On the United Nations’ webpage, you will see that this is the day “to celebrate young people’s energy, imagination and initiatives” and that this year’s event will “highlight youth’s critical contributions to peace and development.”
Another International Day of…? Maybe, but what better moment in the year to reflect on the connection between youth, peace, and development.
For some years now, international organizations have been putting out the word that there is a critical connection among the three. Said the World Bank in its 2007 World Development Report, “Development and the Next Generation:”
The developing world’s 1.3 billion young people ages 12-24 are the next generation of economic and social actors. Making sure that they are prepared for their futures…is thus enormously important to the course of poverty reduction and growth. Because missed opportunities to invest in and prepare this generation will be extremely costly to reverse, both for its young people and society.
No one can say for sure exactly what the future holds, though it is fairly clear that many more young people will be entering the global workforce in the coming decade than there will be decent jobs awaiting them. More and more, “making sure that young people are prepared for their futures” means making sure they have the skills to create their own decent jobs.
In other words, many, many youth, especially in developing countries, will need to transform themselves into young entrepreneurs in order to avoid lives of chronic under- and un- employment.
At the same time, many of the ingredients that go into becoming a successful entrepreneur – the ability to set goals, seek information, work with others, inspire teamwork, evaluate critically and base decisions on results – are also the skills required for citizens to engage constructively in civic life. Indeed, young people who develop these skills will be better equipped to influence the political process in their countries in ways that promote broader economic development and peace.
With all of this in mind, and with support from CIPE, Fundación Paraguaya is working to bring the benefits of teaching entrepreneurship to national attention in Paraguay and lay the groundwork for introducing entrepreneurship into the Paraguayan public school curriculum. A national media campaign, competitions to encourage and celebrate entrepreneurial students and teachers, and pilot programs to teach entrepreneurship in middle schools and high schools are among the efforts underway.
As part of this initiative, we asked high school students to tell us what it meant to them to be an entrepreneur.
“An entrepreneur is a person who takes initiative, assumes risk and sets goals,” says Natalia Ojeda.
It means…”wanting to improve, to be better and better; thinking big and not accepting mediocrity,” says Mercedes Medina.
It means… “innovating, thinking outside the box and beyond the commonplace, seeing opportunities where most people don’t,” says Américo Benitez.
It means…” giving the best of myself and doing something worthwhile for others,” says Juan José Miranda.
“And if the opportunities don’t present themselves,” says Darío Rojas, it means “finding them, creating them and in so doing, excelling.”
Indeed, their answers point to the energy and imagination that the UN calls on us to celebrate! Now we just need to help youth develop the skills so that they can put their energy and imagination to work—for themselves and others and for peace and development.
Published Date: August 12, 2010