Table of Contents

1.Introduction

2.Acknowledgements

3.Welcome

4.Objectives

6.Proceedings

7.Problems

8.Opportunities

9.Recommendations

10.Specific Areas for Skill Training

11.Advocacy

12.Future Plan of Action

13.Conclusion

14List of Participants

Introduction

Three billion people live on less than $2 per day as poverty continues grow. In many countries, especially in the developing world, half of those people are under the age of 24. In almost all countries, improvements in living standards have been minimal, and reflect no substantial change in the lives of the vast majority. And in more than 20 countries conditions are worsening considerably.

One of the major causes of poverty is insufficient opportunity for people to earn a living - the demand for employment exceeds the ability to supply. The employment market is limited, and young people have less access to it than older experienced job seekers.

The current level of youth unemployment is highly unsustainable. A failure to act to address youth unemployment is a prescription for a global disaster! YES2002 is being realized at a critical point in our history. It is an initiative whose time has come. The Summit will bring together 2000 leaders from around the world to focus on creating a global Framework of Action to ensure that 500 million young adults will have productive and sustainable livelihoods by 2012.

Unemployment is one of the most serious problems faced by youth in the developing world. In a country like Pakistan, the future of the nation can be progressed, by improving the situation of the youth. It is true for any nation that the children of today are the future of tomorrow, and after having suffered years of severe unemployment, there is an urgent need in Pakistan to motivate and assist the youth to create a world of social and economic security. With this purpose in mind, the Youth Employment Consultative workshops were conducted to work towards achieving the above-mentioned objectives. The workshops were conducted in Killi Ismail and Hazara town, Quetta, respectively.

Acknowledgements

First, I would like to thank Mr. Abdullah Sahar of the New Youth organization, Mr. Ibrahim Mengal and Mr. Saif-Ullah for organizing the workshop and assisting us in every possible way to implement this workshop. Their help and support was greatly appreciated and invaluable to the success of the workshop. Second, I am grateful to Ms. Meher Mumtaz for the documentation of this report. Thirdly, I must acknowledge the contributions made by Mr. Fred Clark, Communications Manager YES, Mr. Dumisani, Coordinator YES and Ms. Poonam Ahluwalia, Summit Director YES for providing continuous encouragement and guidance throughout the preparation of the workshop Last, but most importantly, I am greatly indebted to all the participants for their acceptance, enthusiasm and candidness in sharing their views with us. Their basic honesty and sincerity in expressing themselves, was the single most significant factor in making this workshop successful. Of course, I take full responsibility for any shortcomings that may have existed.

Ali Raza Khan

YES Country Coordinator

Welcome

The participants consisted of male youth members, ranging in age from 12 to 30 years. Their introduction was casual and friendly, in which the participants briefly shared their background, expressed their aspirations and stated some of the expectations they had of YES. The main objective was to get people comfortable with each other so that they may speak about their concerns openly, to result in an effective discussion. It was a plenary session, in which everyone was encouraged to speak their mind and remain open to suggestions.

Objectives of the Workshops

By the end of the workshop participant will:

  • Have an understanding of youth employment issues, constraints and opportunities
  • Have explored effective ways to address youth employment
  • Be familiar with the objectives of the YES 2002 Campaign
  • Have created an effective network to operate for the attainment of YES vision.
  • Have developed l plan of action for the implementation of YES activities.

Proceedings

The procedure for both the workshops was the same; the participants were asked to identify some of the problems that the youth face concerning employment, in their community. They were also asked to suggest ways in which these may be overcome, on a national and community level. There was a detailed discussion on the situation of the country and the challenges encountered by young men with reference to education, training, jobs and the barriers of bureaucracy and the government system. Both communities, Killi Ismail and Hazara responded similarly, their combined responses are as follows.

Problems

The participants identified the following problems regarding Youth employment in Balochistan Province:

  • Lack of education
  • Irrelevant syllabus
  • Lack of resources
  • Lack of small industries
  • Need for meritocracy
  • Lack of health facilities
  • Lack of opportunities
  • Fundamentalism
  • Corruption
  • Poverty
  • Social norms
  • Lack of encouragement
  • Government negligence on the issue of youth
  • Injustice and discrimination
  • Bureaucracy as a barrier
  • Emotional problems
  • Low self esteem
  • Disparity between theory and practice
  • Individuality amongst young men
  • Decision making problems amongst young men
  • Poor relations between parents and children
  • Low status for women; need for equality between the genders
  • Migration (Refugees etc.)
  • Favouritism

Opportunities

The participants considered the following opportunities available to address the Youth unemployment.

  • Natural Resources:

i)Coal

ii)Earth

iii)Chromium

iv)Marble

v)Gas

vi)Oil

  • Agricultural lands
  • Human resources (skilled labour; carpets, shoes etc.)
  • Non Government Organisations
  • Trained Volunteers

Recommendations

The participants listed down the following ways of addressing the Youth unemployment.

  • Raising awareness on existing natural resources
  • Skill building (natural resources)
  • Flexible loan scheme
  • Entrepreneurship Development Projects
  • Career guidance
  • Skill development centre at community level
  • Winter vacation courses
  • To address generation gap with parents
  • Equal opportunities for women
  • Political awareness
  • Encouragement from the society and the government

Specific Areas Identified for Training

The participants also identified the specific areas for their training and capacity building:

  • Computer training
  • Electrical works
  • Mechanical works
  • Marble polishing
  • Handicrafts training
  • Technical training
  • Body building training
  • English courses
  • Business training

Advocacy Suggestions

Since YES is still in its initial stages, we are open to all kinds of suggestions on how to progress and establish ourselves as the voice of youth, and who better to ask than the youth itself? At the end of the workshop, we asked the participants to highlight some of the ways in which YES can promote itself to the youth. Here are some of their responses:

  • Awareness workshops
  • Brochures
  • Ongoing youth activities
  • Sports tournaments
  • YES caps and T-shirts
  • YES concert and song
  • YES street theatre
  • YES stickers
  • YES stalls in exhibitions

Future Plan of Action

The enthusiastic response of the community people was very encouraging for future investment in the community. The participants ensured YES that they would welcome and fully support any future activities from YES in their area and were also willing to join YES as volunteers to help them further their cause. YES has currently launched itself on a functional level, forming functional committees, from which will branch out provincial committees and the national committee.

Conclusion

Although the conditions for participants in both the communities were similar and they had the same complaints, the people in Killi Ismail were more upset with the position of the government on the whole issue. They were angry and passionate about the situation of youth in Pakistan. The people in Hazara were able to identify their main problems and suggest solutions, however they saw the lack of development in their community as the major cause of unemployment. The people in Killi Ismail agreed, but took their argument one step further, by holding the government of Pakistan responsible for the present situation in Quetta and other communities faced with the problem of unemployment. The current situation of unemployed youth is so problematic in Pakistan, that people all over the country have all sorts.

List of Participants

Location:Killi Ismail, Quetta.

# / Name / Address
Muhammad Imran / Killi Ismail, Quetta.
Kamran Shahazad / Killi Ismail, Quetta.
M. Aslam / Killi Allahabad Hudda, Quetta.
Syed Baloch / Youth Education Society, Killi Shaboo, Quetta.
Muhammad Asif / Killi Ismail, Quetta.
Abdul Hafeez / Killi Ismail, Quetta.
Abdul Zahir / Killi Ismail, Quetta.
Muhammad Saeed / Killi Sulazul, Quetta.
Hafiz Abdul Rehman, A.S.I. / Police Control, Police Line, Quetta.
Kamran Asif / Wireless Police Control, Quetta.
Rasool Bakhsh / Youth Educational Society.
Muhammad Ramzan / Youth Educational Society.
Ghulam Qadir / Youth Educational Society.
Hafiz-Ur-Rehman / Killi Ismail, Quetta.
Muhammad Panah / Youth Educational Society
Niaz Muhammad / Youth Educational Society.
Khalid Ali / Youth Educational Society.
Muhammad Shahzad / Dr. Ali street, Killi Ismail. Quetta.
Muhammad Yaseen, Finance Secretary, YES / Youth Educational Society, Killi Ismail, Quetta.
Muhammad Ibrahim Mengal / Genderal Secretary YES
Muhammad Yar, Vice President / Youth Educational Society.
M. Imran / Killi Ismail, Quetta.
Muhammad Saeed Rafiq / New Nichari Smungli Road, Quetta.
M. Ismail, Deputy General Secretary / YES Killi Ismail Quetta.
Ameer Bukhsh / Killi Ismail, Quetta.

List of Participants

Location:Hazara Town, Quetta

# / Name / Address
Bacha Khan
Medical Student / Al-Daud Zarai, Markaz, Zarghoon Road, Quetta. Ph: 446388 Res. 828618
Email: bacha_khan47hotmail.com
Email:
Hamayun Khan / Tanzeem Itehad Naujawanan-e-Village Mughtian, Zarghoon Zarai Corporation
Shop No. 24, Sirki Road, Quetta.
Ph: 443827 Res. 890561
Email:
Abdullah Sahar / New Youth Organization, Mohallah Bagh, Block No. 2, Breveray Hazara Town, Quetta.
Ph: 854404 Email:
Ahmad Ali / New Youth Organization, Mohallah Bagh Block No. 2, House No. 5, Street No. 9, Brewary Road, Hazara Town, Quetta. Ph: 853741
Email:
Manzoor Hussain / New Youth Organization, Mohallah Bagh Block No. 2, House No. 14, Street No. 8, Brewary Road, Hazara Town, Quetta. Ph: 853808
Email:
Ghulam Abbas / 7/75/25 D, Alamdar Road, Nasirabad, Quetta.
Email:
M. Zahir Khan / Sharp Academy, Block No. 2, Street No. 17, Hazara Town, Brewery Road, Quetta.`
M. Hadi / Sharp Academy, Block No. 2, Street No. 17, Hazara Town, Brewery Road, Quetta.
Email:
Muhammad Arif Yasa / House No. 2, Street No. 8, Block No. 2, Hazara Town, Quetta. Email:
Raza Sahar / House No. 1, Street No. 7, Hazara Town, Quetta. Email:
Muhammad Aslam Khan / Fine Jeweller’s, Abdul Sattar Road, Quetta.
Ph: 660243 Email:
Abdul Haleem / 663729
Niaz Muhammad / Block No. 2, Street o. 6, House No. 124 Hazara Town, Brewery Road, Quetta.
Email:
Mehdi Khirad / House No. 9, Street No. 7, Block No. 2, Hazara Town, Quetta. Email:
Ali Raza / House No. 2, Street No. 2, Block No. 4, Hazara Town, Quetta. Email:
Mehdi Ariz / 7-75-155A Alamdar Road, Quetta.
Email:
Zahid Hussain Ammar / Email:
Saifullah Khan / Saiban Family Health Hospital, Block No. 4, Satellite Town, Quetta.
Ph: 442844 Res. 824382
Email:
Zulfiqar Ali / New Youth Organization, Mohallah Bagh, Block No. 2, Hazara Town, Brewery Road, Quetta.

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