Crown Prince Haakon: Youth find it incredibly easy to grasp the idea of dignity.
Crown Prince Haakon: Youth find it incredibly easy to grasp the idea of dignity.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Norway's Crown Prince Haakon: It is dangerous not to let youth help reshape the world
  • He says global youth networks are far ahead what established leaders had in their youth
  • Youth find it incredibly easy to operationalize dignity into practical action, he writes

Editor's note: His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon is the co-founder of Global Dignity and a U.N. goodwill ambassador, focused on promoting millennium developmental goals. He is the heir to the Norwegian throne. The opinions in this piece are solely his.

Davos (CNN) – Davos is a stimulating place to be, to discuss and to learn. Hopefully, by coming together, we will find ideas and solutions that will bring the world forward.

In my opinion, one of our challenges is that we are about to lose a whole generation of resources because of the growingunemployment of youth. It is dangerous not to let today's youth be a part of the reshaping of the world. In 2013, according to the World Bank, 73% of the labor force between the ages 15 and 24 was without work, but available for and seeking employment.

His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon

His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon

Many of the people I have admired over the last few years have been young people I have met in very different situations. They have become role models for leadership and high ethical standard.

Some fantastic young people I have met have shown leadership under such hard conditions that I can picture them taking a leading position within a wide range of fields.

I believe today's youth — the ones you find at almost any school almost anywhere in the world — are highly competent people with knowledge and experience that would be in the best interests of established leaders to utilize.

Youth today live in an extreme world regarding diversity, conflict, opportunities and technical means of connecting with others. 
Norway's Crown Prince Haakon

Youth today live in an extreme world regarding diversity, conflict, opportunities and technical means of connecting with others. The global networks of youth are far ahead what established leaders of today had when they were young.

Since 2006 I have been visiting schools and talking to students all around the world together with my fellow Young Global Leaders John Hope Bryant and Pekka Himanen.

We have arranged so called Dignity Days — which is the main activity of our organization Global Dignity. We have three goals: To spur a global conversation on dignity, to arrange Global Dignity Days at schools and promote dignity-based leadership.

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