Change starts with youth, and" it is time to move from words to actions": this is the motto of the Youth Speak Forum, AIESEC's international event, that was launched in Italy by AIESEC Italia at Bocconi University of Milan on the 12th of May.
At this link the agenda, the speakers and the partners of the event.
The Youth Speak Forum is held simultaneously in more than 100 countries all around the world in May. The aim of the Forum is to enable participants, youth from 18 to 30, to create projects to be implemented in Italy.
The Italian edition of the Youth Speak Forum, that brings together young and big leaders all over the world to create an intergenerational collaboration and to discuss global issues, has chosen education as main theme of the event.
Why education?
AIESEC is UN ambassador to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the sustainable development objectives that will lead the world in the next 15 years. In cooperation with the United Nations AIESEC has released the Youth Speak Survey, carried out all over the world to know young people's opinion on the Sustainable Development Goals and to influence policy makers' decisions at global level.
The results of the Survey show that education is the most important challenge for the new generations
- In 2015 over 42,000 youth answered the Youth Speak Survey
- In more than 100 countries all over the world
- Italy is among the first 10 countries to have contributed in the survey
- “Quality Education” is the fourth out of seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals
Education is primary to achieve the other Sustainable Development Goals of the UN. Furthermore, as young people and students we can give a significant contribution to the issue of education
Guiscardo Urso at the Youth Speak Forum
The Forum was opened by Andrea Sironi, Dean of Bocconi University, who said: “All the most important challenges depend on education, like, for instance, social mobility, poverty and criminality. The best tool we have to fight this situation of global crisis is knowing and studying together”.
The aim of the Forum is to act, turning discussions into projects to be implemented in Italy. At the end of the day, young participants were given the tools to create projects with social impact dealing with the challenge of education.
The awarding ceremony of the International Tutor project
Out of 5 projects a jury has awarded International Tutor, a tutoring service implemented in Italian schools by foreign AIESEC students through Tutored, a start-up presented in the morning session of the event.
The Forum featured an interactive and involving format, conceived to bring young people to implement a project through different phases with the aim to:
- Inspire
In the morning youth were inspired by the conversations and the round tables of the speakers: experts, institutions, enterprises, startups. Among them: Confindustria Giovani, LinkedIn Italia, KPMG, PwC, Carter & Benson, Fondazione Intercultura, Tutored, TAG Innovation School, Scuola Open Source, Unreal emotional training, Tree, Global Compact Network and SDSN mediterranean. - Involve
In the afterrnoon 5 workshops took place to directly involve youth and allow them to gain practical knowledge. Workshops were held by: Impact Hub Milano, KPMG, Linkedin, Young Potentials, AD Value. - Act
In the third part of the day, dedicated to act, participants created a project with social impact to be developed in Italy, aiming at solving the issue of education. The project International Tutor has been awarded by a jury.
“The aim of the forum is to let young people understand that they can contribute to education not only as recipients, but that they can also play an active role and implement a project through the support of enterprises, organisations and all participants to the event”, explains Silvia Compagno, Vice President Public Relations of AIESEC Italy.
The issue of education has been developed in an innovative and dynamic way, in order to inspire participants and to bring to action.
Aiesec Italia awarded by Sergio Mattarella, President of the Italian Republic, and by Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament
Aiesec Italia has received a medal by the President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella in support of the Youth Speak Forum.
It is a great honour for AIESEC to receive this acknowledgement by the President of Italy for the Youth Speak Forum, a fundamental initiative to promote the United Nations 2030 agenda, and particularly the Sustainable Development Goal number four, Quality Education.
Award ceremony of the European Charlemagne Youth Prize
The Forum has also been an opportunity to celebrate AIESEC Italy winning the prestigious European Charlemagne Youth Prize.
On the 3rd of May Guiscardo Urso received the award in Aachen, Germany, by Martin Schulz, President of the European Union. The European Charlemagne Youth Prize 2016 aims to encourage the development of European consciousness among young people, as well as their participation in European integration projects.
AIESEC Italy's project InteGREAT, aimed at integrating migrants, asylum seekers ans refugees in Italy and in the EU was awarded among 28 projects, one for each Member State of the European Union.
The international Charle Magne Prize 2016 this year has been awarded to Pope Francis, for his actions in favour of European peace and integration.
