FREETOWN, Sierra Leone, 19 April 2022- In April, UNFPA supported 50 young people to virtually participate in the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum, a platform where young people engaged in dialogue sessions on critical actions to rebuild from COVID-19 and to advance towards the implementation of the SDGs Decade of Action.

Held on the theme: COVID-19 recovery: Youth taking action for a sustainable future, the forum reviewed progress in the areas of quality education (SDG4), gender equality (SDG5), life below water (SDG14), life on land (SDG15) and partnerships for the goals (SDG17).

Junisa Kallon of Youth Association of Sierra Leone (YASIL), said the forum provided young people with an opportunity to add their voices to issues that will help in the development of young people.  “This laudable initiative provided us an opportunity to contribute to policy discussions and to explore ways and means of promoting youth development issues. We appreciate the fact that youth issues were adequately amplified during the sessions”, he said.