INTRODUCTION
The Sindh Youth Policy is the central tool The Policy seeks to empower youth at all to systemically integrate, implement, and evaluate all youth development work in the province. It aims at building a youth who are economically sound, socially progressive and politically engaged in the Sindh province, and who possess appropriate skills and tolerant values of good citizens of Pakistan.
Though the Youth Policy, The Government of Sindh resolves the urgent need to implement a set of actions and programmes that respond to the compelling need to see the beest of youth working for Sindh and Pakistan.
The policy seeks to empower youth at all three levels of empowerment (i) economic, (ii) social, and (iii) political. By examining the key challenges to youth, it further devises effective institutional mechanism and an elaborate action plan divided into short, mid and long term strategies with targets fixed and input resources identified for the next five years. Additionally, it would serves as a glaring example of multi-sectoral alliance and public – private partnership in the public policy making to respond to and transform the youth bulge into a dividend for Sindh and Pakistan.
The vision of the Youth Policy is have prosperous, energetic and resilient youth enabled by positive, conducive and progressive environments by creating rights-based, fair, equitable, accessible and market-oriented opportunities and avenues for their wellbeing. growth and prosperity of Sindh province.
METHODOLOGY AND ORGANIZATION
The Sindh Youth Policy has been formulated through an active input of the youth. For arriving at substantial policy directions, an elaborate consultative process with youth and all stakeholders was started to map out key issues of youth of the province. By using the empowerment model, a matrix methodology was adopted; whereby three key challenges of youth (economic, social, political/civic) were divided into sub-themes and responses were sought by the participants. These responses were ranked and documented and provided the background material for first draft of the policy document. Secondary data was collected from literature produced by academia, civil society organizations, international donors, and the government departments.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SINDH YOUTH POLICY
- Establishment of a Youth Development Commission
- Establishment of District Structure for Youth Affairs Department all over Sindh
- Centralized Information-System on Youth Development and a job Data base
- Formation of a Job Bank
- Establishment of Institute Placement
- Bureaus through IT interface
- Establishment of Youth Venture Capital Fund
- Annual Provincial innovation competitions and formation of Small
- Incubation Centres at the Universities and campus-market links
- Entrepreneurship training of youth at universities and trained by the private sector
- A crash programme of technical education to the unemployed youth
- Research and mapping studies on youth bulge
- Construction of Youth Development centers
- Youth-led mass awareness campaigns
- Devise models of elected student unions