LAHORE: Young leaders from south Punjab have passed resolutions calling for stronger youth inclusion in local governance.
Nearly 200 young people of four district youth assemblies,includingMuzaffargarh, Layyah, Jhang, and Kot Addu, from south Punjab convened in Multan from June 4 to 11. They deliberated on the climate, governance and development challenges facing their communities and to build the skills and knowledge needed to engage with the institutions responsible for addressing them.
Participants were engaged with elected representatives, disaster management experts and government officials and debated policy in parliamentary-style sessions and passed resolutions callingfor strongeryouthinclusion inlocalgovernance.
The sessions are part of the three-year action ‘Rising Leaders: Youth in Climate Leadership and Governance,co-funded by the European Union and implemented by the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) and the Social Youth Council of Patriots (SYCOP).
Each of the four DYAs (comprising 50 members each) participated in a twoday programme combining civic education, parliamentary-style debate, expert dialogue, formal voting exercises and digitalskills training.
Sessions opened with oath-taking ceremonies and inaugural addresses by senior government officials, including South Punjab Higher Education Special Secretary Sarfraz Ahmed, South Punjab Irrigation Additional Secretary Tanveer Jhandeer and South Punjab Health Services Director General Dr Ali Mehdi.
They stressed that young people had a critical role to play in strengthening democratic governance and community resilience, encouraging participants to embrace volunteerism, promote tolerance and take an active role in addressing local challenges.
The first day focused on understand-ing the challenges facing participants’ districts. Interactive discussions on the topic ‘How is Climate Change Affecting Your District?’ featured policymakers and disaster management experts.
Addressing the participants, Higher Education Parliamentary Secretary MPA Ajmal Khan Chandia emphasised that youth must play an active role in environmental protection, tree plantation, efficient water management and disasterpreparedness.
Drawing on their practical experiences, Muzaffargarh Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Coordinator Irfan Sial and Layyah PDMA Coordinator Karamat Ali shared their expertise on early warning systems, flood emergency response, riverine flooding risks and long-term adaptation measures.
Participants engaged with the structure of Pakistan’s democratic institutions, the roles of the legislature, executive andjudiciary and the differenttiers of government through which decisions affecting their communities are made.The second day focused on practical action, with participants receiving training on how to engage with the government as citizens and as young leaders, including how to file right to information (RTI) requests, engage with standing committees and contest or participate in local government elections.
The sessions made clear that democratic participation does not begin and end at the ballot box and that young people have concrete mechanisms to hold institutions accountable and advocate for their communities.
Addressing the participants, European Union Delegation to Pakistan Head of Cooperation Jeroen Willems emphasised that young people in south Punjab were among those most affected by climate change and should be empowered as stakeholders in shaping responses to climate and governance challenges. He noted that the European Union’s support for the initiative reflected its commitment to strengthening inclusive, participatory governance in Pakistan.