On December 9th United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Georgia CO in partnership with European Youth Parliament Georgia organized YOUTH NATIONAL FORUM: Support Gender Equality. Event was organized in the frameworks of UN Joint Programme for Gender Equality supported by the Swedish Government. Young people from all over the country were invited to participate in the forum which aims to promote youth engagement in achieving gender equality and to advocate more investment in youth development.
The main topics of the forum were: Early Marriage, Informal Education / Peer Education, Men Engagement and Adolescents’ Needs and Rights, including Reproductive rights. UNFPA State of World Population 2016 was also presented at the forum to discuss the importance of investing in youth especially in 10-year- old girls. Young speakers and facilitators from different youth organizations were invited to take part in the forum.
Summing up the event, participants of the Youth National Forum elaborated the recommendations imperative for supporting youth development, realization of their rights. The recommendations was developed for decision makers to ensure that youth needs are reflected and considered during the development of the national policies and plans.
The forum also hosted two thematic photo-exhibitions: “A girl is Born” by Dina Oganova and “Message for Fathers”, created in the frameworks of UNJP.
Youth Forum was dedicated to 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence. The event was also held in close cooperation with the Y-PEER Network worldwide campaign “10 Days of Activism” on adolescents’ rights and girl empowerment.
