PESHAWAR
The speakers at a day-long conference here at Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University on Wednesday called for harnessing and preparing youth for peace and prosperity in the country.
They said that the youth, especially females, have great potential to excel in different fields and it was imperative to train and guide them in a proper direction to contribute for the development and prosperity of the country.
They were addressing the conference held in connection with the closing ceremony of a project on “Harnessing Youth for Peace”. This project was an initiative of Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, supported by Community Resilience Activity–North (CRA-N), with its implementing partner Higher Education Regulatory Authority (HERA).
During the conference, 31 students from the Newly Merged Districts (NMDs) of Khyber, Kurram, North Waziristan and Orakzai presented their essays and research papers on CVE themes .
The conference provided a platform to the students to share their findings and to open unlimited realms of discourse for further research.
Chief Guest Dr Shahzad Khan Bangash, Chief Secretary to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Dawood Khan, Secretary to Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Higher Education Archives & Libraries Department graced the Closing ceremony of the project with their presence.
Prof. Dr. Safia Ahmad, Vice Chancellor Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University Peshawar welcomed all the guests and congratulated both the implementing organizations and partner Universities for successful completion of this Project.
She said that SBBWU was the first ever women’s University of KP catering to more than 6000 female youth and trying to make female students active members of the society.
Dr Yasir Kamal Member HERA and Project Director in his address highlighted the importance of “Role of Youth in Peace building” by emphasizing that such activities bring opportunities to turn our very young people into a productive asset that could contribute significantly to the peace building within country and beyond.
Dawood Khan Secretary to Govt. of KP, Higher Education Archives and Libraries Department in his speech appreciated Higher Education Regulatory Authority (KP) for initiating hands-on training for the youth of Newly Merged Districts.
He praised the concept of promoting research and essay writing and recommend the participants to become master trainer and replicate the training and become the change agent.
Secretary HED has also emphasized on the importance of harnessing youth for peace in universities, and in NMDs and stressed on preparing students’ minds for peace narratives and requested donors to fund such initiatives.
Dr. Shahzad Khan Bangash, Chief Secretary, Government of KP in his speech appreciated HERA for training 220 participants and wished that these training has imparted the right message that “Peace is central to all development”.
He also added that if we promote education and specifically female education, that will bring peace and focusing not only on education but also to groom students.
The Chief Secretary also accented on individual role playing for development through peace.
At the closing ceremony awards, certificates and prizes were distributed among participants.
The aim of this project was to sensitize and train faculty members and youth of universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on CVE themes including tolerance, critical thinking, leadership, conflict resolution, and positive social action for 100 students of selected four districts i.e. Kurram, Orakzai, Khyber and North Waziristan.
Different trainings were arranged from November 14, 2022 to December 9, 2022 at four public sector Universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University Peshawar, Kohat University of Science & Technology, FATA University & Hazara University, Mansehra.
