From June 2-4 the ITU will convene the Generation Connect Global Youth Summit in Kigali, Rwanda (GC-GYS website). The Summit will bring together young leaders (ages 18-29), entrepreneurs, social change-makers, engineers, policy specialists, students, business leaders, influential decision makers, and community advocates. The Summit will focus on topics related to the digital divide and related topics, including digital skills, bridging the gender digital divide, climate change, online safety, the future of work, entrepreneurship, and digital dependencies.

The objectives of the Summit will be:

• To achieve meaningful youth engagement, consultation, collaboration, empowerment, participation and calls for action;
• To attain open and frank discussions, where youth can share what is good about technology, and what worries them;
• To encourage the participation of young women, young people with disabilities, young indigenous people, young people that are not connected and are currently not being empowered through technology;
• To implement, through the organization of the Youth Summit, the ITU Youth Strategy;
• To be aligned with the vision and objectives of the United Nations Youth Strategy: Youth 2030 – working with and for young people.

To ensure voices from around the world are able to contribute to the Generation Connect Global Youth Summit, USTTI will provide scholarships to cover the cost of international air travel, hotel and per diem to the Summit. To apply for this sponsorship please submit an application via – http://ustti.org/generation-connect-youth-summit-application/

The USTTI looks forward to hearing the voices of the youth in Rwanda and to see the impact the participants will have during and most importantly following the Generation Connect Global Youth Summit.