Youth Speak Forum

Introduction

Youth Speak Forum (YSF) is an AIESEC International initiative. It is arranged by every Local Committee once a year. This year “AIESEC in Giki”was brought to Peshawar in collaboration with Academic Linkages and Exchange Program (ALEP) office of the Institute of Management Sciences (Imsciences). AIESEC in GIKI selected 6 out of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to speak about on the Forum. These were;

  1. Climate action
  2. Peace, justice and strong institutions
  3. Gender Equality
  4. Reduced inequalities
  5. Quality education
  6. Decent work and economic growth

YSF takes place in GIKI every year. This year, AIESEC in GIKI decided to arrange this program in Peshawar and arranged their first ever PESHAWAR YOUTH SPEAK FORUM 2018 atImsciences, Peshawar in partnership with ALEP.

Coordinator ALEP, Mr. Sikandar Khan Tangi took the initiative and arranged the program in Peshawar. External Organizers from IMSciences worked hard to make this event a success. The Organizing Committee of YSF’18 worked their best all the way from GhulamIshaq Khan Institute, with their AIESECers from Peshawar.

The keynote speakers list of Peshawar YSF included well-knownpersonalities from areas of social entrepreneurship, social activism, science, transgendercommunity and women empowerment. The list included:

  1. YousufHussain
  2. MehrManzoor
  3. Pervez Hoodbhoy
  4. Sarim Burney
  5. Farzanabibi
  6. JunaidAkram

Event details

The event took place at Imsciences Gymnasium on Saturday, 10th February, 2018. It ran from 9am till 9pm, and included the opening ceremony, AIESEC introduction, Lunch and Tea breaks, closing ceremony and Social Night. Participants from all the universities of Peshawar as well as some students from NUST Islamabad attended the event. Faculty members and Director IMSciences also acknowledged the event with their presence.

1st Keynote Session by YousufHussain:

Yusuf Hussain is the CEO of Ignite. He has international experience in startups, funding, organizational transformation, and offshore development.

As Managing Director of the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), he introduced and executed a strategic vision incorporating IT Park development, Venture Capital promotion, and human capital development. He was co-founder of CresSoft, Inc., an ecommerce technology company with FORTUNE 500 and GLOBAL 2000 clients. He has served as consultant to the World Bank, the WTO and the United Nations. As technology advisor to Government of Pakistan he helped formulate a National Technology Policy. He is also a founding charter member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE) Islamabad.

In his session he talked about how digital entrepreneurship is important for the modern day technologies. He aligned his talk with the sustainable development goal no. 8 i.e. decent work and economic growth.

2nd Keynote Session by MehrManzoor:

She is a Fulbright Scholar from Pakistan and currently pursuing her doctoral studies in the department of Global Health Management and Policy at Tulane University, USA. Her research interests include women in global healthcare leadership and governance; intersections of gender and global health policy; women's empowerment and access to health care services in low and middle income countries; and the role of women in global health systems research and policy.

She has extensive work experience in strategic planning and management, resource mobilization, project designing, monitoring and evaluation, hospital administration, marketing, and human resource development in the health and social sectors in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Her segment of the talks revolved around gender equality. She aligned her talk with 3 sustainable development goals i.e. gender equality, reduced inequalities and quality education.

3rd Keynote Session by Pervez Hoodbhoy:

Pervez AmiraliHoodbhoy is a Pakistani nuclear physicist and activist who serves as Zohra and ZZ Ahmed Foundation distinguished professor at the Forman Christian College and previously taught physics at the Quaid-e-Azam University. Mr.Hoodbhoy is also a prominent activist, concerned with promotion of freedom of speech, secularism and education in Pakistan.

Mr. Hoodbhoy studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for nine years, where he received degrees in Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Solid-State Physics, eventually leading to a PhD in Nuclear Physics. In 1981, Mr. Hoodbhoy went on to conduct post-doctoral research at the University of Washington, before leaving to serve as a visiting professor at the Carnegie Mellon University in 1985. While still a professor at the Quaid-e-Azam University, Mr. Hoodbhoy worked as a guest scientist at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics between 1986 until 1994. He remained with the Quaid-e-Azam University until 2010, throughout which he held visiting professorships at MIT, University of Maryland and Stanford Linear Collider.

Mr. Hoodbhoy spoke about social issues of Pakistani society and aligned his speech with different SDGs.

4rd Keynote Session by Sarim Burney:

Sarim Burney is the Pioneer to introduce Awareness about human rights in Pakistan.

The Sarim Burney Welfare Trust International is a non-profitable trust working for the cause of oppressed people. This trust works without any discrimination of caste, religion & creed. The Trust’s aims are to bring the whole community & people from all walks of life under an umbrella for their betterment and uplifting.

The Sarim Burney Welfare Trust fights against all forms of injustices, cruelty, inhumanity and Child & Women Abuse. It also works to raise awareness and has been at the forefront for the achievement of civil liberty & social justice for all segments of Society.

Closing ceremony:

Peshawar Youth Speak Forum ended with different awards for the participants, who throughout the forum interacted with the speakers actively. The Best Delegate Award was awarded to IMSciences’ student,Miss AnmolArshad and Honorable Mention to Islamia College University’sstudent , Mr. HareemZafar. Dr. Shahwali, Dr. Nawaz, Dr. QaziWaheed and Mr. Sikandar Khan Tangi awarded the participants with certificates.

Social Night:

To refresh the students and participants, the organizers invited the well-known standup and social media comedian, Mr. JunaidAkram.

JunaidAkram, who got popularity from his popular catchphrase Khali Karao,has raised his voice on various social causes in his comedy. In each of his videos, he humorously talks about a general public matter with a solemn moral embedded in them.