of. The theme of today's session is particularly relevant to the current global landscape. An impressive 75% of young people or youth between 15 and 24 are very active online, compared with 65% of the broader global population. Despite inherent challenges, I'm pleased to see the underlying spirit of our youth and the people full of enthusiasm towards the digital explosion and exploration. Suffice to say, these connectivity rates vary across countries and regions. For instance, according to ITU data, 98% of youth have internet access in Europe. Only 55% do have access in Africa, and this is worse when we look at females compared to males. We'd want to see the involvement of youth from all walks in the connectivity agenda to ensure affordable access to the internet. We want to see you, the youth, engaging in the designing and deploying technology across all facets of human life. This approach ensures the inclusion and empowerment of millions of youth, including those in vulnerable situations, those living with disabilities, young migrants from indigenous communities, from rural areas, and among others. We believe no one should be left behind. We strongly believe in the potential of youth as active contributors and drivers of change at community level. This is especially evident in rural and indigenous communities. Just last week, on the 9th of August 2023, we marked the International Day of Indigenous Peoples, which was themed in indigenous youth as the origins of change and self-determination. On that day, I highlighted the transformative potential of young people in driving community impact. In the face of the rapid technological advancements and exponential growth of artificial intelligence and other such technologies, the digital divide has never been more pronounced. In line with the priorities set by our member states and the Telecommunication Development Conference in 2022, which some of you attended the Telecommunication Development Bureau of the ITU is focusing on creating tangible, impactful actions at all levels. I call upon all youth to join us in our mission and to ensure technology is accessible in human-centric and affordable ways for the benefit of the people, the planet, and prosperity. I applaud and celebrate the young changemakers present here today, which optimize our hopes for a more inclusive digital accessible and sustainable shared future. Your work in digital transformation through research advocacy, program delivery, and beyond is a representation of the existing potential. We look forward, of course, to hearing from you on your impactful work. As we also commemorate the International Youth Day, remember that the future and the digital era is in your hands. We would want to see you in the leading positions in life, empowering and impacting other people and creating a sustainable future. Together, let's forge a digital world that is fully driven by you and for all of you and for your benefit. Just like Miss Mbengas Esan, I hope that you can come back years later and give your testimonies of how this foundation that we are trying to build together has helped you to build your own castle. Thank you very much, and I hope that you have got a great event. Thank you. Thank you so much, sir. And in such, I think it's a great time for us to start our discussions with our fellow speakers. We will have presentations coming from six different speakers and then from there we will move on to a Q&A session. So I would like to start off with Julia, who is the one of the Generation Connect Visionary Board members on her presentation. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mbaso. It is a real pleasure for me to be here today. I wanted to thank the Generation Connect team for the invitation and to all of the public for attending the event today. So my name is Juliana. I'm 27 years old, originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and I'm part of the Generation Connect Visionaries Board. I joined the board early when the initiative started. I was about to turn 25. And since then, a lot of things have happened. We have collaborated in several different initiatives. Last year we had the first youth summit in Kigali, Ronda, which was a major milestone for the Generation Connect. And I'm so happy to have contributed to that. As for my work outside of Generation Connect, I'm currently researching in the domain of artificial intelligence and transparency. So my research is on how we can communicate the outputs and the functioning of machine learning algorithms to decision makers using methods of data visualization and user interactivity. My research is focused on the public sector. So my project is in partnership with a government entity. And we want to create a platform where public agents can better understand how machine learning models can influence public policy and how can we have a better control and understanding of their outputs and how they work to avoid situations of biases and discrimination, which are now a major concern in our connected world. Apart from research, I have been several years now involved in new initiatives in internet governance. This year, we are launching the second edition of a book called the Youth Atlas, which will display the trajectories of young people working in technology policy around the globe. The book features interviews and testimonials from young people from all the regions of the planet and will be launched this year at the United Nations Internet Governance Forum in Kyoto, Japan. The book shows what are some of the successful initiatives of these young people at national, regional and international level, and also displays some of the challenges they still face when developing their own projects as young leaders. I believe my academic work and my work with young people in technology are deeply intertwined. My generation and the ones after mine will be the most exposed and the most affected by artificial intelligence. Both for our own benefit and also as a societal challenge. So I think it is super important to bring awareness of the discussions on transparency and ethics to spaces of use. And in this regard, I believe initiatives such as Generation Connect are a real milestone in the lives of young people involved. Even in an extremely connected world, we often work in silos. I sometimes even catch myself working in an environment full of academics and talking to my own bubble. So I believe being part of an international and diverse initiative such as Generation Connect really provides me with the opportunity to interact with young people they're doing relevant work outside of my own field. So for instance, we have youth and voice from all different sectors. We have young entrepreneurs, we have activists, we have policymakers, influencers, pretty much everything you can imagine. And it's such a rich experience for us to meet each other and interact, especially in these early stages of our career in which we can really open our minds to different perspectives, different environments, different skill sets. And I can say personally they have learned so much from my colleagues with whom I have the pleasure to share this panel today and also with so many others which I have interacted in the past couple of years since I joined Generation Connect. And this brings really a lot of value to decision making, not only outside of the ITU ecosystem but also inside ITU level. We may not even realize that we are training a comprehensive multi stakeholder group of young people with all kinds of expertise is to participate in relevant discussions about the future of technology and this is like a concrete outcome of Generation Connect. Since I joined two years ago, I can see that with the people that I interact with since the beginning. So I just wanted to show my deep appreciation to the Generation Connect team at ITU, Dunola and Sylvia for the great work so far, which I have the privilege to be following closely in the past couple of years. And with this and not to take too much of your time I wanted to show my appreciation and gratitude to all the young people here in this event from the attendance list and also the panelists. It doesn't really matter where you come from. If you're an entrepreneur, if you're an activist, an academic, an artist, a policymaker or any other profession, people might not even know yet. I just wanted to thank you for your work. What you have been doing in your own initiative in your own way in your own country is very valuable and we need people like you. Thank you and happy International East Day. Thank you Juliana. Moving on to our next speaker, Horace Chibembere. Thank you so much. My name is Horace Chibembere and I am very much honored to be speaking in front of you. I am the founder of an organization in Malawi that is known as Halfo Tech. I'm 23 years old. And I'm also proudly serving as a Generation Connect youth employee in the African Legion. It is truly a privilege to be part of this engaging webinar panel discussion. And I believe I want to share my work as a digital youth change maker. I started Halfo Tech because of their representation and historical exclusion of women in digital spaces. This is something that has motivated me to establish Halfo Tech in Malawi. And establishing it as a young person was quite challenging but then I believe that with a vision that I had, the tech industry has been a driving force that has challenged me to bypass this. And then just to add up on that, particularly another thing that motivated me to start this was the exclusion of women and girls in the tech spaces. I believe that this challenge, this was the absence that hampers innovation and also leads skilled decision making because of the skills that we lack of girls and women who are not participating. The vision that we have as Halfo Tech is a vision that I hold clear to heart and I envision a future where in Malawi and across many other countries, the digital divide between men and women should be eliminated. It is a vision of a society where women and girls are not just participants but then enthusiastic contributors to the digital economy. I believe in a transformation and transformation that will matter and also that will be essential for the advancements of nations and even the continent as a whole. With the vision that I had in mind, my heart has been at Halfo Tech and has been clear and lucrative. I am very much committed to bridging the gender digital divide in Malawi and my approach has been rooted in innovation and also has been designed to bring about real change through various programs that we have been doing. I have been determined to promote digital inclusion and even foster technology adoption among women and girls in Malawi by equipping them with tools, knowledge and confidence to navigate the digital landscape. I am trying to empower a new generation of leaders, creators and change makers and I believe that this has been made possible by the support that I have been getting from the ITU. Next slide please. Just to bring you into mind of some of the activities and programs that we have been doing in Malawi, we have been holding in school campaigns where we go into schools and encourage girls, especially that technology is not just a male-based domain and that everyone can do it regardless of their backgrounds. And one of the milestones that we have achieved is the Halfo Tech magazine in which we compiled stories of the 20 most inspiring women in tech. And we did this because we believe that one of the challenges that is there in the digital spaces for girls and women to join the tech spaces is the lack of mentors and people who can support them and show them that the way is possible and then it's possible to take up careers in sciences. And aside from that, we have made different partnerships and we have hosted a number of events like we commemorated the International Girls in ICT Day in Malawi and then this was one of the big milestones that we had accomplished. Aside from that, we also hosted the Women and Girls in Tech Awards, which we believe is something that can contribute to encouraging more girls to join the tech spaces. As you can see on the picture that is on the bottom right, we also host web development sessions whereby we train girls for free in different technology areas. Next slide, please. And as you can see in the slides, this is one of the events that we have hosted and we are very much happy to see the regulator in Malawi partnering with us for different activities that we do. This entry we hosted the women and we co-hosted the Women and Girls in Cyber Africa event which attracted lots of people from different countries, encouraging women and girls to take part in cyber spaces. And as half will take being led a youth lead development, we have also hosted lots of other programs that we have encouraged girls and young women to take up careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and our dreams and focus has not only been limited to that we're still creating more spaces for young people, especially girls to be inspired to join the tech spaces. And we are introducing radio programs because if you look at the data in Malawi, 80% of the population is in the rural areas and we want to reach them using radio programs and radio activities. This has been made possible by the support that we have been receiving from the ITU. People like Dunola Sabah have been encouraging us to take part and spearhead these campaigns and this has been made great. We really appreciate for the opportunity that we have been given to be part of the generation connecting. And we believe that our tip is not only end here but then we will spearhead to create a more proactive and active generation that will inspire more young people to learn and take up opportunities when they come. Thank you so much. Thank you for your success presentation. We now move on to Taima, our second last speaker. Hi everyone and I'm so so glad to share this panel with amazing youth and with the BTT director. I'm also very honored to have this presentation in front of you, our fellow listeners and watchers. My name is Taima Abdulhadi, I'm a technologist and the week ago I graduated from a BA in international relations with a minor in computer science, which is a very unique and interesting mix you might say, but it's also what brings me here. Ever since I was young, I have been the tech guru from my community and they go to press and to fix any problems with YouTube being slowed down, or anything that that is wrong with the phone. And when I was 15 I noticed that my community, especially my classmates were facing harassment and blackmail on Facebook. And then I started to research cyber security laws and what can we do to protect them. And I came up with a solution that is an integration of understanding human behavior and technology to prevent users from stealing those pictures and committing blackmail or harassment. And then I knew that there are two worlds that we need to understand the policy and the low making world and the backwards, and the bridge needs to be in the middle of it. So I worked with multiple organizations I was part of the girls, which is an international exchange program and through tangles I trained more than 100 youth on online safety on social media. I joined initiatives like all girls code, where I designed with my team a cyber security course online for girls in the manner region. I have also been on multiple events representing youth with multiple UN agencies like the UNDP UNFPA. And now I'm very, very honored to be a youth envoy with Israel connection connect it to you. I have also been chosen recently to be a coffee and I'm change maker, one of 12 youth from around the world. On youth day we celebrate the progress that we have made, and the progress that you have made having couple chairs brought up to the big table, but also remember the long way that we need to go through and the struggles we need to face to further extend the impact of youth. I remember you, the ones behind the screen everyone making a little impact day by day to increase our participation and raise our voices. I believe there are multiple levels that meet we need to work towards making this impact sustainable we need to work with the grassroots community. We need to work with the government and the policy making entities we also need to work with the private sector, especially tech companies that are making our future digital future. I have worked with multiple organizations that I have worked with a multiple teams towards bringing more chairs to the table. And I can see that environment works on two levels to very, very important levels opportunities and network opportunities being the podiums and the panels that we are given as you to speak on and I'm very, very glad to be one of the youth envoys who got the chance to be at Rwanda, also in Romania, one of one of around 15 youth to participate in the highest form of policy making in the ITU, which is the PP 22. And it has been a wonderful experience just being there and interacting with government representatives also presenting them on things like youth participation and youth engagement. This is one of the opportunities that you don't get a lot and it's one of the things that means so much support and so much work to be to be real. One other thing is the network. It's very, very important as you to have an environment that has a network of other youth or fellow supporters or community, but also a network of mentors and network of people who are willing to give us one extra mile and believe in us and believe in our skill sets. We are not talking to you as a youth that, you know, just bringing you for the sake of it or being or having some sort of a group picture with with young people in it and then we achieve the goal. I know so many, and I know you guys know as well so many youth who are capable of providing real impact, providing great skillset and providing opinions and something that they that they are the first hand impactors of it. When you talk about the digital world, we are the ones who will be affected by what's coming next by the emerging technology and the bias or whatever problems that are risks that these technologies bring to it. We are all native so we have a perspective that is very, very hard to acquire from anything but experience and it's definitely complemented by the higher or by the most by the senior positions and senior people on the table as well. The thing is, we need a table and we need a bigger table with much more chairs that we can share the perspective of youth, of women, we need to share the perspectives of children. I was recently on the Regulation Symposium on Child Online Protection Panel, and we all agreed that children are also stakeholders in the digital future and we need to present those views and we need to trust for this world that we have so many players working in it, but what I can say is that this table is big, we just need more chairs and we need more people that believe in our skillset and the importance in our presence and I'm very, very lucky to be a part of many, many networks and organizations that hold that view, especially the Generation Connect and the Kofi Annan Foundation. And with that I extend all the welcome and thanks that my previous colleagues have called and I salute every youth that is working towards making an impact in their own communities no matter how small we see you and we appreciate you. Thank you Tamar. Pass on to our last speaker, Yusuf Karim. Hello, good day everyone. First of all, I would like to thank the Generation Connect team for inviting me as a panelist to this webinar filled with visionary colleagues. It is always really inspiring to hear the stories of fellow Generation Connect youth and voice and the impact that they are making, special thanks to each of them for their contributions to society. I'm Yusuf Karim Chilikol from Generation Connect Europe, and I'd like to share a bit about my journey within the digital world. From my early fascination with technology which began with coding at the age of 14, my passion continued to grow and found a meaningful outlet during my university years in rural Turkey. Studying computer science. Recognizing that many of my peers were hindered by language barriers, preventing them from accessing pivotal educational resources I initiated a student club. In our club we voluntarily organized courses in subjects that were otherwise out of reach for many due to these language constraints. Our sessions became increasingly popular and to my astonishment we saw participation from over 100 eager students, all united by a thirst for knowledge. This experience was enlightening. It emphasized the best potential that lay dormants simply because of language barriers. Seeking to make a broader impact and further bridge the gap, I worked with the NGO called Lyrus. Our objective was to translate Harvard University's renowned CS50 course into Turkish. The project was ambitious, but the outcome was nothing short of a transformative. As a result, over 50,000 Turkish students could now access this high quality educational content free of charge in their native language. It was a testament to what collective action and shared vision could achieve. A significant chapter of my professional journey unfolded at Pixar studio where I wore the head of a co-founder and CTO. Pixar is what not your typical game development startup. What set us apart was our youthful exuberance. We were a tight knit team of about 12 all young and fiercely passionate individuals. This wasn't just a workplace, it was a crucible of youth innovation where fresh ideas met unbridled enthusiasm. Leading such a young team came with its own unique blend of challenges and rewards. While we tried on our agility, creativity, and ability to weave the world from a contemporary lens, we also navigated the steep learning curves that are inherent to the world of startups. In my role as a CTO, apart from the technical aspects, I was deeply involved in fostering collaborations. We forged partnerships with seasoned industrial leaders worldwide. Our fresh perspectives with their experience. These alliances were integral, elevating our strategies and product quality. Yet as my time at Pixar's progressed, I harbored a growing desire to weave together my tech prowess with games that have profined societal impact. It was during the ITU's Generation Connect Global Youth Summit 2022 in Kigali, Rwanda, that I met an individual who introduced me to Quilt's CEO, my current company that I'm working in. Recognizing our shared aspirations, I was offered a role as a game producer at Quilt after I left Pixar Studio, marking the start of a new chapter dedicated to creating games that resonate deeply with players, transcending mere entertainment. From nurturing a youthful vision at Pixar's to forging transformative experiences at Quilt's, my trajectory has been guided by an unwavering commitment to harness technology's positive potential. In a rapidly evolving digital age, while technology has brought about unprecedented connectivity and opportunities, it has also ushered in a myriad of challenges, one of the most pressing being mental health. The very tools that connect us can sometimes amplify feelings of isolation, stress and anxiety. This is where Quilt steps in, bearing the world of gaming with the profound mission of mental well-being, at Quilt we're not just creating games, we're crafting a therapeutic experiences. We recognize the potential of interactive experiences in addressing mental health challenges. By employing cutting-edge AI and transforming the power of ICTs, we aim to offer players not just an escape, but an avenue for self-reflection, healing and growth. The potential of our work at Quilt is genuinely promising. Imagine a world where a modest game might provide a moment's relief to someone, navigating the stormy waters of anxiety, or where ritual realm offers a comforting embrace to an individual feeling the weight of depression. This is your future we're striving towards. A world where technology and gaming come together in support of mental well-being. Harnessing the power of ICTs for such a noble cause underscores the promise of digital tools when employed with empathy, innovation and purpose. It's not just about creating another game. It's about gifting someone a moment of relief, understanding or even joy. My journey has resonated with the aims of SDG3 on well-being and SDG4 on education. I'm grateful to see how my path aligns with some of the ITUD priorities, especially in the context of digital transformation and championing inclusive spaces in technology. From coding in my early days in Ankara to my current and terrorist at Quilt, and the lessons from Pixar Studio, it's been a journey of exploration, collaboration and small steps towards making a difference. With Generation Connect, my journey was positively amplified, allowing me to meet other young changemakers to further achieve positive impact in our communities and around the world. I would like to thank ITUD for creating a space for young changemakers to get together, collaborate, share their ideas and create impact together. This International Youth Day, I hope our shared experiences inspire and encourage the others to continue working towards a more inclusive and understanding digital world. Thank you. Thank you so much, Yusuf, and thank you everyone for sharing your presentations and the work that you're doing that's deeply impactful. And it's nice to see from women's inclusion or to mental health and well-being, or even bettering state government work with artificial intelligence, there is a lot of ways that we can use. We can harness the power of digitization towards achieving some of the problems that we, achieving the overcoming rather some of the problems we have in the world. I call on some of the attendees. I see there are some hands raised. If you do have any questions, please use the Q&A function, which you'd find at the bottom of your screen panel, to ask questions to some of the speakers and then they'll have them answered for you. Now I'd like to share a video celebrating International Youth Day by the Youth Envoys. Hello, I'm Lizette Tabouline of the Envoy de la Generation Connect de l'Afrique. The information technology of telecommunications can help young people with autism in the sense that it allows the protection of data and online rights. Hello everyone, my name is Furkan Ustam from Turkey, and I'm the Generation Connect envoy of Europe. Opensome solution is very important for the youth, because everybody can learn everything in their home with the Internet connection. Happy International Youth Day! Hello, I'm Jennifer, I'm a youth envoy for the group of the United States of Generation Connect, and to be able to promote young people using technologies, we have to promote and create new educational programs, implementing digital tools with special focus on young people from rural areas and indigenous communities so that we can all be connected. Hi, my name is Mabel, I'm a Generation Connect Youth Envoy from Africa. One way that I'm promoting the inclusion of youth in STEM is by mentoring young girls in STEM through a social initiative that I run in Zambia called Amplify High in STEM. I also conduct a number of STEM outreaches in Zambian high schools. Thank you. Hello, my name is Valarie Waza from Kenya. I'm a Generation Connect Youth Envoy. Hi, my name is Mabel, I'm a Generation Connect Youth Envoy from Africa. One way that I'm promoting the inclusion of youth in STEM is by mentoring young girls in STEM through a social initiative that I run in Zambia called Amplify High in STEM. I also conduct a number of STEM outreaches in Zambian high schools. Thank you. Hello, my name is Valarie Waza from Kenya. I'm a Generation Connect Youth Envoy from Africa. I'm a Generation Connect Youth Envoy from Africa. My name is Valarie Waza from Kenya. I'm a Generation Connect Youth Envoy from the African region. And one way in which I'm using ICTs to improve the lives of young people is through a non-profit initiative called SIGOS Digital that seeks to equip adolescent girls and young women from the rural parts of Kaka-Mega, Kenya with digital skills so that they can be able to get better jobs in the digital market. Thank you. Generation. Connect. Welcome to the National Youth Day. Wow. So much work that's been done by young people, four young people, really breathing a lot of life and meaning to the word Generation Connect, that this is the generation that is aimed to connect other young people through the power of digital. After the Q&A, we will have a special intervention from the Asian-Pacific Generation Youth Envoy. We do have some questions that I'd like to ask openly to all the speakers. What is the importance of ensuring digital spaces are filled with diverse perspectives? This is an open question. I can start the answer and it may be extended to my fellow colleagues. So I think diversity in principle means having more opinions and having more perspectives. The digital world is largely undiscovered territory. So even the most expert in the internet or in the digital world, there are so many things that we simply don't know. And so we need as much feedback as possible to assess the risks and see how can we best utilize this space and how we can best maybe serve the users who are using it. The digital world is also holding opportunities that sometimes might contain some bias, some hidden bias, that prevents certain groups from accessing those opportunities and advantaging from the advantages of the internet and the digital world. When we have diverse people use the internet, which is what's happening right now, but we also add the excerpt of hearing what the experiences are. We can best equip them or adjust our distance spaces and services to have the maximum opportunity and maximum advantage with the lowest form of risk and vice. Thank you. Horace, I wanted to ask you, what advice would you give to a young person interested in starting on organizing like her for tech? Is there anything that you wish that you had known before? Thank you so much. From my perspective and from my background, the advice that I would give to a young person who is interested in studying an organization is first to seek understanding from people who have worked a path. I studied, for example, running Half a Tech in 2021, and by then I was also 20 years old. But then it was a bit quite challenging because there were certain things that I did not understand and I had to pursue and learn them through the way which was quite challenging. But then through the way one thing that I realized was that I could not walk the journey around and I realized that that collaboration and partnerships were a key to the path that I wanted to work. So I tried to partner with organizations and individuals who were sharing the same vision with the vision that I had. And after I started those partnerships and collaborations, we have seen great success and we have seen greater reach of the work that we are doing. For example, in the Half a Tech magazine that we released, first of all, when we had released it without partnership, we just reached out to a few individuals. We reached out to 25 people who had the hard copies. But then with the partnerships that we had developed, we were able to reach about 400 leaders who have now accessed the magazine in hard copy and even in soft copy. So to a young person who is interested in studying something new, I would really encourage them to consider partnerships. One, two, to consider collaborations. And three, to hear advice and have mentors who guide them in the way they are to take. Thank you so much. Thank you, Horace. Juliana, you've done a lot of work with the state. What role do you think the youth can play in shaping public policy, particularly, for example, around artificial intelligence? Thanks for the question. Well, I believe young people are clearly the ones who will be dealing the most with challenges coming from technologies such as artificial intelligence. If you look even today at the impacts of technology such as chat TPP and generative AI, one of the areas that has been mostly impacted is education. So there are several discussions going around what's the impact of this kind of technology for students, for school students and university students who are mostly young. So young people are the ones that are being first exposed and first challenged by these kind of technologies. So it is important that policymaking takes into consideration the perspectives of these people who are to be the most exposed to these kind of technologies and also there are several organizations that aim to engage young people into policymaking like they're activist groups that are mostly composed of young people. There are government initiatives to include young people into the public debates around technology regulation. So it's really important that this bridge between policymaking and young people is made especially in the areas of technology such as generative AI and so many others, right? This is just an example. Thank you, Juliana. I'm pleased to seek the answer. Yusuf, I wanted to ask you to discuss your work with small grassroots projects and larger organizations. Why is it important that the youth are engaged with both kinds of platforms? Thank you for the question. For me, engaging with both grassroots projects and larger organizations provides a holistic perspective on how change really happens in the digital landscape. At the grassroots levels, you're more into a hands-on with immediate actions, immediate projects, and you're delving more into actually creating something at its every stage. It offers a first-hand experience of the direct impact we can make and the barriers that communities face and innovative solutions that emerge from the ground up. On the other hand, larger organizations provide the scale and infrastructure to implement widespread change. So both of these are really important. The synergy between the two is, I think, vital. While grassroots projects keep us grounded and connected to real-world challenges, larger organizations provide the means to amplify our efforts, like I said, bringing in expertise and ensure the sustainability. And as a youth representative, I believe it's essential for us, the younger generation to have food in both worlds. This dual engagement empowers us to be both empathetic change makers at the community level and impactful innovators on larger ecosystems. In essence, it ensures that our interventions are both deeply rooted and far-reaching. Thank you, Yusuf. I would actually like to call on to, from a special message from the Asia-Pacific Generation Connect Youth Envoy, Yuchen. Hello, thank you, Chair. I hope you can hear me. Hello, everyone. My name is Yuchen. You can also call me Elma. So I'm from the ITO Regional Office for Asia-Pacific, the regional focal points on the Generation Connect. So it is such an honor to be here to celebrate the International Youth Day event with you all today, to hear the youth voice, make a real impact on youths, to encourage youths to be the changemaker. So with that, I wish to brief you about Asian-Pacific region updates on the Youth Initiative. So as you can see from the slides, so as you may aware, the Girls in the ICT Day from 27th of April, we began to celebrate this year's Girls in the ICT in the Asian-Pacific region. So our GCS youth envoys have made a brilliant impact and a contribution to this initiative. So during the Girls in the ICT Day event in 2023, so we have Miss Karenina from Indonesia physically joined the opening ceremony and present the Academy Industry Collaboration Session. And we also have Miss Plyce Ann from Philippine virtually moderated the session during the Girls in the ICT Day in Philippine. And also during the Girls in the ICT Day in Pacific, we have Miss Oli from Fiji as the moderator for the Session of Talking Tech with the UN agencies and intergovernmental organizations. So I believe our GCS youth envoys participation in the Girls in the ICT Day event has motivated the young girls to chase their future careers in the field of ICT and encourage them to be the youth lead. So shall we go to the next slide, please? Yeah. Also during the ITU TDAC and Council 2023, we appreciated to have two youth envoys, Miss Sherana from India and Miss Chahuman from Bangladesh to join the TDAC GC Session and engage in the GC-Pitch Session at the Council meeting. Next slide, please. Yeah, so yeah, very exciting event to continue. ITU continued to the collaboration with Huawei on youth initiatives, the Seas for the Future. So in 2022, the ITU was invited by Huawei and ASEAN Foundation to join the Seas for the Future 2022. So through the support from Huawei, ITU has facilitated three GC-ASP youth envoys and three national youth representatives from Bhutan, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos and Vietnam to join our 8-day program on set in Thailand. So for this year, so we now have the confirmation of eight GC-ASP youth envoys including two regional office youth interns from Bangladesh, China, Fiji, Nepal, Papua Guinea, Saloma Island and Vietnam to embark on a Seas tour in China from 15 to 19 hours. So the youth will be introduced to exciting journey so experiences the real-life digital transformation cases in Shenzhen, Dongguan and Shanghai, exchanging views with ICT veterans and youth across the region. So also for your kind information, ITU and Huawei would sign a joint declaration during the RDF. So this Seas tour youth event will be the first activity implemented right after the joint declaration is signed and also our youth envoys will have the opportunity to join and speak at the Asia-Pacific Digital Talent Summit on 19 hours. So we are now preparing their tribal logistics to kick off this fantastic journey. Shall we go to the next slide please? Okay, last but not least, the IGF embraced the Australia. So we hopefully have five GC youth envoys from Hong Kong, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Nepal to join the, what does the youth have to say, a dialogue between the new generation and member of parliament session to build the confidence of the young generation in the future by including their perspectives in policy-making decisions. Next one. I think that is my last slide. So very nice to be here today and looking forward to the following discussions ahead. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. And I'd just like to pass it back to the speakers. Just one last message that you'd like to impart with young people in celebration of International Youth Day. I can start with you, Juliana. Thank you, Mbatha. I think my final message would be just a huge thank you to all the young people who remain engaged at their own initiatives, at their own projects and just appreciation to all the work that you have been doing so far and an incentive to continue doing it because it's really important to have people at grassroots level doing relevant work in the technology field. So thank you so much for all your work and let's do it together. Thank you. One last message, Horace. Thank you so much. One last message would be that as young people, we should believe that the future is great and the future is full of possibilities. Let us take chances and opportunities and utilize them to our maximum. We should use whatever we have. I've been taught by someone that there's no best time to start. If you have an idea, if you have something that you believe will impact the nation, this is the best time to start it. You should not wait for the right time to start because the right time will never come. So let me take this opportunity to appreciate the ITU and the Generation Connect team for inviting us for this platform. I believe that with the support that you people give us, the future is going to be really amazing and it's going to be really great. Thank you so much. Thank you. One last message from you, Tema. Tema had to step away so we can just move on. Okay, thank you. One last message from Yusuf. Thank you. I'd like to emphasize that our collective efforts ruled by the passion and innovation of the youth hold the key to a brighter digital future, I think. So let's continue to collaborate, learn from each other, and always strive for a more inclusive and understanding digital world. Thank you all for being a part of this journey and for your invaluable contributions to this webinar. Thank you so much. Thank you so much from the speakers. There's a lot that I did learn and appreciate in terms of the work that you all have been doing. It's really easy. It's really nice to see, for example, gaming as a form of assisting, mitigating mental health issues, particularly easing anxiety to seeing, using the power of digital media and traditional media, such as the women's magazine based in Malawi that is spearheaded by Horace. And I'm really intrigued by your works, Juliana, and the pandemic studies, but particularly your work in engaging with the state and using artificial AI in bettering, making more transparent systems within governance and, of course, Temar's work as well. And it is a testament to what young people can do just with the power of the online and the importance of increasing the connectivity everywhere, the importance of having youth voices and opening the Internet and opening AI for young people, led by young people. It's great to see. I think we are now wrapping up and closing off. And I will hand over to the ITU CIS Regional Director, Natalia Mochu, for her closing remarks. Thank you very much. And hello to everyone. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to you all and warm greetings to our esteemed panelists. It's great to see you all share such inspiring stories of what you do on the ground. And for me, it is a great pleasure to be with you celebrating the International Youth Day 2023. First, I would like to convey my deepest admiration to all the young leaders making ways in your respective communities worldwide. My heart is really warmed by the sheer magnitude of fields that young individuals, you are thriving in, whether it be innovative strides in artificial intelligence, advocated for girls' education, revolutionizing the gaming world or championing cybersecurity. Your roles in digital transformation, whether in the private or product sector or through your grassroots NGOs, rekindles our hope for promising and safe digital future. Representing the CIS region, I am extremely proud also to say that our region is very much committed to empower educational and socioeconomic development through ICTs for all the youth. Men and women from urban and remote areas, for youth with disabilities, we believe in potential of all youth. It brings me immense joy to also share with you that our Generation Connect Youth Invoice from the CIS region are truly an outstanding group of young changemakers studying or working on digital development initiatives in the region. Some of them have supported us as interns, have joined and participated in regional programs, have promoted ITU's mandate in their university studies. We work not only with Youth Invoice from the Generation Connect team, but also with Youth at Large doing dedicated events, trainings for academia members, reaching out to tens and hundreds of students and children with such programs as Child Online Protection, Girls in ICT Days, ICT Entrepreneurship and Startup Developments and many others. Some of these programs you have mentioned as well. The regional commitment to support youth is also clearly proved by our member states. For instance, some administrations have integrated Generation Connect Youth Invoice in their delegations and some of you have mentioned how important it is to work with the government, with member states to promote the digital future. And through a mentoring process, we hope to make a difference in preparing the leaders of tomorrow while transferring our knowledge and experience. In conclusion, through you and to all the young minds from all over the world, my message is continue being curious, resilient and persistent. Your dreams are very ambitious. Your ambitions coupled with hard work will undeniably shape our future. You are not just the leaders of tomorrow. You are the game changers of today. And today is the right time. Thank you for all being here. Thank you for the panelists to share your experiences and for the inspiring video that have shown many more young people engaged into ITU's work. Thank you for being change makers of our world that the world deeply needs. A happy International Youth Day to all of you. And with this, let me hand the floor back to our moderator. Thank you so much, the BTD Regional Director. And we've had a lovely session today. Thank you to everyone who was in attendance. Thank you so much for sharing some of your comments. We do acknowledge some of your comments that we've seen in the Q&A. And I wish you a very, very happy Youth Day, though celebrated a day later. But thank you so much for today. And I wish you a happy Youth Day. Have a happy rest of your day. Thank you.