Youth Week WA Ambassador 2020, Haseeb Riaz is a young changemaker passionate about areas such as youth health education. Haseeb is currently taking a break from studying Medicine at UWA, and is a co-founder of MAN UP, a social enterprise that aims to redefine the concept of masculinity. Haseeb chats to us about who he is and what he’s passionate about, being a Youth Week WA Ambassador and the ingenuity of young people in the arts.

In a nutshell, who are you, what do you do, what do you feel strongly about?

Hi! My name’s Haseeb, I use He/Him pronouns, am 20 years old and am currently taking a year off from studying. I graduated with a Bachelor of Biomedical Science from UWA last year and I enter my second year of Medicine at UWA next year.

I have two younger sisters; one is in her second semester studying Psychology at UWA and the other is in Year 10. My parents both come from a city in Punjab, Pakistan called Lahore and I have some amazing cultural ties to the food, dance, language and more! I enjoy cooking in my spare time and have really enjoyed the extra snooze time that I’ve been getting recently!

I am driven and passionate about a couple of things, and I’ve had the privilege to get involved in a few of those areas! As young people, we face many challenges and the best way to advocate and face these challenges is through activating as a group of young people ourselves. Over the past year I’ve worked on co-founding a social enterprise named MAN UP, which aims to redefine the concept of masculinity and reduce the toxicity that breeds amongst some groups of young men. I’ve been passionate about this field since seeing my own personal development, and development of other colleagues following school and hope to bring impact and change through opening a vulnerable conversation and discussion about masculinity.

On top of this, I’m really passionate about youth health education. Especially in WA, a lot of young people can sometimes have gap in their health knowledge, specifically in rural areas. Through working with the Dr YES program as a coordinator in 2019, I was able to aid a team in creating educational content that provides crucial harm minimisation information in the areas of sexual health, mental health and alcohol and other drugs.

What do you do in your role as Youth Ambassador? What do you hope to do in this role?

My role involves me being able to talk and discuss what matters most to youth all around WA. I feel as though this is also the most rewarding part of the role too. As an ambassador, the role infers that we may be the best equipped to be a spokesperson for youth in WA, but as Zahra always states really well, the title ‘ambassador’ doesn’t necessarily mean we know exactly how every young person in the state feels. Thus, being able to discuss issues and communicate with young people around the state means we have the best bank of information to express what matters most to young people.

I hope to also convey these concerns to policymakers who could hopefully act on what they hear from youth around WA. It’s important to notice and acknowledge young people as leaders of our community in the present, not just the future (another well-articulated comment), and this means taking young people’s opinions seriously. I hope to be a platform for young people to share their ideas and have them acted on!

Why is it important to have events such as Youth Week WA KickstART Festival?

Celebrating people, from all sectors of the world is incredibly important, especially when over 30% of the state’s population is made up of people under 25. Youth Week WA gives young people in WA an opportunity to share their talents, experiences, and voices to empower and celebrate their peers. KickstART means that all the young people in the arts sphere get an opportunity to share their skills and talents on a state-wide platform. I myself am not the most artistically talented, but being able to share music, art and more with other young people is not only just an opportunity to showcase, but also a way to display the ways that other young people around the state can get involved with celebrating youth through the arts.

As a youth yourself, what do you think is our strongest and weakest asset?

I think young people are told a lot of times that they lack the experience and wisdom to be leaders and make decisions. I actually believe the contrary. Having the youthful perspective and new approach to solving problems makes young people the most appropriate to lead and make important decisions. On top of the ‘fresh’ approach that young people bring to problem solving, young people also have the power of expression. Young people have an incredible capacity to express their opinion, whether that be a singular voice or a group of voices with a shared goal. Young people also have the ingenuity to turn all their assets into positive ones, and always being able to twist weaknesses into having positive impacts.

What does art and youth mean to you?

In our current world, art seems to be the quintessential illustration of youth talent. Youth around the globe have embraced the arts throughout the years and redefined their individual genres throughout each generation. This individualisation towards the art is what makes expression through art so unique in my opinion. I’ve loved watching how young people transform the arts into ways to convey their concerns and opinions too. Especially through local music and artists in WA, it’s been amazing to see them use their platform developed through the arts and then used to launch social campaigns and engage with communities everywhere.

What does the Youth Week WA theme (Koora, Mila, Yeyi) mean to you? How are you interpreting it this year?

I really do relate to what Zahra says about young people not only being the voice of the future, but the voice of the present. I love how the theme, Koora, Mila, Yeyi, acknowledges the impact that youth have made in the past, and how the space and potential for youth to be heard has only grown in the past generations. I think recognising youth as leaders of the present is really powerful though. It’s important to empower youth of today and maintain the presence youth have in decision making for the future too.

Haseeb continues to advocate for youth health education and ideas of masculinity as a Youth Week WA Ambassador. Check out MAN UP on Instagram and Facebook, and Dr YES on Instagram and Facebook, and check out the other Youth Week WA Ambassador Zahra's interview here.

INERVIEW BY: YOSHIKA KON

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia we have cancelled the upcoming Youth Week WA KickstART Festival, which was scheduled to take place from 17 - 24 April. Please click here to read our full response.