On April 27, more than 200 participants from nearly 40 different countries attended the virtual EquiTalks to listen to Jayathma Wickramanayake, the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy for Youth, along with young panelists, discuss the important issues youth are facing during the pandemic and how they are redefining social justice.
Moderated by Elyette Levy, a freelance journalist, the EquiTalks created spaces for meaningful dialogue between our guest of honor and young activists, as well as representatives of the following civil society youth organizations:
- Destin Bujang, Co-Founder and CEO, Black Creek Youth Initiative
- Alex Laviolette-Moar, Youth Education Coordinator, Native Friendship Centre of Lanaudière
- Ahmad Elayan, Scholar and Youth Leader, Ruwwad and Rawabet – Equitas
More specifically, these panelists stressed the importance of paying attention to the very different realities of youth, while emphasizing the inclusion of young people, especially when it comes to actions and solutions that benefit them.
For more details on the event and its participants, read the post-event report here.
If you missed the event, the recording and transcripts in English and French are available here.
The event also allowed young people to “harvest” the ideas of these discussions through creative means and share them at the end of the event. Here’s what was presented:
The EquiTalks offered a live graphic recording as well so that audiences members could see key ideas from the discussion in a visual way that you can view in a time-lapse here.
The panel discussion was followed by a virtual networking in which audience members were invited to participate, bringing together about 60 people in small break-out rooms. This allowed for discussions between participants, panelists and the Equitas team about their personal experiences and concerns about youth issues.
We hope that the event contributed to strengthening participants’ will to support actions for building capacity of young people. Thank you to our sponsors who made this event possible: