Ashgabat, TURKMENISTAN – Each year, on 12th August the world celebrates International Youth Day. According to the UN, today an unprecedented number - 1.8 billion young people live in the world, which represent the enormous capacity and the ability to transform the future for the better.
Turkmenistan, as the state with a predominantly young population, where more than 50% of the population is under the age of 25, focuses on increasing the role of youth in achieving the SDGs and encourages international initiatives aimed at the interests of youth, linking the bright future of the country with children, adolescents and young people.
The theme of the 2016 International Youth Day is “The Road to 2030: Eradicating Poverty and Achieving Sustainable Consumption and Production”. This is related to the environment and socio-economic issues, limited natural resources and the increase in consumption, as well as promotion of energy efficiency and resource consumption, reducing degradation and contamination over the entire life cycle while improving quality of life.
As noted in his message, the UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin: "UNFPA calls on governments, development partners and other influencers to enact policies that promote young people’s development and human rights, and to measure progress across the Sustainable Development Goals that relate to adolescents and youth. Young people must be engaged as partners in achieving these goals, as they are the generation that will inherit our planet."
UNFPA work in Turkmenistan in the area of youth focuses on strengthening partnership for the benefit of youth, increased access of young people to comprehensive reproductive health services, promoting a healthy lifestyle through a comprehensive gender-sensitive age appropriate education and awareness of adolescents and young people in the area of reproductive health. Particular attention is paid to information and educational work with young people by using modern approaches, which is carried out through Youth centers in Ashgabat and Mary to ensure universal access to knowledge and information for the development of young people and adolescents. The activities are implemented by trained volunteers of the Youth centers in Turkmenistan and contribute to a healthy lifestyle by using modern methods of presenting and sharing the information through peer to peer education. Informed and educated young people are able to make responsible choices about their own health and future. The peer to peer education approach proved to be effective as it combines the advanced methods of delivering the information with traditional norms of Turkmen culture.
As noted in an interview for the Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper by Ms. Bayramgul Garabayeva, UNFPA Assistant Representative in Turkmenistan: "UNFPA in Turkmenistan has been working with and for young people since 1992 to create enabling conditions for the development of the creative potential of young people, promotion of a healthy lifestyle among young people and adolescents and their active participation in society, encouragement of partnerships with young people by supporting them to participate in decisions reflecting their interests, as well as strengthening their capacity to promote human rights and development issues.”
Thus, the International Youth Day in 2016 focuses on the leading role of young people in ensuring poverty eradication and achieving sustainable development through sustainable consumption and production, providing a worldwide platform for a dialogue on global issues, and enabling young people to contribute to the decision-making process and implementation of ideas in building the future of our planet.
For additional information, please contact:
Bayramgul Garabayeva,
UNFPA Assistant Representative
Tel: +99312 269255 (ext.258)
Fax: +99312 425337
Email: garabayeva@unfpa.org
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/unfpatkm
