Idea of OIC Youth Capital
OIC Youth Capital was initiated by Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF) in its 2nd General Assembly held on October, 2014.
OIC region has almost 1.5 billion Muslims and 1/3 of it is constituted by youth. Carrying a considerable importance and reserving a huge portion of the Muslim population of the region, youth had to have a unique organization uniting them with the sense of solidarity and strengthening brotherly ties in a certain city of OIC member countries each year. This idea led to establishing an OIC Youth Capital under which certain activities, conferences, conventions, festivals and other special events would be held according to the interests and benefits of Muslim youth all year long.
The idea of OIC Youth Capital was highly appreciated by the delegates of the member youth institutions of ICYF. As a result Istanbul, hosting the 2nd General Assembly of ICYF was elected as the first OIC Youth Capital of 2015/16. Furthermore, the proposal was accepted in the OIC Foreign Ministers’ Conference in Kuwait on May, 2015 with the vote of foreign ministers of 56 member states of OIC.
Major Purposes of OIC Youth Capital
- Foster inter-cultural and inter-civilizational diversity
- Better-know one another as young members of OIC countries
- Unite the youth of different OIC member countries and create solidarity
- Strengthen the brotherly ties and promote the spirit of “unity”
- Provide a platform for youth to introduce and promote their cultures and traditions
- Build communicational skills and develop themselves in international environment
- Live experiences of progress, education, entertainment, sports, art and participation to other fields
- In short, turn up the Voice of Youth