United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has
appointed Jayathma Wickramanayake of Sri Lanka as his
next Envoy on Youth.
She will succeed Ahmad Alhendawi of
Jordan to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his
dedicated service in addressing the needs and rights of
young people, bringing the work of the United Nations closer
to them.
The success of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development depends on empowering young people as
rights-holders, agents of change and torchbearers.
Having represented and motivated global youth
development on an international level since the age of 21,
notably during high-level United Nations initiatives including
the declaration of World Youth Skills Day, Ms.
Wickramanayake has also played a key role in transforming
the youth development sector at the national level, notably
through the creation of a large movement for civic and
political engagement of young people named “Hashtag
Generation.”
Presently working as an officer of the Sri Lanka
Administrative Service, Ms. Wickramanayake has previously
served as Secretary to the Secretary General of the
Parliament of Sri Lanka (2016-2017), Project Officer-Youth,
One-Text Initiative in Sri Lanka (2015-2016), Member and
Youth Lead Negotiator, International Youth Task Force of the
World Conference on Youth 2014 (2013-2014) and Official
Youth Delegate to the United Nations, Ministry of Youth
Affairs and Skills Development (2012-2013).
She was
furthermore a Senator in the Sri Lankan Youth Parliament
(2013-2015).
Born in 1990, Ms. Wickramanayake is reading for Master of
Development Studies, at the University of Colombo and
holds a Bachelor degree in Science, from the same
university.
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