First Ukrainian edition of YouthSpeak Forum AIESEC to unite youth, business and civil society in joint work over socially important projects – organisers

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Kyiv, March 16, 2016. On April 1 YouthSpeak Forum AIESEC will take place in Ukraine for the first time. It is a conference for active youngsters who seek to engage in resolving topical problems in their own country. “This conference is a platform where four sectors will meet: youth, business, civil society organizations and our board to realize how we, young people, can make something positive in Ukraine. This event is taking place not only in Ukraine – it is a global movement so that youngsters get heard,” said Oleksandra Lipman, AIESEC Ukraine vice-president on external relations speaking at a press briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center.

Lipman said that the forum will simultaneouslytake place in 15 countries and is actually the third stage of a bigger project entitled YouthSpeak. “This project was partially created to achieve the sustainable development goals set by the UN set to change the world,” noted Oleksandra Chuchko, organizer of the YouthSpeak Forum. “These are 17 goals including quality education, gender equality, responsible consumption of resources, peace and justice etc.” Over the first stage YouthSpeak Survey over 100 thousand young people from all over the world (around two thousand in Ukraine) expressed their vision on the most topical social problems that need to be resolved. During the second stage entitled YouthSpeak Inside the feedback received was analyzed. The third stage is the YouthSpeak Forum itself as a platform for discussion and finding solutions. “YouthSpeak Project will come as a result of the forum. It will be later implemented with support from AIESEC, UNICEF and Bigggidea,” explained Oleksandra Lipman.

There are about 350 participants including civil society organizations and activists from 18 cities of Ukraine. “Our content is comprehensive and is composed of three parts. First one – Inspire – gives an opportunity to get motivated by achievements of other people and learn more about what is going on in the country,” said Oleksandra Chuchko. At this stage results of the YouthSpeak Survey will be announced, UN Project Manager will speak on sustainable development goals and on the opportunities to join their implementation. Next events will include a presentation of the “2020 Strategy” for Ukraine, intervention on scientific and technical revolution in Ukraine and in the world by OpenData Incubator as well as a panel discussion “Trends in Ukraine and the role of the youth in them” that will engage representatives of all sectors.

“Next part – Engage – is an opportunity to join and cooperate with the corporate sector ‘here and now’, get to know the opportunities they offer and the way they influence the country development,” noted Chuchko. Participants can take part in five interactive training sessions offered by various companies – that analyze business cases, enhance business skills, networking etc. “The last and most important part is Act. We will choose five most topical sustainable development goals according to the results of the opinion poll. Participants will split into groups and will invent social projects that will help implement the goals,” said Chuchko. As a result five working groups will present their YouthSpeak Project concepts to the jury. “As a result the jury will choose a project and it will become the YouthSpeak Project in Ukraine and will be implemented with support by AIESEC, UNICEF and Bigggidea,” summarized Chuchko.

More detailed information on the forum and the registration form for participants is available on the AIESEC web site. Each application undergoes selection procedure. “It is important for us to understand how motivated the person is and set to change the country,” explained Lipman. Following this stage participants buy themselves a ticket.