Dhaka: Youthopia.bangla, a new youth web portal for knowledge sharing, was launched here on Monday to help build bridges between the dreams of the Bangladeshi youth and the reality of the country by facilitating access to the information required to take informed decisions.

The new web portal, intended to improve networking of youth organisations and thus address main challenges, has been initiated by United Nations Volunteers (UNV) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Bangladesh.

“This event and the new online platform are very important because they are building a network and a long-term vision, which make youth organisations more sustainable,” said Julie Farzana from the organisation Ashoka Bangladesh, at the first ‘Youth Conference on Value Co-creation’ and the launch of the new web portal.

The launching event was held in the Senate building of the University of Dhaka. Over 200 young leaders from around 100 Bangladeshi youth organisations have gathered at the event, said a press release.

“We see youths as a very powerful and creative force in the development process. With this view in mind, UNDP and UNV initiated the creation of Youthopia.bangla to improve knowledge sharing and provide free information to empower youth organisations to achieve inclusive and sustainable development,” said Sudipto Mukerjee, UNDP Bangladesh Country Director.

Youth leaders, senior officials from different UN agencies, national and international non-governmental organisations, during the event highlighted that passion for work, innovative approach and establishing collaborative partnerships are the key elements is successful youth role in development of Bangladesh.

“We’re glad of the opportunity that this first step represents a visible effort to strengthen our partnership with the youth in building the future they desire leaving no one behind,” said Linda Germanis, UNV Bangladesh Programme Officer.

Through an interactive poll, during the event, the participants expressed their opinions about the new web portal youthopia.bangla and also discussed major challenges faced by their organisations and tried to come up with the possible solutions based on cooperative efforts.

Finally, the winners of the Digital Khichuri Challenge, a contest that was organised in November last year, had a chance to present the status of the implementation of their awarded projects.

The ‘Youth Conference on Value Co-creation’ is the first of a series of events planned by the Youthopia.bangla project for 2017.

It was an opportunity to launch the official web portal, but most importantly to organise a space where young leaders of Bangladesh could express their ideas, share solutions and work with their peers to co-create value, said the organisers.