By Elif Kalan and Saige Martin

29 committed youth leaders from seventeen different countries were selected to attend the 2nd International Youth Leadership Academy (IYLA) training in Istanbul, Turkey. IYLA is coordinated by the Habitat Center for Development and Governance based in Istanbul. We were selected from a pool of more then 859 applicants. All of us came from different professional backgrounds, including NGO’s, Non-profits, and Civil Society Organizations. We travelled to Istanbul to gain skills and qualifications that would be useful to take actions to make meaningful changes to the lives of young people in our own countries.

Our training was led by Ravi Karkara, a Global Expert on Children and Youth, along with other experts from UN-Habitat and Save the Children. At the beginning of the training we attended the 2012 Youth Empowerment Forum of International Society for Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect (SPCAN). The forum this year was focused specifically on creating local, national, and international partnerships for protecting children against violence and abuse. The forum was very useful as it put emphasis on analyzing, strategizing, and understanding of children and youth rights, and we used these concepts throughout the IYLA training.

Throughout the week, we discussed various aspects of discrimination and dimensions of the cycle of oppression. We also analyzed the effects of policies and institutions on youth and others. Though the focus of our training was on youth and children, it also comprised many aspects of human rights and development. Ravi led us through a series of activities, discussions, and projects that stretched our attention to a broad range of issues, from youth rights to youth participation, social responsibility, inclusion of disadvantaged groups, and citizenship.

An important topic we discussed at the end of the training was the United Nations Post-2015 development agenda. In 2000 the United Nations Member States agreed to tackle the eight goals Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the year 2015. As 2015 approaches closer, the United Nations is asking youth and other stakeholders to be the part of the process of developing a post-2015 development agenda. After the discussion in the training, we decided to spread out our voices and to ask young people everywhere on the globe to raise their concerns on ‘The World We Want in 2015’. A video of the youth voices can be found in YouTube.

Tamar Tolordova from Georgia was asked about her plans after the training and she said: “I’m currently a volunteer in a Georgian youth organization and I’m trying to take part in different projects to become an active member of this organization. My past experiences include organizing different projects, event planning, and leading presentations and discussions at conferences. This training gives me the opportunity to use my experience, improve my abilities and understand my potentials. I hope the skills I have learned through this training would help me effectively organize more projects and events that will ultimately help the development of youth as well as my professional career”.

The training was full of passion and experiences, and culminated in an international effort to create change, to take action, and to mobilize local communities for 2015, and beyond. For more information about IYLA or Habitat please go to: www.habitatkalkinma.org and for more information on The World We Want 2015 initiative, go to: www.worldwewant2015.org.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3veECxpizP8

UN DESA

Summary Report on the United Nations System-wide Action Plan on Youth (SWAP) Survey

Why a SWAP Survey?

Amongst the three actions outlined by the Secretary-General for youth development is the preparation of a United Nations system wide action plan on youth to deepen the youth focus of existing United Nations system programmes. To seek inputs from youth and other relevant stakeholders for the development of the System-wide Action Plan on Youth, The Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development conducted an on-line survey in July-August 2012.

Survey Structure

The survey was conducted in French, Arabic, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and English. The survey contained questions on each of the five priority areas of the action plan, as identified by the Secretary-General. The five priority areas are: Employment, Entrepreneurship, Education including education on sexual and reproductive health, Political inclusion, Citizenship and protection of rights. The survey asks the respondents to identify major challenges for each priority theme and then asks them to suggest possible solutions. 

Profile of the respondents

In total, 13,500 people have participated in the survey, of these 69% used the English version; 6% used the French version; 11% used the Spanish version; 3% used the Arabic version; 9% used the Chinese version and 2% used the Russian version. In total 53% of the contributors were female whereas 46% were male (other 1%). About two-thirds of the respondents were under 30. (1.2% was under 15; 11.3% were between 15 and 18; 37.4% were between 19 and 24; 26.3% were between 25 and 29; 12.2% were between 30 and 35; 11.7% were older than 36).

Entrepreneurship: Challenges and Suggested Solutions

Respondents identified lack of financial literacy and business skills (50.2%) and lack of access to financial services, including loans, savings, and equity and youth friendly financial products (49.9%) as the most important challenges for youth entrepreneurship. They suggested the establishment/ improvement of entrepreneurship training, including through the development of entrepreneurship education curricula in schools (53.2%) and provisions for easier access to financial services, including loans, savings, and other youth friendly financial products (52,1%) as the most important steps to overcome those challenges.

Employment: Challenges and Suggested Solutions

Respondents identified lack of job opportunities (62.2%) and the miss-match between education/training and labour market need (58.8%) as the most important challenges for youth employment. They suggested the provision/improvement of training and vocational education in the classroom and the workplace, such as internships, volunteering and on the job training schemes (64.3%), and development, implementation and evaluation of specific policies and strategies on decent work for youth, including in the green economy (49.6%) as the most important steps to promote youth employment.

Education, including sexual and reproductive health education: Challenges and Suggested Solutions

Respondents identified the poor quality and availability of education, especially for those from the poorest households or households with the lowest socioeconomic status (59.2%), and poorly linked curriculum to the knowledge and skills needed for work (57.1%) as the most important challenge for youth education. They suggested supporting initiatives enabling a smooth transition from education to the labour market, including workplace training (i.e. mentorships, apprenticeships) as elements of formal education (55.2%), and incorporating peace, human rights, gender equality, global citizenship and cross-cultural awareness into curricula of formal and non-formal education (48.9%) as the most important steps to ensure education for youth.     .

In regards to education on sexual and reproductive health, participants underlined that the lack of effective curricula and learning/teaching materials for comprehensive sexuality education (59.6%), and inadequate training of the teachers and health-care workers to deliver comprehensive sexuality education towards youth (56%) as the main challenges to be tackled. They put forward suggestions to strengthen content, quality and coverage of comprehensive sexuality education, including information on family planning and contraception (58,7%), and identified making comprehensive sexuality education a mandatory part of primary and secondary school curricula (51,3%) as the most important actions to ensure effective sexual and reproductive health education for youth. 

Citizenship: Challenges and Suggested Solutions

Respondents highlighted limited opportunities for the effective participation of youth in decision making, including lack of youth participation structures at the community and national level (70.2%), and the lack of trust between youth and government institutions and political parties (61.6%) as the main challenges for young people in the area of citizenship. They recommended promoting and improving the quality of global citizenship through civic education on human rights, civic engagement, gender equality, peace and sustainable development, in both formal and non-formal education systems (70.1%), and promoting global, regional, and national youth volunteering schemes to engage youth (59.5%), as the most important actions to be taken to tackle these challenges.

Protection of Rights: Challenges and Suggested Solutions

Poverty (58.1%) and lack of awareness about human rights (57.2%) were identified as top challenges to protect young people’s rights. Participants proposed to increase awareness and implement programmes about human rights, and improve access to youth-friendly information about rights and how to exercise them (72.3%), and increase support for mechanisms and programmes that promote human rights and prevent human rights violations, such as national human rights institutions (59.1%) as the key interventions for the protection of youth rights.

Political Inclusion: Challenges and Solutions

The biggest challenges identified, for political inclusion, were the ignorance/ indifference of people in positions of authority (50%), and the lack of support and commitment towards young people including support to youth branches of political organizations (49.8%). Respondents suggested to promote youth leadership, capacities and skills, including through strengthening support of youth-led organizations (70%), and to establish/strengthen institutions that promote youth participation (52.5%) as the most important undertakings to improve the situation.

LInk for the Report

Youth Empowerment through Cooperatives – Have your say!

As the International Year of Cooperatives is coming to an end, an International Cooperatives Youth Statement will outline how cooperatives can empower young people and inform international policy dialogues. Please provide your insights, ideas and input to the development of the statement through the following survey by Wednesday, 24 October 2012: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CQVFGXF.

For more information on the UN's work on cooperatives and the International Year of Cooperatives please visit http://social.un.org/coopsyear.

Secretary-General launches “Education First” initiative

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has launched a new initiative to increase access to, and the quality of, education for children worldwide. Called “Education First,” the initiative will focus on three priorities over the next five years: putting every child in school, improving the quality of learning and fostering global citizenship through education “Every one of us stands on the shoulders of our teachers, our communities, our families who believed in us and invested in our education,” Mr. Ban said at the launch of the initiative, on the margins of the 67th session of the General Assembly in New York on 26 September. “We are here today because we know every child everywhere deserves that same chance.”

In an op-ed article in the Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ban-kimoon/educationfirst_b_1903654.html), the Secretary-General said education was not simply a moral imperative; it was the smart choice. “Every dollar invested generates $10 to $15 in returns. Yet worldwide, some 61 million children are still not in school. Our shared ideals are simple. We want all children to attend primary school and to progress to secondary school and relevant higher education. We want them to acquire the literacy, numeracy and critical-thinking skills that will help them to succeed in life and live as engaged and productive global citizens,” the Secretary-General said.

"Education First” has already attracted commitments totalling $1.5 billion. Among the countries that pledged to intensify their support for Education First are Australia, Bangladesh, South Africa, Timor-Leste and Denmark. From the private sector, the Western Union Foundation and the MasterCard Foundation pledged to give grants for economically disadvantaged students from the African continent so they can complete their education.

WHO

Pre-pregnancy care

Reduction of maternal and childhood mortality and morbidity requires the provision of a continuum of care that spans pregnancy, childbirth, infancy, childhood and adolescence. Interventions before pregnancy occur can increase the health and well-being of adolescents, adult women and men, and improve subsequent pregnancy and child health outcomes.

Pre-pregnancy care is the provision of biomedical, behavioural, environmental and social interventions before pregnancy occurs. The interventions fall within various domains of public health such as nutrition, immunization, sexual and reproductive health, as well as tobacco, alcohol, violence and environmental health*.

Adolescence is an important phase in the life course, and is a particular relevant time for providing pre-pregnancy care. The interventions can be delivered in a variety of ways, such as through health facilities, school health services, youth development programmes and work place programmes.

*The full list is available in “Meeting to Develop a Global Consensus on Preconception Care to Reduce Maternal and Childhood Mortality and Morbidity”. World Health Organization, 2012. (To be published later this month).

UN-Habitat

1. UN-Habitat’s Urban Youth Fund Supports Youth to Become City Changers

UN-Habitat on 1 October 2012 announced its fourth round of Urban Youth Fund grantees. The forty-one youth-led projects from thirty-six countries will be awarded grants up to 25,000 USD totalling 750,000 USD. The selected projects will contribute to the I am a City Changer campaign through the impact of their work on sustainable development in cities. Many of the selected projects will tackle combined development issues and will actively engage local governments and other actors to ensure sustainability and a greater impact. UN-Habitat believes that these projects will help create opportunities for young people, and will provide them with the means to become actors of change in society.

The UN-Habitat Urban Youth Fund, supported by the Government of Norway,  grants funding to projects led by youth who are piloting innovative approaches to employment and good urban governance. This year the Urban Youth Fund received over 5000 applications from all over the world, with an increased number of applications from the Middle East and North Africa region, as well as Latin America.  Most importantly, these projects show the desire of young people to become agents of change within their communities and countries. 

For more information http://www.unhabitat.org/categories.asp?catid=637

The contact person for the Urban Youth Fund is Jon-Andreas Solberg (jon-andreas.solberg@unhabitat.org)

2. UN-Habitat Youth Advisory Board

The 14 members of UN-Habitat’s Youth Advisory Board have started their new two-year term of office giving UN-Habitat and their home regions a much-needed boost of new ideas on urban youth perspectives around the world.  The Board members will serve as advisors in their regions and participate in various urban youth platforms. They will provide advice to UN-Habitat on urban youth development and promote the inclusion of young people at various levels in UN-Habitat’s decision-making process.

The elected board is made up of 12 Youth Advisors representing Africa, Asia pacific, Europe, North America, West Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and two observers representing the interests of informal settlements, and the other appointed by UN-Habitat.

For more information, please visit http://www.unhabitat.org/categories.asp?catid=531

3. World Urban Youth Assembly

More than 300 youth activists from around the world recently gathered in Naples, Italy, for the UN-Habitat World Urban Youth Assembly. The one day assembly, hosted by the Government of Italy, the Campania Region and the City of Naples is the fourth biennial session of its kind. The Assembly that takes place traditionally on the eve of the World Urban Forum serves as a platform for youth to engage in dialogue and exchange experiences about youth empowerment. At the assembly, youth delegates discussed the theme, “The role of Young people in the Urban Future” providing them the opportunity to examine their role in the prosperity of cities and the potential areas for them to contribute in creating a sustainable urban future.

The assembly highlighted the important contributions of young people in education, climate change, governance, information communication technology, sports and recreation, sustainable urban mobility, water and sanitation, employment and land issues in urban areas.

UNCDF

YouthStart

YouthStart, a UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) programme in partnership with The MasterCard Foundation aims to reach 200,000 youth in Sub-Saharan Africa with demand-driven financial services and non-financial services, in particular savings and financial education, by 2014. As of October 2012, US$7.8 million has been awarded to 11 Financial Service Providers (FSPs) in eight different countries. Of that amount, US$3.2 million has so far been disbursed to design, deliver and scale up demand-driven youth financial services and youth-centric programmes in partnership with youth serving organizations.

During the third quarter of 2012, UNCDF published its paper “Assessing new youth focused products: Pilot testing financial and non-financial services for youth in Sub-Saharan Africa” where YouthStart presents the lessons learned from the pilot tests conducted by 10 of its partners, and released it at the Making Cents International’s 2012 Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference in Washington.

UNRWA

Back to school for young Palestine refugees

Last month saw the start of a new school year for thousands of Palestine refugee children and youth across the Middle East. UNRWA operates one of the largest school systems in the region, with nearly 700 schools attended by half a million Palestine refugee children and youth across its five fields of operation. All children registered with the Agency are eligible for free primary education, which is UNRWA’s largest programme.

UNRWA’s school programme faces a number of significant challenges. Almost three-quarters of Agency schools run on a double-shift system; which means cramped classrooms, evening classes and a one day weekend.
 
The obstacles do not end when students finish school. In Gaza, twenty-year-old Do’a has recently graduated from an UNRWA vocational training centre, and is now trying to find work. She would like to open her own fashion business, but the realities on the ground mean that her employment opportunities in the territory are limited. To mark back-to-school week, UNRWA has launched a series of articles for Palestine refugees like Do’a to share their stories. You can read similar articles about Palestine refugee youth on UNRWA’s website and see photos of back-to-school week on UNRWA’s Facebook page.

For more information, please visit http://www.unrwa.org/etemplate.php?id=1427

Youth Employment Network

The Youth Employment Network (YEN), an inter-agency programme of the United Nations, International Labour Organization, and the World Bank, enables youth employment stakeholders to find or exchange innovative ideas, expertise, advice and partnership through the online platform YEN Marketplace.

1. What’s Working? competition invites organizations focusing on improving youth employment opportunities to tell YEN about their project. The winning organizations will have a chance to get their project featured at the 2013 Global Youth Employment Opportunities Conference and win up to $800! This round of the What’s Working? competition is focused on rural interventions. The deadline to enter is November 30 at http://yenmarketplace.org/whats-working-competition
2. Social Entrepreneurship Webinar - On October 31, join YEN for a free webinar to discuss Social Entrepreneurship as a method for NGOs to acquire a revenue stream and as an option for young entrepreneurs to start a business that has a positive social impact in your community. Register for the event here:  http://yenmarketplace.org/experts-corner
   

Contact: For more information please visit http://yenmarketplace.org or contact at yenmarketplace@ilo.org

UNIC Pretoria, South Africa

50 Special Needs Students visit UNIC Pretoria

What started off on 10 September as a routine tour of the United Nations, turned out to be a heart-warming and enjoyable experience with a group of partially- or completely-blind and sighted students from St Francis Catholic Academy in South Africa.

The students visited from Polokwane in the Limpopo province and assembled in the UN Information Centre library keenly waiting to learn about the work of the UN.

The programme was spearheaded by the UN Information Centre librarian, who welcomed the visitors and gave insight on UN activities before screening a video. Afterwards, the floor came alive with inquisitive hands shooting into the air. An engaging discussion ensued on issues surrounding poverty, war, child soldiers, discrimination and HIV/AIDS. The National Information Officer addressed numerous questions, reminded them about UNICEF’s work for and with children and pointed out that 3 December was the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

UNIC Delhi, India

Students in India tap into the UN

As the UN Information Centre (UNIC) in New Delhi continues to promote learning about the United Nations, students from two Delhi schools visited the Centre for a session on the UN, its functions and objectives. Additionally, seventy students from St. Mark’s and Kulachi Hansraj schools also learned how to access and use United Nations database and archives. 

The UNIC Librarian, Dr. R.K. Sharma, provided an overview of UN documents and invited the students to consult materials available in the Library. Assistant Information Officer, Rineeta Naik, spoke about the main features of the UN system, and also addressed a number of animated queries on Security Council reform, UN peacekeeping functions and the role that youth play in realizing UN objectives.

UNIC Moscow, Russia

Youth Session on Sustainable Development

On 28 September, the UN Information Centre in Moscow assisted The Club of High-School Students of the Central Administrative District of Moscow to organize a session called “What Sustainable Development is All About”.

The session opened with a 10-minute video, produced by World Wildlife Fund-Russia, on the concept of sustainable development, which provided a firm foundation on social, economic and environmental well-being.

Olga Dobrovidova, Head of the Environment News Group at RIA Novosti, one of the three main Russian news agencies, delivered the key note speech to 40 youth. An expert and enthusiastic advocate for change, she stressed that the planet’s resources were finite and the civilization of “always more” was taking us nowhere. Ms. Dobrovidova also shared her impressions about Rio+20, stressing that the forum was by no means a “missed opportunity”.

Centre Director Alexandre Gorelik noted that it was important for young people to learn sustainable development tenets for a society that values people, the planet and interconnections between them.

UNIC Buenos Aires, Argentina

Argentine Youth and the UN

"Youth working for youth" that’s the main motto of the Argentine Organization of Youth for the UN (OAJNU). With 17 years of experience, it is a leader of the Model UN movement in Argentina.

During the last weekend of September, the UN Information Centre in Buenos Aires sponsored an OAJNU-organized regional model UN that brought together more than 450 students from four different provinces in north-east Argentina. "Our goal is to promote UN values and leadership among youth" says 23-year-old Executive Director Alfredo Mattos of OAJNU,Corrientes, a province 600 miles from Buenos Aires.

The organization is based on the volunteer work of young women and men committed to the values of education and dialogue. “We are the only youth NGO in the region. We provide young people with an arena to actively participate in debates concerning their rights and the welfare of their communities", concluded Alfredo.

Something to believe in: MGCY remains committed in the Post-Rio+20 Arena

The Major Group for Children and Youth (MGCY) was actively involved in the Rio+20 process, as the official representation of young people at the Conference, thanks to the untiring efforts of children and youth civil society organizations and hundreds of young volunteers worldwide. Rio+20 was successful in fostering partnerships between parties that have not traditionally worked together, one of the ‘invisible’ outcomes of the Conference. It demonstrated that partnership between diverse partners is possible when a common vision is shared. Partners and MGCY members contributed in a multitude of ways and it was only thanks to their common vision – the desire to create a more sustainable planet – that a wide range of outcomes were attained. Young people that participated in Rio+20, in situ and remotely, showed commitment and will for making sustainability a reality, creating partnerships and building actions for a just and sustainable world.

The MGCY remains committed to this process and are currently trying to define what our participation will look like in this new arena. There are many different ideas ranging from further developing Sustainable Development Goals, to increasing capacity building at a local level, to participation in the Post-2015 Millennium Development Goals. To help develop our vision, the MGCY is inviting all youth to complete a survey where they can share their ideas and opinions.

Please complete the survey by clicking here.

Through the momentum gained at the Rio+20, the MGCY will continue to work towards creating an enabling environment for young people to engage in sustainability activities at local, national and international levels. To articulate this conviction, the MGCY compiled the closing statement from Rio+20 into a video to inspire people into action. Using this video, the MGCY hopes to inspire people into action and continue to build a youth movement for sustainability. The video can be viewed at:

• English:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx6-vef889U
  
• French:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y20YagbNaNY
  
• Español: vimeo.com/macondofilm/creoenjuventud
  
• Portugues:vimeo.com/macondofilm/acreditarnajuventude
  

As the final remark of the MGCY Closing Statement for Rio+20 states, “We are moving forward, decisively, and with action. We are not deterred.”

WORLD BANK

Young People during Economic Crises

The World Bank launched a new book on "Children and Youth in Crisis: Protecting and Promoting Human Development in Times of Economic Shocks". The report reviews the available evidence on the impact of crises on the development of young people, and how best to protect and promote human development during economic downturns. Drawing from the fields of economics, sociology, psychology, and anthropology, this research provides an interdisciplinary framework for identifying and understanding age-specific vulnerabilities from conception through to young adulthood, the importance of context and how it changes across the life course, and the different transmission mechanisms through which economic shocks can affect young people. 

To access the report and other supporting materials please click here.