In his first visit to India as UNICEF Regional Director of South Asia, Sanjay Wijesekara, on Wednesday said that India is a hub of youth power, and it has tremendous role and potential in the world achieving the SDGs. He further stated India has the world’s largest child population and therefore plays a pivotal role in shaping progress for children in the region and around the world.
“From 2025 to 2055, India will witness an unprecedented demographic dividend, which is a great opportunity to provide education and skills to young people, with a billion Indians joining the workforce” said Wijesekara.
He added that India has implemented some of the world’s largest development programmes and social schemes, with UNICEF as a valuable partner, Swachh Bharat,Jal Jeevan Mission, Ayushman Bharat, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and the National Education Policy (NEP) have been rolled out and scaled up to reach children in remote areas.
“India’s innovative and scalable models can assist other countries particularly Global South in achieving the SDGs. For example, the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Poshan Tracker App, which utilizes digital transformation to enhance nutrition and well-being of children and India’s remarkable immunization efforts, recently recognized in the UNICEF global State of the World’s Children report,” Wijesekara added.
He said that UNICEF firmly believes that India can reinvigorate the focus on the power of young people and children in advancing the global SDGs, benefitting not only the G20 Presidency, but also the broader multilateral system.