Last month, a diverse group of policymakers, entrepreneurs and young change-makers from across South Asia stepped out of a brightly lit conference room in the Atlantic Council, particularly proud of themselves. For they had just spent a good three hours not yawning through a typical policy roundtable but a riveting brainstorming session where they had first-hand recognised the elephant in the room: South Asia’s next step forward cannot be made by people whose political imagination is still trapped between 1947 and 1971.

As very befittingly remarked by Atlantic Council’s Senior Advisor, Imran Shauket, he, along with other facilitators (“with grey hair, or no hair at all”), could do only so much for the next generation. They could impart pearls of wisdom like Master Shifu, be energetic cheerleaders, open doors and warn of obstacles. But at the end of the day, they intended to “create the conditions for young leaders to build (a new circuit)” and then get out of the way. South Asia is home to nearly 2 billion people yet remains the least integrated region in the world. Intra-regional trade is estimated at around five per cent. Cross-border mobility is choked by visas, travel permissions and No Objection Certificate regimes. Even shared survival questions – climate adaptation, public health, digital identity, disaster forecasting and disease surveillance – remain hostage to politics that was old before many of today’s young South Asians were born. This gap is exactly what NextGen Leaders Forum-a structural mechanism designed to empower young leaders, share problems and build a more integrated South Asia–has its eyes on.

Now, many would exclaim we’ve seen this rodeo before. More importantly, the less said the better about the riveting swan dance of suspicion, shared grievances and the long table at which everyone knows why nothing can move. Time and again, we’ve seen a handful of polite men (sometimes, women) smile for cameras, praise the “spirit of dialogue” and then go back to their busy lives while the idea is sent packing into the great regional graveyard of good intentions.

Standing at a demographic high point, the next generation can change all that. We are counted amongst the youngest nations in the world. We are strong-willed, iron-hearted and vicious. Now, this is not to call youth magicians. Young people inherit prejudice, privilege, rage and history like everyone else. But they are closer to the consequences: labour markets that cannot absorb them, universities that certify without preparing, recruitment systems where merit fights patronage at the gate, and digital economies that promise the world while locking opportunity behind class, connectivity and capital.

The first part of this series looked at the conversation itself. The second question is........

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