The Government of Pakistan has officially launched PurAzm Pakistan, a national youth platform developed through the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme in partnership with UNICEF and Generation Unlimited, aimed at expanding access to skills, employment, entrepreneurship, and digital pathways for millions of young Pakistanis. The programme was launched in Islamabad with the goal of engaging youth across art, culture, science, technology, information technology, and sports, with Prime Minister’s Youth Programme Chairman Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan stating that the government is fully committed to equipping the young generation with the necessary skills to progress in the digital age.
PurAzm Pakistan is designed as a national platform that expands access to skills, employment, and entrepreneurship, with the initiative aiming to support millions of young people in moving from learning to earning. The launch builds directly on the momentum of the Digital Youth Hub, which has already surpassed 800,000 registered users since its introduction and serves as a one-stop digital platform giving young Pakistanis access to education, skills development, employment listings, and entrepreneurship support through a single mobile and web-based interface. Chairman Rana Mashhood also highlighted the Countries of Destination programme, which targets demanded skills and opportunities for Pakistani youth in countries around the world, providing structured pathways for internationally relevant skills development and overseas employment in markets where specific technical and vocational capabilities are in demand.
The launch of PurAzm Pakistan represents a consolidation and expansion of the government’s youth development agenda under a unified national brand, bringing together the Digital Youth Hub, the Countries of Destination initiative, and a range of upcoming policy instruments into a coherent framework for addressing youth unemployment, skills gaps, and economic exclusion. With over 63 percent of Pakistan’s population under the age of 30, the scale of the challenge demands a multi-dimensional response that goes beyond individual programme interventions, and PurAzm Pakistan is positioned as the institutional vehicle through which that response will be coordinated and delivered at scale over the coming years.
Rana Mashhood also announced that the National Youth Employment Policy will be launched within a month, a framework designed to support job creation, encourage startups, and enhance women’s participation in the workforce by providing structured guidance and resources to remove barriers to employment and entrepreneurship for young Pakistanis. The combination of the PurAzm Pakistan platform, the Digital Youth Hub’s growing user base, the Countries of Destination skills pipeline, and the forthcoming National Youth Employment Policy reflects a policy architecture that recognises digital access, skills development, and structured employment pathways as interconnected pillars of a credible national youth development strategy.
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