The Youth Dialogue 2024: Clicks to Progress: Youth for a Smarter Sri Lanka, hosted by the Office for Overseas Sri Lankans Affairs (OOSLA) on 21st August 2024, in collaboration with the National Youth Services Council (NYSC) and the Ministry of Youth and Sports, brought together over 200 young Sri Lankans from both Sri Lanka and abroad on a hybrid platform. The event aimed to explore how digital solutions can drive economic growth, enhance governance, and foster a more connected, peaceful, and inclusive society. The dialogue was youth-driven, with participants drafting the concept, guiding the roundtable discussions, and proposing smart outcomes that could help the Dialogue evolve into a collaborative programme contributing to Sri Lanka’s socio-economic development.
The participants underscored the growing importance of integrating digital technologies into key sectors. They highlighted the untapped potential of Sri Lankan youth, particularly the overseas community, in transforming Sri Lanka into a smarter nation through innovation, entrepreneurship, and by sharing global best practices. Discussions also shed light on various challenges facing the country and the necessity of introducing measures to prevent corruption, inefficiencies in the delivery of public services, and addressing gaps in the educational and health systems, which offer free access to all. Suggestions were made on how technology could be leveraged to overcome these barriers.
Three keynote speakers—UN Assistant Secretary General and Director of the UNSG’s Former Special Envoy for Youth, Mrs. Jayathma Wickramanayake; the first Sri Lankan woman Federal Parliamentary Member from Australia, Miss Cassandra Fernando; and Executive Director of Verité Research (Pvt) Limited, Dr. Nishan De Mel—emphasized the need for youth participation in shaping governance and policy. The three parallel roundtables (Smart Economic Progress, Smart Governance, and Smart Societies) produced proposals focused on reforms in digital governance, education, taxation, and anti-corruption measures. The discussions also stressed the importance of fostering a smart, connected society through continuous engagement and partnerships between Sri Lankan youth and their peers abroad.
The event concluded with actionable recommendations and a follow-up mechanism to ensure sustained collaboration and progress. This included the launch of the OOSLA Youth Ambassador Programme to strengthen ties between Sri Lankan communities globally and their peers in their mother country, Sri Lanka.
