World Youth Skills Day at the UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development
TU Dublin Doctoral Researcher, Moazzam Syed, addressed the United Nations (UN) during the World Youth Skills Day High Level Panel event as part of the UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.
The panel event entitled 'Skilling Teachers, Trainers and Youth for a Transformative Future', took place on 17 July 2023, at the UN HQ, New York. The Permanent Missions of Portugal and Sri Lanka to the UN, in collaboration with UNESCO, the ILO and the Office of the Secretary General's Envoy on Youth, convened the high-level panel discussion with Member States, young experts, social partners, teachers and educators, and other stakeholders.United Nations
The panel was moderated by H.E. Jayathma Wickramanayake, UN Secretary General Envoy on Youth and started with opening remarks from H.E. Csaba Korosi, President of the General Assembly and H.E. Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General and closed with remarks from Eliot Minchenberg (Director & Representative of UNESCO to the UN).
The high-level panel consisted of:
- H.E. Francisco Andre (Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Portugal),
- H.E. Peter Mohan Maithri Pieris (Permanent Representative of Srilanka to the UN),
- Gilbert Houngbo (Director General ILO),
- Fathimath Zimna (ITUC),
- Agnes Vinblad (USCIB),
- Moazzam Syed (Founder of The Walkway School, UNESCO SDG4 Youth & Student Network Representative & PhD Researcher TU Dublin).
Moazzam's address emphasised the importance of youth as well as youth-led solutions for a transformative and sustainable future and creating an environment for all to access skills, education and resources that can enable all to lead global action for a transformative future. Moazzam shared his personal story of the work that he has progressed to enable underprivileged children access to education through The Walkway School, which he founded in Pakistan.
In his address Moazzam described: "300 youth were trained and provided resources through my organisation, and they changed several thousand lives and communities. Now imagine what could 1.2 billion youth could do if trained and equipped."
Moazzam has been attending the on-going UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development as part of UNESCO SDG4 Youth and Student Network where he has been leading efforts on meaningful youth engagement, skills building and the importance of data for the SDGs. Moazzam is based in School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering and is part of SFI ADVANCE CRT.