Free Education opened up my path: UN’s new youth envoy
Jayathma Wickramanayake who has been appointed the United Nations Envoy on Youth, said, she was “a testament to what a young Asian woman can achieve if she’s empowered”.
“This is the message that I want to send across to other young women in the world, girls who are dreaming of becoming something big, if you have a will then you will have a way!”, the 26-year-old who will be only the second to hold this position in the United Nations said.
United Nations Secretary General António Guterres announced Jayathma’s appointment as UN Youth Envoy on June 20. She will be replacing Ahmad Alhendawi of Jordan, who held the position since January 2013.
At a news conference on June 27 at the UN office in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Una McCauley officially welcomed Jayathma and introduced her to the local media, saying it was an honour to introduce Jayathma as the Youth Envoy of the Secretary General of the UN, being both the representative of the UN in the island, as well as being a ‘working woman’ herself.
Addressing the press, Jayathma said she was honoured and humbled to have been appointed, and thanked all those who aided her in a campaign for the position, including her family, in-laws, and her colleagues at the youth movement she co-founded, Hashtag Generation.
In a statement released to the press she made reference to “the opportunities that were made available to me as a Sri Lankan”. “I am someone who benefitted from the Free Education system, from Grade 1 – 13 and then in university. So, I’m very much obliged to the people of Sri Lanka for the opportunities that were given to me as a young woman from a rural area. I was born in Bentota and I initially schooled at Sangamiththa Vidyalaya in Aluthgama until the scholarship exams at which point I entered Visakha Vidyalaya and continued my education from there. These opportunities were made available to me by the people of Sri Lanka from the money of the tax payer and I’m very much grateful to everyone that has contributed in creating my path up to this point in time.
“From becoming the 1st ever UN Youth Delegate, to the negotiator of the UN Resolution that declared the World Youth Skills Day, now as the newly appointed UN Envoy on Youth to the Secretary-General, my journey has been truly wonderful,” she said.
Her appointment was a result of the work done both here in Sri Lanka and internationally towards youth empowerment and development. Hashtag Generation advocates greater civic and political engagement among young people in Sri Lanka, and as a senator of the Sri Lankan Youth Parliament, her work has greatly impacted youth engagement in the public and civil spheres here. Internationally she has acted as one of the lead negotiators in the UN resolution that culminated in the creation of World Youth Skills Day. In addition, she advocated for the interest of the youth in global forums such as Rio+20 held in Brazil in 2012, the World Conference on Youth held in Sri Lanka in 2014 and the UN forum on post 2015 Sustainable Development Agenda.
With a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colombo and currently reading for a Master’s in Development Science, Jayathma is attached to the Sri Lankan Administrative Service and was the former secretary to the Secretary General of the Sri Lankan Parliament. She will be officially sworn-in as the UN Youth Envoy later this month. For the next three years, she will hold the position and operate from New York City, where the office of the Youth Envoy is based. As Youth Envoy, her work will involve placing young people as a priority of the UN and ensuring their perspectives are reflected across the different pillars of the UN, as well as empowering the youth and leveraging their talents for the success of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.