LAHORE: The academic sessions of the 1st International Youth Summit (IYSL-2017) ended with a message of peace on Friday.
IYSL-2017 is being held in Lahore, the cultural hub of Pakistan, by the Center of Sustainability, Research and Practice (CSRP) with University of Lahore as the host institution.
IYSL-2017 promises to be a one of a kind event and hopes to become a catalyst of change for the youth of our nation. The academic sessions of IYSL-2017 focused on two thematic areas – sustainability and education.
The first day of the International Youth Summit began with an opening ceremony; day two focused on sustainability and began with keynote sessions by David Woollcombe, president Peace Child International UK on ‘Youth Job Creation – How to achieve SDGs Goal 8- Target 5’ and Raza Ali Gillani – Minister Higher Education, government of Punjab on ‘Global Peace and Sustainability’.
This was followed by the opening plenary titled: ‘Understanding the Global Challenge of Sustainability’ and two workshops titled: ‘Climate Reality Training’ by David Woollcombe and ‘Good Health & Wellbeing’ by Sabrine Hamdi. Day 2 of IYSL 2017 closed with a musical performance by the students of University of Lahore.
Day three began with an opening plenary session titled: ‘Socially Beneficial Projects & Leadership Potential of Young People’. This was followed by the two plenary sessions titled: ‘Transnational trends in education and academic change and entrepreneurship’ and ‘Reforms in Punjab Government across social sectors and the role of youth’.
Day three of IYSL 2017 closed with an evening titled: ‘Stories from Young Leaders’ with speakers and Laraib Atta – renowned Visual Effect Artist who has worked on award winning projects such as 10,000 BC, The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince of Persia, Godzilla, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Gravity; Shahmeer Amir – Cyber Security Analyst and ranked third most accomplished bug hunter worldwide; Samar Khan – cyclist and the first woman in the world to ride a cycle on the 4,500 meters Biafo Glacier in the Karakoram Mountains of Gilgit Baltistan. The young leaders spoke to the attendees about their respective journeys and how education played a key role in their lives. The talks were followed by a performance by Sanwal Esakhelvi
Day 4 began with an two plenary sessions.
In the next two days, the delegates visiting from 30 countries will be taken to a trip to old Lahore, historic Kasur, Changa Manga and Narowal. The summit will conclude with a closing ceremony on the evening of November 12
The objectives of IYSL-2017 are: ‘Awake, Activate, Integrate, Collaborate and Update’. During the summit, new possibilities will be discussed to strengthen cooperation and make joint efforts to create sustainable solutions in the areas of sustainability, education and peace
IYSL-2017 is being organised by the Center of Sustainability, Research and Practice with University of Lahore as host institution. IYSL-2017 is supported by the District Council of Narowal and Kasur and production by Obelisk Immersive Media with PR by Prizm Public Relations.
Published in Daily Times, November 11th 2017.
