ISLAMABAD, March 2: Broadcasters around the country will provide children and adolescents the opportunity to share their hopes, dreams and aspirations about their future in a better world, to contribute to the United Nations debate on the post-2015 development agenda.

Unicef and leading broadcasters in Pakistan will celebrate this year’s ‘International Children’s Day of Broadcasting (ICDB)’ falling on Sunday (March 3) by involving young people in discussing priorities for the future through specially produced ICDB programmes.

This year’s theme ‘Our World, Our Future’ syncs with the theme for global consultations led by the United Nations to discuss the post-2015 development agenda.

“I am so impressed by the vision and confidence of children and adolescents in Pakistan and I am confident that they will have a great many ideas and opinions that will contribute to the global debate on the future development agenda and the vision for the world,” said Dan Rohrmann, Unicef’s Representative in Pakistan.

With nearly 90 million young people in Pakistan, the collective voice will be important on the global scale and we must harness the wide range of expressions that exist, he said.

“Working with leading broadcasters in Pakistan is a great opportunity to realise this opportunity,” Rohrmann said.

“Over the years, broadcasters in Pakistan have helped Unicef immensely to give children the realisation of their rights. Giving children, especially the underprivileged and the marginalised the opportunity to talk about changing the world into a better place, boosts their confidence and self-esteem,” he said.

“Their views would form part of the inputs being compiled from Pakistan’s perspective to feed into the global development process,” he added.

The International Children’s Day of Broadcasting is an international event, celebrated on the first Sunday of March every year.

Thousands of broadcasters in more than a hundred countries help children to be directly involved in radio and television programming, production and presentation.

As a result, children share experiences with their peers, and give voice to their hopes and dreams.

Unicef has thanked the media in Pakistan, particularly all leading broadcasters, who are supporting this year’s International Children’s Day of Broadcasting.