The Fourth Session of the Islamic Conference of Youth and Sports Ministers (ICYSM), held on 17-19 April 2018, in Baku, the Republic of Azerbaijan adopted the OIC Youth Strategy Document. Moreover, it was endorsed by the 45^th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers held on 5-6 May 2018 in, Dhaka, People’s Republic of Bangladesh. This marks an important milestone for the youth living in OIC Member States as the Strategy Document identifies key challenges faced by youth, and presents policy actions as well as mechanisms to address these challenges in a systematic and coordinated way. As mentioned in the Way Forward section of the Youth Strategy, a successful implementation is only possible with the preparation of a comprehensive plan of action and putting the Strategy into practice. Nevertheless, this requires a close coordination among the relevant OIC institutions including ICYF-DC, SESRIC, IDB, ISESCO, ISSF, IUMS and ISF under the guidance and leadership of the OIC General Secretariat.

In line with the boundaries set in the OIC Youth Strategy, SESRIC prepared the Draft Plan of Action and submitted to the OIC General Secretariat. The OIC General Secretariat circulated the Draft Plan of Action to the relevant OIC Institutions and Member States for their comments and contributions.

In accordance with the above-mentioned developments, an Open-ended Meeting of the Steering Committee on Youth and Sports to Finalize the Plan of Action prepared by SESRIC for the Implementation of the OIC Youth Strategy was held on 3 October 2019 at the OIC Headquarters in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. SESRIC was invited to present the Youth Plan of Action to the OIC Member States and relevant OIC institutions.

Mr. Kaan Namli, Social Researcher from SESRIC started his presentation of the Youth Plan of Action by delivering the greetings of the Director General of SESRIC H.E. Mr. Nebil Dabur. Mr. Namli thanked the General Secretariat of the OIC for organizing such an important event. Mr. Namli proceeded by providing significant statistics and an overview on the condition of youth across the OIC. The interesting statistics drew the attention of the participants. After providing a summary of the OIC Youth Strategy, the SESRIC representative proceeded to discuss the details, format, structure and content of the Youth Plan of Action. SESRIC representative at various points in the presentation discussed SESRIC reports and activities related to youth. These included the State of Youth Report and training programmes held by SESRIC.

After SESRIC’s presentation, the floor was opened for OIC Member States to comment and provide their feedback on the Plan of Action. Various OIC Member States asked for clarifications and made comments about the different sections of the Youth Plan of Action. The feedback, concerns and comments of the OIC Member States were recorded to be incorporated into the Youth Plan of Action after official request of the OIC General Secretariat.

The Open-ended Meeting of the Steering Committee on Youth and Sports to Finalize the Plan of Action for the Implementation of the OIC Youth Strategy was beneficial for SESRIC because it was an opportunity to discuss and improve the Plan of Action it developed. The valuable feedback and comments from the OIC Member States enabled SESRIC to better understand and incorporate the need of the OIC Member States. The meeting also provided a platform and opportunity for SESRIC to present the Youth Plan of Action, which it had developed. In regards to representing SESRIC, it was an important meeting for SESRIC to display the Youth Plan of Action and contribute through its expertise in the area of Youth. It was also a salient opportunity to highlight the different reports and activities SESRIC has been involved in regarding Youth.

During the closing of the meeting, representative from the OIC General Secretariat requested that SESRIC send all the comments of the OIC Member States to the OIC General Secretariat to be included in the meeting report. Moreover, the OIC General Secretariat requested that SESRIC finalize the OIC Youth Plan of Action by incorporating the comments and the feedback of the OIC Member States. Mr. Kaan Namli explained that they were ready to finalize the OIC Youth Plan of Action and kindly asked the OIC General Secretariat to deliver this request formally to the SESRIC Director General. After the finalization of the Youth Plan of Action for the Implementation of the Youth Stratgy by SESRIC, the document will be presented to the Islamic Conference of Youth and Sports Ministers in the first quarter of 2020.