Pioneers Expo 2017 from 23-24 April

The first ever youth summit on sustainable development will be held on 23 and 24 April at the Waters’ Edge Hotel in Battaramulla. This event, going by the name ‘Pioneers Expo’ is internationally the first of its kind, bringing together ideas of youth island wide (focusing on the 17 SDGs) to combat issues that we, as a nation are currently facing. 

Understanding that the youth is multi-talented and that not everyone can express in forms of verbal explanations, Pioneers Expo provides a platform on which ideas will be entertained not only via speech but in all forms of expression; dance, poetry, drama, creative writing, and art to name a few. It is an event of immense value and prestige, striving to produce a document containing all the ideas, solutions etc brought out during the summit and present a copy of it to the parliament of Sri Lanka and another copy to the United Nations itself. 

On September 2015, at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit, many countries adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in order to initiate development that meets the needs of the present by ending poverty, protecting the planet and ensuring prosperity while simultaneously ensuring that the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs is not compromised. These goals were made with the ultimate purpose of initiating action plans in order to create a sustainable future.

Understanding its importance, the United Nations Club of DS Senanayake College together with the United Nations Club of Visakha Vidyalaya proceeded to venture into a project of a new dimension in order to promote SDGs among the youth and also to help them understand the fact that together they can indeed make a change.

The launch of this event was held on 10 March at the R.I.T. Alles Hall of DS Senanayake College, workshops have been scheduled in order to give the participants a feel of what they will be experiencing; There are two workshops for the participants of the Colombo zone along with four outstation workshops that are to be held up north, down south, and in the eastern and hill country areas in order to invoke island wide participation. 

If you are below the age of 19 you can confirm your participation by 5 April by paying a Rs. 2,500 registration fee. The project is endorsed by the United Nations and the Ministry of Sustainable Development. Email your interest of participation to expo2017@gmail.com.