BORNEO YOUTH DECLARATION (c)

We, the participants of the Tomorrow’s Leaders Summit convened in Kuching from 18th -20th March 2011 in Borneo Convention Centre Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia to discuss on the selected theme of “Developing High Income Youth”. Various speakers from different fields of expertise shared their knowledge and experiences with the participants following which they took part in the group panel discussion that highlighted the goals of the summit.

The guiding principles for this declaration were based on the following objectives:

  • To provide a focal point for enhancement of tomorrow’s leaders in all fields of endeavor making a positive contribution to the society;
  • To enhance and promote this important sector as a requirement for sustained development;
  • To gather global experts, leaders and specialists to share their views, knowledge and expertise to develop thought leadership;
  • To be an arena for discussion, networking and collaboration to stimulate the growth and development of global youth leadership sector;
  • To facilitate the resolution of problems and issues;
  • To highlight areas of economy value and to facilitate the required investment into the future; and
  • To facilitate the exchange of information and to coordinate global cooperation.

The participants attended multi-disciplined workshops and the Youth Transformation Lab where they made the following recommendations:

  • Establish a common ground to address the educational imbalance between the generations by providing the youth with various structural leadership platforms that will involve them in the decision making process.
  • Acknowledge and develop the economic value of young people in order to generate high income youth.
  • Create and develop policies that will promote the role of youth leadership in the democratic process.
  • Create and develop sustainable action plans that help to provide equal opportunities for both genders in urban and rural areas for the development of high income youth.
  • Provision of entrepreneurship development opportunities and necessary resources to the youth by all the stake holders.
  • Ensure efficient and functional budgetary provision to create training and mentoring centers that will enable youth to develop the skills that will allow them to participate in knowledge economy.
  • Enable youth to overcome barriers and promote their participation in a borderless knowledge market economy through the use of science, technology and innovation.
  • Make use of globalization to encourage the development of human capital among the young people which will lead to sustainable development of the community at large and produce high income youth.
  • Mobilize and utilize the young people intra and internationally for the improvement and development of their communities of origin to encourage the positive effects of brain gain and repatriation of knowledge resources.
  • Assist the youth to identify market gaps and exploit them to help increase the personal/local income potential while providing necessary goods and services in a sustainable manner.
  • Fast track highly capable young leaders who possess the required social, emotional, mental and physical quotas to push them to the forefront so that they can be role models to the youth.
  • Take responsibility in using their creative abilities to develop new high income opportunities for themselves.
  • Create awareness among the young people with an emphasis on social media to spread knowledge and skills with the use of local, regional and global programs to assist in addressing the potential growth of high income youth.

In conclusion, we the participants of the Tomorrow’s Leaders Summit recognize and acknowledge the importance of youth leaders and the development of high income youth.  We also recognize that the implementation of the above recommendations will only be achieved with the support of the public and private sector. However, the success or failure of the implementation of these recommendations ultimately lies with each individual.

-end-

20th March 2011, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia.

Supplementary Request by Youth Observers

A group of youth observers requested the floor and in the interest of inclusiveness the Chairman allowed the youth observers several hours to have their requests discussed and recorded.  The following are their requests:

  1. A dedicated workshop to be conducted to improve the understanding of process and language of declaration production together with a research component.
  2. Dedicated training for youth group leaders to be able to produce future declarations and international level documents that communicate the intentions and meaning from the youth.
  3. A dedicated conference to discuss and deliberate on the Borneo Youth Declaration to be held in the near future and a possible committee set up to take submissions from interested youth groups.

The World Assembly of Youth has expressed interest in conducting the said workshop and training and has now developed these training modules.  The organisers Glenreagh Sdn. Bhd. will undertake to hold a conference on the Borneo Youth Declaration and the date will be confirmed later.

Borneo Youth Declaration (c)

As a major session in Tomorrow’s Leaders Summit there will be groups of young leaders formulating the Borneo Youth Declaration – this document will contain the outcomes and decisions reached by those attending and it is envisaged that it will touch upon areas where the youth feel the need to express what directions need to be followed for the sustainable development of theirs and following generations.

If you would like to be involved, or if your organisation would like to be involved please contact our Secretariat by email on tlsgeneral@gmail.com