The UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) concluded the first ever World Youth Conference on Kindness at the Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi on the theme ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: Gandhi for the Contemporary World: Celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’.
The conference was inaugurated by the Honourable President of the Republic of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind and saw participation from approximately 1,000 youth representing over 27 countries such as Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe.
On this occasion, the tenth edition of UNESCO MGIEPs’ flagship publication, The Blue Dot was unveiled. The latest edition focuses on the Institute’s main area of work, primarily in social and emotional learning.
The conference is a collaborative quest to actualize, the youth of today, the Gandhi eulogized by the President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, during his address at the University of Chile, “For me, he was the ‘experimental Gandhi’, defying class and race boundaries. A ‘creative Gandhi’, who transformed salt into a powerful symbol of a mass movement. And the ‘determined Gandhi’, who with his frail body walked through the villages of India with a lamp of truth amid the all-pervading darkness of violence that marked our independence.”
The conference included a Special Address by the Union Minister, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank; Chair, Governing Board, UNESCO MGIEP, J S Rajput; Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, R. Subrahmanyam; Nobel Peace Laureate, Founder- Kailash Satyarthi’s Children’s Foundation, Kailash Satyarthi and Founder, Myna Mahila Foundation, Suhani Jalota.
Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, in commemoration of his 150th birth anniversary celebration, the World Youth Conference on Kindness aimed to provide global youth and policymakers an innovative, engaging and inspiring platform to come together and strive to discover ground-breaking pathways to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
