AGE OF YOUNG PEOPLE

It was not by chance that the 20th century was called the age of young people. During this century it was not only the number of young people on the planet that increased sharply. The role of young people in the transformation of the world also increased as never before. Today the younger generation sees itself as an active force calling for social change. At the same time the activity of young people manifests itself in various forms and shapes its own horizons.

After re-establishing its state independence Azerbaijan had to carry out radical reforms in many spheres of life. A major task in this regard was the cohesion and coordination of the activity of young people as the main driving force for the development of society and the state. It should be particularly emphasized that young people, who were in the forefront of the national-liberation movement, played an active part in the subsequent processes of the country's development.

A strong link

Youth Day takes its origins from 2 February 1996 when by a decree of Azerbaijan's then president, Heydar Aliyev, the first Azerbaijani Youth Forum was held. For the first time young people themselves were given the opportunity to define the responsibilities for revitalizing the work to be carried out with young people in the country. The very next year the head of state signed another decree declaring the day of the Forum - 2 February - Azerbaijani Youth Day.

As in previous years, Azerbaijani Youth Day was this year marked by events organized by the Ministry of Youth and Sport, as well as youth organizations. Azad Rahimov, the Minister of Youth and Sport, said that state youth policy in Azerbaijan was aimed at creating lawful, economic and well-organized conditions and guarantees for the personal fulfilment  of the new generation coming into the world, the development of youth associations and support for their initiatives.

"In the past 10 years Azerbaijan has made significant progress. It is one of a group of countries with an average index of human development that has joined the group of countries with a high index of human development, which means creating new economic relations, broadening rights and opportunities and strengthening the financial security system," the minister said in his speech to mark Azerbaijani Youth Day.

Today young people make up 66 per cent of the country's population, and youth policy has been turned into an integral part of state policy. Azerbaijani young people are noted for the active part they are playing in all spheres of public life, and they also play an important role in implementing social, humanitarian, economic and political matters.

State youth policy is also reflected in the relevant legal documents and is implemented mainly by government organizations. The main directions of state youth policy have been defined by the Azerbaijani law "On state youth policy". This law was one of the first acts of legislation to be adopted with regard to youth policy in the post-Soviet countries. Besides this, there are also a large number of state decisions, programmes and instructions whose responsibility it is to increase state concern for young people. During its years of independence about 20 programmes which to one degree or another affect youth problems have been adopted in Azerbaijan.

Figures talk

Young Azerbaijani people are represented in state bodies, parliament, local councils, business structures and other spheres and are making their contribution to the development of society. In 2008-2011 over 60 per cent of all state body employees were made up of young people. Twenty-eight per cent - 4,303 council members - were young people, and of these 326 were council chairmen. In 2008-2011 Azerbaijani youth organizations were members of 11 international organizations.

According to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Education, today over 1.5 million young boys and girls in the country are receiving an education. As part of the state programme for the education of young Azerbaijani people in foreign countries in 2007-2015, over 5,000 school leavers are to be sent to other countries to be educated there. The conditions created by this education programme allow young citizens to obtain an education at prestigious universities in the world's leading countries. These important state programmes contribute to the formation of the country's labour potential, an increase in the intellectual level of young Azerbaijanis and in helping young people to master new technologies.

There are about 215 youth organizations operating in Azerbaijan. Last year - 2013 - 137 projects valued at 5.5m manats were funded with the support of the Ministry of Youth and Sport alone. The spectrum of urgent tasks which youth NGOs are setting themselves is a broad one: educating young people in a spirit of patriotism, eliminating unemployment, providing information, health, educating young people, the status of an active citizen, the cultural propaganda of people at large, and so on. Homes and centres for young people have been built in 23 towns and districts of Azerbaijan and their construction has begun in 14 regions.

Investing in the future

Three years ago President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on a state programme "Azerbaijani youth in 2011-2015". And whereas 8.4m manats were allocated from the country's budget for the state programme for the young people of Azerbaijan in 2005-2009, the next programme will be 10 times more - 80m manats. The main aims of the state programme are the even greater development of youth policy in Azerbaijan, the creation of conditions for the active participation of young people in the sphere of management, finding jobs for young specialists and solving other socio-economic problems.

A Youth Fund has been approved to boost youth policy and activities in science, education, culture and other social spheres. Another aim of the new structure is to study the social situation of young people, to draw up the appropriate statistics and maintain a strengthening of the material-technical base for the rigorous implementation of youth policy. The main emphasis here is on solving the socio-economic problems of young people, finding jobs for young specialists, strengthening social protection and social guarantees, strengthening young families, developing entrepreneurship, and so on.

Let us point out another thing that is quite important. Azerbaijan's youth policy is already being recognized worldwide. Suffice to say that the town of Ganca has been declared European youth capital city for 2016. This event will without doubt make its contribution to the implementation of new international projects in Azerbaijan and broaden the possibilities of young people.

Problems

At the same time, Azerbaijani young people have their own problems, too. In Azerbaijan, as in most countries, young people in the labour market are one of the more vulnerable groups of the population and represent a very specific contingent. Although the level of unemployment in the country is generally low, this problem affects young people, first and foremost. On the one hand, young people overall have neither experience of finding a job nor experience of employment which does not always makes them very desirable people for employers. But, on the other hand, young people in general have a more up-to-date, more varied and at times higher level of education compared with older people whose human capital has in many ways been wasted in the post-Soviet period. Besides this, young people, as a rule, are more mobile, both territorially and professionally and can adapt more quickly to new conditions and technologies. And in this sense they have greater potential for new jobs and new markets.

Another of the most acute problems among young families is the problem of housing. But in this aspect a purpose-oriented state policy is being carried out in Azerbaijan - access of young people to a social mortgage is being extended. A new concept of mortgage borrowing is taking shape, which is designed to adapt as far as is possible to the requirements of the state programme "Azerbaijani Youth in 2011-2015", which is being drawn up in our country. Measures are being taken for the preferential conditions of mortgage borrowing to be more acceptable for young families and their scope to be extended.

Of course, much more needs to be done in this direction. But, as Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev remarked more than once in his speeches, the future of the country and the nation depends on today's youth, and that is why the state is committed to solving the problems of youth in as short a time as possible. And it was not by chance that our national leader Heydar Aliyev described young people as the builders of the independent Azerbaijan of the 21st century.