The Aam Aadmi Party Goa in a novel initiative undertook an exercise, in association with CircleWallas to understand “What the Youth of Goa wants for a better Goa”.
The programme was a day long affair held in Margao on Sunday. AAP Convenor Elvis Gomes and General Secretary Pradeep Padgaonkar and other AAP Leaders joined youngsters from colleges in an attempt to discuss issues that matter to Goa’s youth. Circlewallas, an organisation devoted to facilitate conversations and ideas, community visioning circles, listening circles, decision-making circles, led by Tamer Salameh and team, ensured that the gathering was enriched by the ideas that flowed, and will now guide the AAP core team to undertake the task of transforming the aspirations of Goa’s youth into actionable plans for execution.
Explaining the rationale behind the programme, AAP Convenor Elvis Gomes said, “India has more than 50% of its population below the age of 25 and more than 65% below the age of 35. It is expected that, in 2020, the average age of an Indian will be 29 years. Most of our political leadership is more than 50 years of age. We need to bridge this gap, and we sought the expertise of the Circlewallas, to help us truly understand what the youth of Goa are looking for. We dont want to tell the youth what to do, we want the youth of Goa to tell us what a political party like us should do for them, in line with the principles of grassroot democracy or Swaraj.”
Highlighting plans to take the same programme to other parts of Goa, AAP leader Harry Carvalho explained, “We want to conduct similar programmes in all parts of Goa. We want the young of Goa to speak their minds and hearts, and we want to listen, and work out solutions for their issues. Goa’s youth is powerful, and can do wonders for the state of Goa.”
