Taking the lead in a post-COVID world

The youth can not just assist in the fight against the coronavirus but also take charge of recovery once the pandemic is over.

The coronavirus scourge has led the world to realise that we all are connected and the whole world really is one large family. But at the same time, the pandemic has also introduced social distancing as a primary means to defeat the virus. So while we are connected on the one hand, on the other, we cannot meaningfully engage with each other physically.

It is in this contradictory state that we all live in. In Nepal, the youth constitutes about 40.3 percent of the entire population and as an educated, energetic, active group with robust immunities, we have an important role to play in this COVID-19 crisis.

The government needs help during this time of exigency. Approximately 90 percent of youth in Nepal use social media; thus, we will help spread correct awareness to our friends, relatives and larger society by using different media. WhatsApp and Facebook can be useful means of disseminating correct information and fighting fake news.

The government can help by taking the initiative to come up with a proper policy or strategy to mobilise the youth in spreading awareness about COVID-19 prevention measures. The youth can also assist in crowd control, enforcing quarantine, oversee the goverments’s activities, distribute preventive measures like masks and sanitisers, and even in feeding the hungry. Lockdowns enforced to control the spread of COVID-19 and supply chain disruptions have led to shortages of essentials in the cillages. Young people can assist in coordination and logistics in ensuring that everyone has access to daily essential goods.

Young people have a large stake in fighting the pandemic because they have also been affected by its consequences. COVID-10 has not only impacted employment opportunities, but has also disrupted education and skills development programmes. Marketplace entry and transitions between jobs have also been quite challenging.

For the Government of Nepal, their responsibility should be to ensure that there is no return to normalcy without youth engagement in leadership positions. Each level of government should have a youth department to take part in discussions about post-COVID-19 reconstruction and the designing and implementing of programmes and policies that respond to the pandemic.

While this is a difficult period for the globe to go through, we cannot afford to miss any opportunity to empower the youth. We need to to adapt to the current situation and make sure that easily accessible skills programmes are shared with the younger generation. After all, in the post-COVID world, it will be the youth who will take the lead in helping economies recover.