Raising the question of education being sensitive to the needs and aspirations of the youth, Editor, Learningchannel.org, Geeta Sharma and Mandate The Future, Sri Lanka, Rudy Edirisinghe conducted a session on education and the youth.

Involved with the organization 'One World's South Asia's Global', an online portal on education, they decided to launch a discussion forum using the D-groups platform, on relevance of education to youth and to their employment needs.

They have 300 members, more than fifty percent from the developing countries who contribute to the recommendations and policy suggestions stressing on areas like civil society, youth education, environment, Renewable energy, rural development.

"All over the world one person is affected by AIDS every six seconds", said Yamuna Pathak, the YES Coordinator for Hyderabad and the proprietor of Stree Seva Samithi.

"AIDS raids our life" was the essence of her presentation. The death toll of 3.1 million in the year 2002 came as an eye opener for the gathering. She also presented facts and figures specific to the state of Andhra Pradesh stating that 10% of the infection caused by the Human Immune Virus in India occurs in Andhra Pradesh.

Following the presentation was a discussion session in which a senior audience member suggested on the removal of the social stigma related to the critical issue of AIDS. "Join hands to wipe AIDS" was Ms Pathak's plea to the gathering.

" Youth empowerment is not restricted only to providing opportunities and economic advancement, but also includes bringing about social changes and overall personality development". The Knowledge sharing Session of YES Malaysia put forth ideas and initiated discussion on 'Youth and ICT for Development: The Malaysian Experience'.

Suroya Selamat, Deputy DG of Ministry of Youth and Sports, Malaysia, talking about the initiatives taken in Malaysia in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector, said "We have a tripod system of functioning, wherein the government, the non government agencies and the private sector work towards youth empowerment through ICT. We also provide the youth with a chance to voice their opinions and offer suggestions."

Kang Wai Chin, ICT Project Consultant, MIMOS Berhad, emphasizing of the importance of ICT in self-employment, explained, "Knowledge in ICT enables the youth to set up small business units in networking, computer assembling etc."

Concluding the session, she said, "Our motto is not just to better the youth but help them be the best."