Young people are the key drivers of change and development, and the UAE has world-class experience in empowering and nurturing their talents so they can build a better future.
The UAE will celebrate World Youth Day, and this year’s theme will be developing the skills of the youth to keep pace with the green economy’s requirements for a more sustainable world.
Taking place annually on 12th August, the occasion will showcase the UAE’s accomplishments in empowering its youth in various areas. With over 600 young individuals holding managerial roles in federal and local entities, the UAE is a leading country in formalising its youth empowerment efforts and enhancing its involvement in national development.
In recent years, the UAE has successfully engaged the youth and strengthened their sense of leadership by undertaking a series of steps, most notably a UAE Cabinet resolution in 2016 to establish the Emirates Youth Councils and the Federal Youth Authority, which coordinates with local youth councils to organise annual youth events nationwide.
The Emirates Youth Councils established a youth strategy that aligns with the country’s future approach and drafted studies on the role of the youth in community development by listening to their opinions about the challenges they face to offer adequate solutions and foster their positive engagement in various sectors.
The Emirates Youth Council was formed to represent the youth at the national level. It also created seven local youth councils in each emirate and several institutional youth councils in both the public and private sectors.
In 2018, the UAE Government created the Federal Youth Authority to collaborate with local youth councils and organise an annual agenda for youth events and activities nationwide. The authority guarantees that these councils’ activities, strategies, plans and goals match the country’s overall plans for the youth.
The authority’s responsibilities include establishing and managing centres and clubs for the youth in the country and organising events, workshops and activities for them. It also works with youth councils to maintain and update a database of their information and activities.
To empower the youth to participate more in regional and global affairs, the UAE initiated the National Youth Strategy, which covers five main stages encountered by the youth from the ages of 15 to 35, involving education, work, health and safety, family formation, civic engagement and national contributions.
In June 2019, the UAE Cabinet issued a mandatory resolution to involve the Emirati youth in the boards of directors of governmental authorities and entities. This requirement stipulated the inclusion of at least one member from the youth aged 30 or below.
On 3rd February 2020, the UAE Cabinet selected 33 young individuals to join the boards of directors of federal entities, aimed at encouraging their participation in developing solutions for various national issues and files. In the same year, in June, the UAE Cabinet approved a youth awareness policy based on the fundamentals of home construction, which aims to provide the youth with adequate information about all stages of home construction and raise their relevant awareness.
In April 2022, the UAE launched the National Youth Survey, which aims to gauge the social, political, economic and cultural maturity levels of the youth, as well as collect youth-related data in different areas that will be made available to decision-makers and researchers to help them draft appropriate policies and strategies, to improve the quality of life of the youth, support their needs and invest in their skills.
As the leading supporter of the aspirations and ambitions of the Arab youth, the UAE has organised many initiatives and programmes that empower them to create a better future for themselves and their nations. The UAE’s initiatives and programmes that target the Arab youth are promoting their role, strengthening their capacities and encouraging them to innovate and increase their knowledge, in addition to bolstering their positive contributions to their countries’ sustainable development processes.
In 2017, the UAE established the Arab Youth Centre, a regional youth hub in the country that works to enhance the capacities of young individuals and support innovation in the Arab region.
The centre launched an array of strategic initiatives and projects implemented by young individuals, including the Arab Youth Hackathon, the Arab Youth Projects Market initiative, the Youth Solutions initiative and the Young Arab Diplomatic Leaders Programme.
Furthermore, the centre has conducted over 600 research studies gauging the conditions of the Arab youth, which address vital future trends in youth behaviour, aspirations and related information.
The “One Million Arab Programmers” initiative, one of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, overseen by the Dubai Future Foundation since its inception in 2017, has paved the way for over one million Arab programmers to register and participate in the largest of its kind initiative through the Udacity platform.
In the space sector, the UAE launched, in July 2020, the Arab Space Pioneers’ Programme, which is overseen by the UAE Space Agency and aims to support a range of Arab top scientific pioneers and talents, as well as teach them about space sciences.
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