Applications are now invited from youth worldwide to participate in the International Development Youth Forum (IDYF) 2019. The youth forum is taking place from August 18th to 25th, 2019. At the National Olympics Memorial Youth Center (NYC) in Tokyo, Japan. Today, more than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. As the trend of inflow from rural areas is still ongoing in most developing countries, it is expected that the urban population worldwide will reach 6.5 billion people by 2050. which will account for two-thirds of the total world population then. Accordingly, mega-cities are born one after another.

Moreover, Most mega-cities in developing countries have huge slums around their city edges. UN-Habitat estimates that more than 800 million people live in slum areas globally and this figure continues to increase. Thus, there is an urgent need to deal with social problems in slums that occur due to sudden urban development. Such as the shortage of durable housing, the lack of access to social infrastructure, and so on. In fact, the United Nations is trying to address these issues by setting Sustainable Development Goals. one of which is Goal 11: “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. Moreover, In response to this target, IDYF 2019 will provide opportunities for like-minded youths all over the world. By seeking  solutions for the following issues to achieve better living standards:

(1) Improving security in Rocinha, Brazil,

(2) Bringing education to children in Dharavi, India, and

(3) Developing water infrastructure in Kibera, Kenya.

In the International Development forum, participants will be divided into 6-7 teams and each team will analyze one of the case studies and offer solutions. Case studies are the above-mentioned issues, (1), (2) and(3)

Eligibility for International Development forum:

• Those who are 30 years old and younger
• Those who have not participated in the previous IDYFs
• Fluency in English for discussion and presentation
• Must be able to attend all programs during the forum

Benefits:

• 10 participants will be able to get the scholarship. The scholarship for IDYF 2019 would cover the participation fee, excluding transportation fees.

Application:

Application Deadline:

• 3rd May 2019, 23:59 JST (GMT/UTC+9)
• 24th May 2019, 23:59 JST (GMT/UTC+9) for non-scholarship.