By Riccardo Bruno, ONE Italy Youth Ambassador
This International Youth Skills Day, I’m here to tell you why learning new skills is so important. I’ve just come back from an amazing experience in Cascais, Portugal, where the North-South Centre group gathered youth leaders from 15 different countries to become youth multipliers. A youth multiplier works with other youth to expand their mindsets, improve their abilities in critical analysis and provide them with the necessary tools to become aware of their role in society.
This training offered us the opportunity to meet new people and acquire new tools to educate others about what we’d been taught! I learnt so much and came back home with so many ideas that I thought I’d share them with you all. Let the multiplier effect begin!
Here are 4 key takeaways from the event:
1. Youth Multipliers serve to inspire.
Good multipliers need a very basic skill for their job: the ability to inspire because, let’s not forget, one person can change the world and every voice counts!
2. Generational exchange is going to be faster than in the past.
We are living through a moment in time where things can change in an instant, because things such as access to the internet have allowed quicker communication, and has changed the way people can view the world. But this change hasn’t happened equally everywhere. Young people need to be empowered and given the opportunity to thrive no matter where they live.
3) We must have an equal exchange of opinions.
In many different countries we are witnessing a shift in public opinion, with some governments looking inwards more. This way of thinking can be problematic because each country is a smaller part of the broader world. We need to acknowledge that global questions require global answers, which will be possible only through an equal exchange of opinions and approaches coming from many different world regions.
4) Youths are the voice of the future.
We usually hear people talking about the necessity of stronger cooperation for a better future. But what does “cooperating” mean? During this week I understood that taking care of the world is a shared responsibility — everyone has a role to play in shaping what is a shared future for all. Youth leaders have the ability to spread the word that this battle is worth the fight!
Now, I am ready to carry on the fight for skill sharing at home and I hope you are too!
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Riccardo is 19 years old and is a Youth Ambassador from Italy. Being a Youth Ambassador has provided him with the possibility of taking concrete action towards solving global issues.
