Resident Coordinator's remarks at Youth 2030 briefing to Member States "Progress, lessons learned and plans for acceleration"

[as prepared for delivery]

Ambassador Michal and Jayathma.

Thank you for the opportunity to share highlights of UN Thailand’s engagement with and for youth to build their agency to advance the SDGs and influence policy-making both domestically and internationally.

First, we at UN Country Team in Thailand have institutionalized engagement with young change-makers through the SDGs Youth Panel, which serves as an advisory board to me and the HOAs.

I frequently brainstorm with these inspiring young people to deepen our understanding, on the low-carbon economy, digital transformation, and inequalities, which are core to delivering on our Cooperation Framework and accelerating the SDGs in Thailand.

I also leverage the SDGs Youth Panel to meet with key political stakeholders, most recently the Governor of Bangkok.

The panel supports the UN in widening our network and advocacy with Thai-speaking young people. For example, on youth-focused platforms like Instagram they have enabled us to increase our outreach by nearly 8,000 users every month.

Second, we support pathways for youth engagement on the SDGs. Some young people are making important contributions to the country’s development agenda such as by setting up a national food bank to deal with potential food shortages for vulnerable communities.

The UN is also strengthening the employability of young persons, including those with disabilities, to support their labour market transition. Recently, we facilitated youth consultations on the latest 5-year National Social and Economic Development Plan (NESDP) together with the government.

Very soon we will begin work with the Governor to establish a cadre of youth digital volunteers for Bangkok, whereby young people will help the elderly to expand their IT skills and access services.

Third, we are bringing young people front and centre on international policy agendas.

As an example of this, the SDGs Youth panelists have engaged with the UN Deputy Secretary-General, the President of the UN General Assembly, and you Jayathama.

They have also engaged at the UN “Youth4Climate” forum, including at the General Assembly, and in recent consultations to establish the new UN youth office. We are hoping they will be part of the ECOSOC session next year.  

Let me conclude by saying that following our recent engagement with Jayathama, the UN Country Team in Thailand will institutionalize a platform for Thai-speaking youth to engage systematically with policymakers. Khun Aim (Aminta) will speak more to this.

I look forward to today’s discussion and exchanges.