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UAE to develop Youth Index to empower youngsters

Dubai - The first of its kind research will be carried out by the Dubai Economic Council (DEC) and Emirates Foundation in collaboration with Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority.

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To connect with the younger population of the country, the UAE is preparing a data on its youth titled UAE Youth Index.
The first of its kind research will be carried out by the Dubai Economic Council (DEC) and Emirates Foundation in collaboration with Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority.

Knowing the youth Who will be covered > Emirati youth aged 18-35 What will be measured > job preferences > leisure time activities> entrepreneurship > civic responsibility > competitiveness > education > health > safety & security > traditional values > media habits > income and debt

The final launch of the Youth Development Index, which will be announced at a joint conference by year-end, is expected to help the decision makers in shaping youth oriented programmes. The development index will cover overall wellbeing of the youth aged 15-35, which include education, health, safety & security, traditional values, media consumption habits, income & debt management, employment preferences, leisure timer activi-ties, entrepreneurship, civic re-sponsibility, competitiveness.
The collected data will become the yardstick for generating strategies for youth development and assess their state of wellbeing. The index will also be utilised to facilitate the needs and oppor-tunities of young people's participation on national and global agendas.
Speaking about the joint initiative, Hani Al Hamli, Secretary-General at DEC, stressed on the importance of investing in youth which in turn accelerate the de-velopment of the nation.
Speaking about the methodology of the survey, Al Hamli said that they would adopt international best practices applied by an expert team from both entities. Khuloud Al Nuwais, Chief Sus-tainability Officer at Emirates Foundation said: "This project forms a great opportunity for the Emirates Foundation to pioneer the development of such a comprehensive evidence-based policy research on youth development and wellbeing in UAE. It will help us drive effective solutions to youth's most pressing challenges."
Why the youth development indicator
"Through the Youth Index, we will be able to benchmark, monitor progress and define new areas of investment required to support and empower youth," Hani Al Hamli, Secretary-General at DEC said.
"We aim to inspire neighbouring nations in the region to gather youth-specific data, which provide governments and the private sector evidence based data to support their youth development policy and programme efforts," he added.
The youth indicator will sup-port both public and private efforts in shaping developmental initiatives as well as knowing the challenges today's generations.
abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com