World Bank Belnasa Youth Forum Webinar

The World Bank Belnasa Youth Forum (BYF), a self-organized collective of young people from Botswana; eSwatini; Lesotho; Namibia and South Africa (BELNS) will be hosting a webinar under the theme “Unlocking youth-led Innovation” on the 06 October 2023 from 11:00 - 13:30, SAST. 

Keynote Speaker: Pearl Pillay

Ms. Pearl Pillay grew up in Chatsworth, an Indian township south of Durban, South Africa. She is a director at Youth Lab, a think-tank that works “to provide various platforms for young people and decision-makers to exchange ideas, develop strategies and execute plans that will enhance the lives of young South Africans.”

Ms. Pillay has worked in different countries around Africa, training public officials on how to make their policies more beneficial for young people with organisations like EISA (Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa) and NDI (National Democratic Institute) to name a few. Ms. Pillay serves as a Board Member of the African Movement for Democracy, a continental movement of youth organisations focused on strengthening democracy in their home countries. She has a keen interest in democracy and elections, working in election observation missions in Liberia and Tunisia, and has done extensive work focusing on youth and elections in South Africa. Ms. Pillay was also appointed by the President to serve on the National Planning Commission as the National Planning Commissioner responsible for youth for the next five years.  

Aim of the webinar; 

• Bring together youth and ecosystem actors to engage in strategic conversation on issues around capacity development and innovation.
• Learn from presentations by experts working towards solving for jobs and skills development.
• Showcase startups from our five focus countries that have received support from World Bank programmes.

Click here to register for the webinar.