South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Simon Deng
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on Thursday urged the government to integrate digital technologies into daily lives of the youth in order to accelerate development progress.
Gillian Garnet, the Program Specialist for UNFPA, said during the celebration of the international youth day in Juba that integration of digital technologies into daily lives often demand potentials for accelerating sustainable development goals.
“We see young people as the cornerstone for innovation and progress,” said Garnet.
Garnett said that young people in South Sudan have made significant strides in the digital arena, adding that there is need to help youth to address the challenges they face in terms of transformative role of digital technology.
“South Sudan is experiencing demographic revolution, our youth population constitutes over 70 percent and stands at the forefront of this digital age, they are not just beneficiary, they are also architects, visionaries driving progress across all sectors,” she said.
Joseph Geng Akech, the Minister of Youth and Sport said that they are working hard to address challenges facing youth across the country.
He noted that the majority of the youth reside in rural areas.
“We have urban and rural youth, majority resides in rural areas, there are those educated and those who are not, as the ministry we focus not only on those who are educated or those in towns, we focus on all youth,” said Akech.
Rebecca Lorins, the Dean for the School of Journalism, Media and Communication studies at the University of Juba, said the University is working hard to develop capacity of the youth.
“It is important that youth in South Sudan can creatively and strategically think about the value of digital space to sustainable development in our country, we need to think alongside how to educate and use digital skills,” said Lorins.
The International Youth Day marked annually on August 12 was celebrated in South Sudan under the theme; “From Clicks to Progress: Youth Digital Pathways for Sustainable Development”.
