ISLAMABAD: The Green Youth Movement was inaugurated in the capital on Thursday which aims to mitigate the impact of climate change in Pakistan besides creating 65,000 jobs for the youth.

At the launching ceremony, reiterating the government’s commitment towards making Pakistan green and clean, Minister for Planning Asad Umar said Pakistan was faced with challenges related to climate change and was the tenth country to have been affected most by it.

Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul, Special Adviser to Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Usman Dar, Country director of British Council Pakistan Amir Ramzan, Executive director of Higher Education Commission (HEC) Shaista Sohail along with students from various universities as well as stakeholders in the education sector attended the ceremony.

Mr Umar said that this initiative would prove to be a milestone towards engaging youth, enhancing their capacity building as well as skills and add to the growth of Pakistan.

In her remarks, Ms Gul said that the Kamyab Jawan Programme had enabled youth to be able to make better decisions. These programmes were designed under the prime minister’s vision of producing a skilled younger generation to ensure betterment and prosperity of the country.

Speaking to the audience, Ms Dar said that the PTI had launched the Kamyab Jawan Programme that had played a key role in job creation, engaging youth and creating business opportunities in the country. Green champions under the movement would represent Pakistan in other countries and learn new approaches to address climate change, he added.

Mr Ramzan said the British Council was delighted to partner with the government on Kamyab Jawan’s Green Youth Movement. “It is the initiative that will define the future of our youth,” he said.

Ms Sohail said that the movement, in collaboration with British Council and School of Leadership Foundation (SoLF) would engage 137 universities for this initiative.

GYM was part of the PM’s Kamyab Jawan Programme under which several initiatives had been taken to make youth of the country, a potential instrument required to make the country progressive. Other initiatives of the PM’s Kamyab Jawan Programme included Loan Scheme, Skill Scholarship, National Youth Council, Green Youth Movement, Kamyab Jawan Markaz, Kamyab Jawan Innovation League and Tiger Force (volunteers).

Technical support via trainings, digital engagement and international connections are being provided to youth through British Council which will invest (Pounds symbol) 2.8 million in the project. The government already invested Rs238 million.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2022