Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP) established the Youth Forum in 2002 with the aim of engaging young people in social and economic development of their communities through realizing their full potentials. This initiative includes a new dimension to traditional youth activism through its emphasis on peaceful and procedural struggle for legally enforceable rights, realization of their potentials by capitalizing on their skills, knowledge and capabilities, and by projecting their role as vibrant and responsible citizens in order that their voices are heard, respected and valued.
Youth Forum’s approach takes into account the pervasive social apathy, which has engulfed the young people and undermined their confidence and trust in governance processes. This has also deleterious effects on their abilities for improving their quality of life through organized civic engagements and initiatives. As a result, they remain socially disorganized, politically disengaged and thus absent from forums that debate and decide on critical social, political and economic issues. In this context, the Youth Forum works for articulation of problems and aspirations of the youth, and the role which they can play for dealing with key contemporary challenges. The programmatic focus rests on access to public services, especially quality education, integration of youth needs into governance and market, participation in social and economic development and promotion of peace at the community and policy levels.
Draft
National Youth Policy, 2007
