Shamim Shahid / DNA
PESHAWAR: The three-day Rural Youth Summit (RYS) 2023 organized by the Pakistan Community Support Project (PCSP) in partnership with the World Bank is all set to launch from today (Tuesday, 19th September) in Peshawar and will conclude on 21st September as the last day is reserved for women participation. The RYS will be attended by the Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Muhammad Azam Khan, as the Chief Guest along with the World Bank Country Director for Pakistan, Najy Benhassine.
Termed as a flagship initiative of the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the first edition of the RYS is also the pioneering event of such magnitude and scale that is aimed at the empowerment of male and female youth based in Pakistan’s rural areas with digital tools and latest technologies. This year’s theme “Digital Solutions for Rural Youth” is dedicated to one of the country’s biggest gatherings of the youth primarily hailing from the rural areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Khyber, Peshawar, and Nowshera districts which are the project implementation areas of the PCSP.
In addition to dedicated sessions to enable knowledge transfer, ideas sharing, skills development, and experience exchange, the RYS will also provide a platform for empowering youth to explore innovative ideas that tackle local development challenges and promote dialogue with government and non-government organizations to launch initiatives for youth development. This collaboration between the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the World Bank highlights their shared vision for sustainable development through youth empowerment.
The RYS is Pakistan’s pioneering event of this nature which is specifically dedicated to the rural youth to bring them opportunities like never before to engage with experts and peers on rural development issues. The RYS also promises to develop their knowledge, improve their skills, and promote the role of rural youth in shaping the future of Pakistan. The three days of the RYS will be packed with engaging panel discussions on vital topics with experts in their respective fields, providing exposure to new technologies that are on display including augmented reality and artificial intelligence, as well as live workshops led by some of the most sought-after tech professionals coming from all over Pakistan.
A distinctive feature of the RYS is its commitment to innovation. The participants representing different fields and sectors are in for a series of immersive and interactive experiences driven by cutting-edge technologies, offering them a unique opportunity to explore new academic fields and gain hands-on exposure to digital tools. Professional networking will also be a key focus, providing the participants, especially the youth, with the opportunities to connect with industry leaders, tech professionals, startup owners, policy makers, and development experts. These connections have the potential to spur growth and development opportunities for rural youth, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
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