The UNAIDS Secretariat recently launched an online process to develop its New Generation Leadership Strategy. The aim of this project is to define and integrate meaningful youth participation and leadership into the Secretariat’s work and methods, and to stimulate increased HIV awareness to mobilize young people in the response. The project is made up of two components, one internal assessment of UNAIDS and youth leadership, and one external component, CrowdOutAIDS.org. Definitely worth a look.
The UN High Level Meeting on Youth just concluded in New York. Who was there? What was being discussed? And what does it mean for youth participation? Looking forward to your thoughts!
As the UN International Year of Youth comes to a close (in less than 3 months!), it’s worth remembering what youth participation means, in their context.
Will the Jasmine Revolution meet the expectations of youth? Follow the Intelligence Squared debate tonight, by tuning in at 6:15pm (GMT+1) and voting/commenting on the motion.
Do you have any questions for the United Nations International Year of Youth Briefing Session on Youth Participation? Tell the IYY team!
Insightful commentary by Yohannes Mezgebe, vice president of the Pan-African Youth Union and former Fellow of the Desmond Tutu Fellowship Award.
This guest post is a message by Emmanuel Duker, country coordinator for Ghana in the Network for African Youths for Development.
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The African Union Commission is working on the preparation of the summit. As part of its effort there is a plan to organize the African Youth Forum in early April to be preceded by the meeting of the Ministries in Charge of Youth and the Permanent Representative Committee among others.
The AU consists of its members states whose decisions follow member states self interest. This means that most of the time the voice of the people is not adequately heard. This will be the case with this July’s summit on youth empowerment also. AUC has formed a steering committee to lead the process comprised of 22 organizations, yet only 2 are youth organizations.
Article 11 of the African Youth Charter states that “every young people shall have the right to participate in all spheres of society”. The pre-consultation process needs to encompass a wide range of youth participation both young men and women. This is not happening with this AUC pre-consultation process.
Can I ask to make sure that your voice is properly heard by:
On-line elections will be held in April. Please send me a brief CV and a summary of what you would do to widen the youth network in your country. Each representative will be given a copy of existing NAYD members details. The position will be for 2 years.
Thanks,
Emmanuel Duker
The Youth Assembly Steering Committee will be awarding bursaries/scholarships to young activists who are able to demonstrate the importance and impact of their engagement in their communities and a strong interest in participating in the Civicus: World Alliance for Citizen Participation Youth and World Assemblies. Apply now!
The British Youth Council is hosting tomorrow a one-day event on Youth Voice and Participation in Global Governance. Follow @Yparticipate for live coverage (courtesy of @nwoje). Here below, a short briefing.
What is it all about?
We are bringing together young people in the UK who have been part of an international decision-making process or event. There will also be staff from organizations who have a specific role supporting young people’s voice and participation.
What is the aim?
We will learn about what works in international youth voice and participation. We will also explore to what extent access to decision-makers, presence in global forums and voice at these platforms has a real influence on policy and delivers change for young people.
What is the format?
It will be a flexible one day programme of group working, facilitated discussion, presentations and networking, with a focus on sharing experiences.
Who is running this?
The British Youth Council (BYC) is coordinating the event. BYC is a youth-led organisation and the National Youth Council of the UK, and has been involved in international youth representation for many years. BYC is active in the Commonwealth, Europe and other high-level forums and also manages the UK Young Ambassadors project.
Supporting youth voice is at the heart of the organisation.
Why now?
Firstly, there is a lot of international youth representation going on, but very little investigation into whether it is effective or not. It is important to bring together this knowledge and learning and make a powerful case as to why youth should be at the table, what works and how it can actually make a real difference. Policy-makers are starting to take notice and we need to capitalize on this. This is also the UN International Year of Youth and so a great opportunity to be heard at the highest levels. The importance of young people at the forefront of movements for change is very clear; that is obvious from the current new headlines, but also because of all the work of youth activists in organisations, through campaigns occurring behind the scenes across the World.
What happens afterwards? Is this a one off?
We hope not! This is the first time something like this is taking place which is already very valuable gathering in itself. We are planning to come up with some practical outcomes such as recommendations on what does and doesn’t work. BYC has some ideas on how to take this forward but we will be getting your thoughts on the day. Ideas so far include:
