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[COLOMBO, 4 September 2007] - Sri Lanka has taken vital steps to ensure that talents and aspirations of youth are materialized. Formulating a plan such as this is no doubt a daunting task. The real challenge however lies ahead -- making the implementation a successful one. Our hope is that under this plan youth will be able to realize their dreams by finding jobs that successfully fulfills their potential. This is an essential necessity to enable them to become independent, responsible citizens of Sri Lanka who are then able contribute to the development of the country. The seriousness of unemployment among the Sri Lankan youth was revealed in the preliminary results of a research project recently initiated by the World Bank Colombo Office to determine factors of successful school-to-work transitions. For majority of them, transitions to employment occur within three years of leaving school. While the average duration of the transition from school to first job is nearly two years, a significant fraction of Sri Lankan youth have considerably longer periods of unemployment or inactivity before finding work. These long spells of joblessness are experienced particularly by young women. Currently 1.5 billion of the World’s population belongs to the ages of 14 – 24 years, the largest ever in the history. The World Development Report of this year, our annual flagship publication, focused on issues faced by this youth cohort across the globe. Titled “Development and the Next Generation,” the vital message of this report was to “Invest in Youth Now.” “Why now” you may ask? As the report points out, this generation of youth is better educated, and will enter the workforce with fewer nonworking dependents. This represents the world with an unprecedented opportunity to accelerate growth. This window of opportunity closed about a decade ago in developed countries such as Japan and Italy. For Sri Lanka and some other middle-income countries such as China and Thailand, the window will close within 10 years, which means that these countries had better invest in their young people urgently if they are to take advantage of this opportunity. It would be a pity for countries like Sri Lanka not to take advantage of this knowledge base and economic advantage. The World Bank believe that youth are the “Change Agents,” and that they have a unique voice and imagination that Sri Lanka needs to hear. Investing in youth, even through small acts, can change the current path of development. The World Bank supported Gemidiriya project shows that youth can play a leadership role wherever exists an enabling environment and where proper avenues to realize their aspirations and interests are provided. Under this project, youth is encouraged to actively take part in activities under village organizations’ committees. These committees are responsible of formulating village development plans, prioritization of investment projects within a village, and monitoring and evaluating activities under the project. The World Bank has also supported youth initiatives in 2006 and 2007 through its Small Grants Program with the primary objective of promoting and facilitating youth civic engagement, defined as meaningful participation of youth to influence and shape development policies and processes. Financial support for the Youth Forum and the Youth Pavilion at the recently completed International Congress on HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific ICAAP8 is one example. Notable among the 2006 beneficiaries were the Sri Lanka Youth Parliament which worked across the country with youth leaders sustaining, guiding and empowering them to voice their concerns and to bring about positive social change at regional and national level contributing to the creation of a cohesive Sri Lanka. The formulation of the National Action Plan for Youth Employment is only the first step of ensuring employment for all young Sri Lankans. The real challenge still lies ahead -- the implementation of this Plan. To make the Plan succeed, the collaboration that has already started with the preparation of the National Action Plan must continue, and the World Bank is committed to contribute its share to the successful implementation of the plan.