Shaping the Nation’s Development Through the Power of Youth

By Thawtar Win Pyae Sone

What can youth do to shape the future of a nation? 

Would you believe it if someone told you that young people can do whatever they want to? Some will say there will be mistakes because they are young and lack experience. So, should we restrict them to avoid mistakes?

Photo credit: Myanmar Youth Forum

What if your country was Myanmar? A country, that is undertaken a fast-paced transition to becoming more democratic. Unlike the previous government, the current Myanmar government has given spaces to young people in the country to participate in many kinds of activities such as politics, economics and the social sphere. The new government has initiated the ‘100 Days Project” which includes developing a plan for a Myanmar Youth Policy. 

The National Youth Congress (NYC) is taking the lead in drafting the new youth policy. The NYC was founded by activists and former participants of the ASEAN Youth Forum from 2011. The NYC is based on the concept that “Everyone must get equality”. The aim of NYC is to be a working body to implement the outcomes of the Myanmar Youth Forum.

The Myanmar Youth Forum was established in December 2012 with 157 participants at Dhammaduta, Mhawbi Township in the Yangon Division. The focus of this forum was to promote the rights of youth to participate in society, along with their responsibilities, opportunities and address problems. At the 2012 forum, youth mainly discussed nine topics including drugs, politics, human rights, environment, etc. and they produced the Myanmar Youth Statement in 2012 as a summary of the forum. 

The Myanmar Youth Forum 2014 was held in Mawlamyine City of Mon State as a federal youth forum. The main three topics; youth and politics, youth policy, and networking of the national youth congress, were discussed. At the end of the forum, NYC selected the representatives of each state and division of Myanmar to run campaigns in their respective areas in order to collect the youth voices to build the formation of Myanmar's Youth Policy. 

The progress of  the youth policy was halted after the 2014 student protests, when many members of the NYC were arrested for their involvement in the protests.

The NYC re-engaged with the government in 2015-2016 when the National League for Democracy Government released the students who had been arrested. Reinvigorated, the NYC representatives held the Myanmar Youth Policy Forum at the capital city of Myanmar, Nay Pyi Taw in November 2016. 

“Unlike the earlier government, the current one let us lead in constructing the policy and they just played a supporting role for us. So, the youth become more excited to participate,” according to Kyaw Zin Htike, an original member of the NYC.

He also said that the policy team will be joining with the Ministry of Education and the United Nations. With the help from United Nations, many countries have written their own youth policies. The major aim of United Nations cooperation is to help to develop the capacity of youth power in Myanmar. 

Myanmar joined the United Nations on 19 April 1948, soon after regaining its independence. The United Nations, on the other hand, is helping Myanmar with many kinds of support like technical and budget support. In the case of developing Myanmar Youth Policy, the United Nations plays the supportive role by forming the United Nations joint team which offer the combined support from the representatives of UNFPA, UNESCO, UNICEF and UNV. 

“The UN is trying to aid in developing National Youth Policies in every country because we are concerned about their development  and we believe that youth power can make the huge improvement toward the development of all nations,” said Dr Sithu Swe, the National Program Officer for the United Nations Population Fund. He is now working with the drafting team for the development of the Myanmar Youth Policy. 

 Myanmar's Youth Policy construction team tries to cover the whole union by dividing it into regions and selecting representatives who will collect the voices of youth in specific regions to allow them to participate in the Myanmar Youth Policy construction team and negotiate regarding their needs. 

The Myanmar Youth Policy construction team has three committees: the drafting committee, the working committee and the central committee. The central committee is working with three government ministries: the Ministry for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, Ministry for Health and Ministry for Education. The drafting committee is comprised of two representatives from each state and division, representatives from disabled person groups, women’s organization networks from Myanmar, as well as representatives from the United Nations. 

The United Nations defines people between the ages of 15 and 24 as youth. But for now in Myanmar, youth are considered to be 15 to 35 years of age. Ko Kyaw Zin Htike said that “it is okay and great to restrict the age of 15 and 24 as a youth if our country is already developed but in the reality, the maturity of our country’s youth is left far behind. So we should think about how to change the age restriction gradually based on the political, social and economic situation”. 

The NYC held the Myanmar Youth Forum 2016 in Monywa Region and are expecting to hold the next forum in 2018 and 2020 in the Shan State and the Ayeyarwady Division. The draft statement of the Myanmar Youth Policy is expected in the early 2017. 

Will the youth policy improve the power of youth in Myanmar? What things will change for youth after the policy has been enacted? Will they have more rights and opportunities to create a better future? Will the relationships with the non-state regions be controlled sustainably? No one can know. We will have to wait, watch and hope. 

​(Copyright: UNESCO/Thawtar Win Pyae Sone — this content was first published as part of the Youth Newsroom of the Regional Roundtable “Youth at the Heart of the Agenda 2030: The Case for Space” here: http://www.case4space.org/newsroom)