‘BRICS youth policy’ to be unveiled on Monday
July 4, 2015, 4:36 pm

Participants at the BRICS Youth Summit in Kazan, Russia on 4 July 2015 [Image: brics2015.ru]

The BRICS economies are rising global powers whose young population and sheer size give them huge potential.

“BRICS countries will establish a Network University to introduce unified education standards, programmes and approaches to teaching,” said Lyubov Glebova, head of Russia’s Federal Agency for the CIS countries.

Youth Affairs Ministers from the five countries will sign a memorandum of understanding on “BRICS youth policy” on Monday.

The population of India, which is nearing 1.2 billion, has grown by that of the US since 1995 – and is projected to take over from China as the world’s most populous country in 2028.

Provided governments in the BRICS can act inclusively on health, education and employment, this demographic dividend has the potential to inject new dynamism into their economies.

“Today, all BRICS countries are keen to expand ties among young people, and this is a key to our future and long-term relations,” Sergei Pospelov, the head of Russian Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, told journalists on Saturday.

The first BRICS Youth Summit is taking place from 4-7 July.

Brazil, Russia, India and China began working on establishing the bloc in 2006 but it wasn’t until the first BRIC summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia that the organization began to show promise of being a global player.

South Africa joined the group in 2010.

This year’s summit will be hosted in the city of Ufa, Russia July 8-9.

Earlier this year in April, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia’s presidency of the BRICS will focus on education, culture, science and healthcare.

“During Russia’s presidency, the BRICS Youth Summit and the Global Universities Summit will take place and we will establish the BRICS Network University,” Putin said.

“We will examine opportunities for developing inter-parliamentary dialogue, through which lawmakers could take direct part in resolving the tasks before the BRICS group,” he added.

Youth employment

Last year, a special edition of Policy in Focus, a United Nations Development Programme report released in April, is urging BRICS countries to focus on generating employment opportunities for youth as a means of meeting development projections.

Youth and Employment in the BRICS, written by regional experts, is dedicated to the analysis of how social programmes in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa promote youth employment.

This is particularly poignant when considering that UN statistics hold that the world is witnessing the greatest number of youths in human history: In 2014, there are more than 1.2 billion people between the ages of 15 and 24.

Finding employment for such an unprecedented number of young people is a global challenge, the UN says, and developing countries especially should factor these demographics into future planning about job creation mechanisms.

Programmes to create jobs for young people in the BRICS countries fall into three broad categories: workfare; technical or professional training, and access to credit to promote self-employment and entrepreneurship.

TBP