August 2015

Feature Article


Spotlight

Building Bridges in South Africa

Building Bridges in South Africa

The Building Bridges team arrived in Cape Town, South Africa on 12 August 2015. Their arrival coincided with International Youth Day and was celebrated by representatives from various youth organizations, UN Women and the Dutch Embassy. The next step will be to present the outcomes of the project at the Sustainable Development Goals Summit at the end of September2015. Follow Dutch Youth Delegate to the UN, Jilt van Schayik, and Teun Meulepas as they continue to connect with young people from all walks of life.


Inter-Agency Update

Inter-Agency Update

Members of the Inter-agency Network on Youth Development (IANYD) came together on 12 August 2015 to commemorate International Youth Day under the theme Youth Civic Engagement. The event was organized by UNDESA and UNDP, with the support of the Inter-agency Network on Youth Development, and consisted of two inter-active panels. The discussion panels showcased inspiring ways in which young people engage in civic and political spheres, either at the local, national or global level. The event brought together young people, youth organizations, Member State representatives, civil society, media and United Nations entities to discuss the issue of youth civic engagement, in particular looking at new and emerging issues and approaches to social and political engagement in different parts of the world.


UN Entities Highlighted News

ILO: Investing in youth and ensuring decent jobs to harness the demographic dividend (Addis Ababa, 15 July 2015)

ILO: Investing in youth and ensuring decent jobs to harness the demographic dividend (Addis Ababa, 15 July 2015)

On the occasion of the first-ever World Youth Skills Day, a joint side event of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development was convened by the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth and co-organized in partnership with ILO and UNESCO to raise awareness on the importance of ensuring adequate investments in youth, highlight good practices and lessons learned on effective approaches to skills development and discuss practical ways in which the international community can work in partnership with Member States. More

 

 

 

ILO: What works for youth employment? Innovative experiences in the transition to formality (Lima, 22-24 April 2015)

ILO: What works for youth employment? Innovative experiences in the transition to formality (Lima, 22-24 April 2015)

The mutual learning workshop “What works for youth employment? Innovative experiences in the transition to formality,” was part of the activities planned to support the implementation of the Resolution of the 101st Session of the International Labour Conference (ILC), “The Youth Employment Crisis: A Call for Action.” The regional workshop forms part of the “Transition to formality” work area. This area works to strengthen constituents’ knowledge and capacities concerning effective policies that include innovative features to increase their impact on youth. More

#DrawDisability campaign: vote for your favorite drawing by 30 September!

#DrawDisability campaign: vote for your favorite drawing by 30 September!

Led by the United Nations Secretary-General’s Global Education First Initiative (GEFI), the #DrawDisability campaign invited children, young people and schools to reflect on disability and raise awareness of the issues people with disability face in terms of access to, and the quality of education. Almost 3,000 drawings were received from 50 countries and you can now vote online for your favorite drawing. The final exhibition will be at the United Nations in New York on 3 December 2015. More

 

UNESCO: School's Newsletters for a culture of peace.

UNESCO: School's Newsletters for a culture of peace

The project aims at educating young people in the ideals and practice of a culture of peace and non-violence through the preparation and distribution of school newsletters which content educates for peace, human rights and citizenship. It is implemented in the UNESCO Associated Schools Project Network (ASPnet) in Cuba and in the Dominican Republic, in collaboration with the UNESCO´s National Commissions, the ministries of education, journalist associations as well as teachers and journalists training institutions of both Member States. More

Global Dialogues: Young Entrepreneurs as Drivers of Sustainable Growth

Global Dialogues: Young Entrepreneurs as Drivers of Sustainable Growth

Are you an innovative young entrepreneur with a story to tell? Share your journey, inspire others, make your voice be heard! The Young Americas Business Trust (YABT) and the World Bank Group are inviting young entrepreneurs to participate in a series of virtual global dialogues on the topic “Young Entrepreneurs: Drivers of Sustainable Growth.” The dialogues will be held on August 20 (French), September 3 (English) and September 10 (Spanish) and will provide inputs to a flagship event, “Young Entrepreneurs as Drivers of Sustainable Growth," to be held during the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings on October 8, 2015 in Lima, Peru.

 

UNEP: What does ice cream have to do with climate change?

UNEP: What does ice cream have to do with climate change?

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) teamed up with Ben & Jerry’s “Save Our Swirled” tour to offer free scoops of ice cream to local climate advocates in Washington, D.C. The ice cream was served from a converted 100% electric Tesla delivery car at the UNEP Regional Office for North America and attracted a crowd of over 700 people in just one hour. The tour is travelling across the U.S. to mobilize citizens to call on global leaders to tackle climate change. Watch what happens when ice cream is 2°C warmer than it should be. A 2°C warming of our planet would have an equally dramatic impact.

Youth SWAP set to address youth priorities in Zambia

Youth SWAP set to address youth priorities in Zambia

The Zambia UN Youth SWAP (System-wide Actiona Plan on Youth) has scored remarkable progress since its revival in February 2015. Twelve UN agencies, government and youth representatives are on board and have developed a roadmap and work plan which is operationalized and currently in implementation. Zambia, in addition to seven other UN Country Teams, participated last month in the first pilot of the SWAP survey on Employment and Entrepreneurship. Additionally, a UN–Youth partnership platform has been established to provide wider scale engagement space for the youth and the UN agencies to ensure that youth priorities are constantly captured and addressed in programme implementation.

 

UNDP Kosovo: Engaging youth in Kosovo through Co-Design

UNDP Kosovo: Engaging youth in Kosovo through Co-Design

The United Nations Kosovo Team is exploring new ways of programme design and implementation by directly engaging the youth of Kosovo, through collaborative design, and in finding new ways to identify and solve issues of concern. The pilot project Co-design with Youth in Kosovo, is the first step towards the creation of the Joint Youth and Adolescent Programme (JYAP), a UN programme co-led by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in partnership with the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme. More

UNFPA Palestine: Young Palestinian and his team win first prize competition for designing mobile application

UNFPA Palestine: Young Palestinian and his team win first prize competition for designing mobile application

During the Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Design Challenge and Hackathon meeting in Kampala, Uganda, 80 participants representing 7 teams competed to design a mobile application. The winning team, called “Put it On”, consisted of participants from Palestine (represented by Ali Qurei), Uganda, Moldova, Turkey, Canada, Korea, and Macedonia. “The application, TriGivia (which stands for 3G – Tri, Giving – Givia), will help youth have access to information on sexual and reproductive health issues and falsify myths of information on gender”, said Ali Qurei. More

UNDP Bhutan: Young Bhutanese democrats sign Bhutan 1st Children’s Parliament Constitution

UNDP Bhutan: Young Bhutanese democrats sign Bhutan 1st Children’s Parliament Constitution

In 2013, the Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB), established Democracy Clubs across schools in the country to help youth learn the principles and practices of electoral democracy. The Bhutan Children’s Parliament, developed by ECB in collaboration with the National Assembly of Bhutan, has been established to take the clubs further by offering children the opportunity to develop leadership skills, voice their ideas, thoughts and feelings. The launch of the Constitution for the Bhutan Children’s Parliamnet was supported by UNDP Bhutan and the Swiss Development Cooperation through UNICEF Bhutan. More

 

 

 

ILO: Skills for Sustainable Development: Connecting Youth to Labour Market (Video)

ILO: Skills for Sustainable Development: Connecting Youth to Labour Market (Video)

On the first-ever commemoration of World Youth Skills Day, Aeneas Chapinga Chuma, ILO Assistant-Director-General and Regional Director for Africa talks in this video about how to provide skills that will enable young people to get productive employment in a changing world of work.

ILO: Youth employment is on everybody's minds (Video)

ILO: Youth employment is on everybody's minds (Video)

Ahead of the 13-16 July Financing for Development Conference in Addis-Ababa, Stephen Pursey, Director of the ILO Multilateral Cooperation Department talked about the challenge of high-levels of youth employment and how it can be tackled. More

 

 

 

PLURAL+ 2015 Bringing Global Dialogue on Youth Issues to Forefront

PLURAL+ 2015 Bringing Global Dialogue on Youth Issues to Forefront

The 2015 PLURAL+ International Youth Video Festival, a partner initiative by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), has sent its top-scoring pre-selected videos to the international jury for final judging and selection. Created by youth and covering issues of migration, diversity and inclusion, the 2015 submissions continue to raise the bar and contribute to international conversations on youth issues and opportunities. The three winners, selected by the international jury, will be flown to New York City for the PLURAL+ Awards Ceremony held at the Paley Center for Media on December 3rd.

UNDP Asia and the Pacific: #PurpleMySchool

UNDP Asia and the Pacific: #PurpleMySchool

The #PurpleMySchool online campaign, launched in June 2015 by UNDP, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and ‘Being LGBT in Asia’, aims to promote safe spaces for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) students in Asia-Pacific schools by calling for supporters – peers, parents, teachers or schools – to show solidarity through images that feature the color purple prominently via clothing, drawings or purple creations. The campaign is supported by the Government of the Netherlands, the Embassy of Sweden in Bangkok and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Regional Development Mission Asia. 

 

 

UN MGCY Hosts Side Event at Third International Conference on Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa

UN MGCY Hosts Side Event at Third International Conference on Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa

The United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth (MGCY) members hosted a side event in Addis Ababa on the 15 July 2015 on ‘Youth Priorities for a Sustainable FfD Framework’. It was attended by over 50 participants and set up as an open discussion. The content and discussion emphasized the weak environmental dimension, structural issues and funding of youth policies in the context of the three dimensions of sustainable development. The event was also attended by the Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth. More

UNESCO: Reaching millions of young people in Eastern and Southern African with comprehensive sexuality education

UNESCO: Reaching millions of young people in Eastern and Southern African with comprehensive sexuality education

In June 2015, UNESCO, with the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), met partners and stakeholders to review the second year of progress in an eight-country initiative focused on building political commitment, strengthening the quality and implementation of sexuality education curricula and improving community engagement in young people’s access to sexuality education and health services. So far, the project has trained over 90,000 teachers in sexuality education and reached almost 2.4 million learners across the region. More

 

 

 

UNDP Pakistan: Consultation with Youth-Led Organizations and the Donor Community

UNDP Pakistan: Consultation with Youth-Led Organizations and the Donor Community

For Pakistan’s National Human Development Report 2015, UNDP organized a national consultation with youth-led organizations and the donor community across Pakistan in July. It was envisioned as an opportunity to draw together these key partners, seek insights from their experiences and hear the voices of the youth. Three highly interactive discussions were held on crucial youth empowerment issues: education, employment and engagement. The consensus reached was that “youth is not a problem to be solved but a potential to be realized”.

The countdown has begun to the 9th UNESCO Youth Forum!

The countdown has begun to the 9th UNESCO Youth Forum!

Over 500 young women and men from all over the world will be coming together on the 26-28 October 2015 for the 9th UNESCO Youth Forum – Young Global Citizens for a Sustainable Planet. The Forum is a vital opportunity for young people to ensure their voices get heard. This year’s themes will focus on the timely issues of sustainable development and climate change. For more information about the Forum, as well as information on how to get involved, click here.

 

 

 

UNESCO: Voices of the Athletes Educators ready for Champion training

UNESCO: Voices of the Athletes Educators ready for Champion training

In July, 2015, UNESCO hosted a workshop to train youth to become an Educator who will train Champions (young athletes and actors) of the Voices of the Athletes (VoA) Outreach Program. As a result, five youth (three females and two males) have been equipped with better facilitation skills to deliver training for young athletes and actors. The Champions (trained young athletes and actors) will visit secondary schools to advocate for HIV/AIDS and sexualy transmitted infections (STIs) prevention, environmental protection, anti-doping, non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and leadership. The Champions are also engaged in the upcoming Commonwealth Youth Game to be held in Samoa on 5-11 September 2015. More

UNESCO: Youth and the Internet: Fighting Radicalization and Extremism

UNESCO: Youth and the Internet: Fighting Radicalization and Extremism

UNESCO organized a conference on “Youth and the Internet: Fighting Radicalization and Extremism” in June 2015, in Paris. Participants acknowledged the internet as a crucial tool for youth to create networks for sharing knowledge and ideas, develop businesses, spread messages of freedom and democracy. In some instances, the internet was also a cause for concern. The major reasons for these concerns in internet use were outlined as lack of education on the proper use of the internet, unemployment, and the lack of involvement of youth in policy making. In conclusion, they underscored the importance of involving African youth as partners in addressing the issue. More

 

 

 


Youth in Action

Be The Change Academy Program: Empowering Young Women in Liberia to Improve their Livelihoods through Enterprise and Jobs Creation

Be The Change Academy Program: Empowering Young Women in Liberia to Improve their Livelihoods through Enterprise and Jobs Creation

On 18 July 2015, Youth Crime Watch of Liberia (YCWL) graduated over 200 trainees, predominately young women and girls, from its Be The Change Academy (BTCA) Program. The graduates completed the ten week Business and Entrepreneurship Training in Paynesville, Liberia. Since the BTCA program launched in 2013, it has received over 1,500 applicants, admitted 500 trainees and provided loans to 55 young people who presented business plans. More

#ShowYourSkillsCampaign Photo Contest to win an all-expense paid trip to Cape Town, South Africa

#ShowYourSkillsCampaign Photo Contest to win an all-expense paid trip to Cape Town, South Africa

Afterschool Centre for Career Development is pleased to announce the launch of its #ShowYourSkillsCampaign organized as part of its activities to celebrate and promote the inaugural United Nations World Youth Skills Day held on 15 July 2015. The #ShowYourSkillsCampaign seeks to generate greater awareness on the relevance of skills development comprising core skills, technical and vocational skills as well as highlight the place of skills acquisition in driving employability and entrepreneurship. The deadline is 30 August 2015. For more information on how to participate/prizes, visit here.

 

 

 

Youth Revolution Clan: Youth Engagement In Sustainable Development

Youth Revolution Clan: Youth Engagement In Sustainable Development

A training on youth engagement in sustainable development was held in July 2015 in Lahore, Pakistan . The seventeen suggested Sustainable Development Goals were presented with a brief description. Participants discussed how sustainable development is important to the 1.3 billion youth of the world, especially to the 87% (1 billion) that are from developing countries. Youth Revolution Clan is applying innovative approaches to economic growth by using interconnected networks. Training was facilitated by Mr. Rizwan Anwar, Global Youth Advocate United Nations.

Balkan action/2015 Youth Academy (#BA2015YA)

Balkan action/2015 Youth Academy (#BA2015YA)

In Struga, Macedonia, from 1-4 August 2015, 30 youth from 27 organizations from Serbia, Macedonia and Albania took part in the Balkan action/2015 Youth Academy (#BA2015YA). The role of the #BA2015YA was to build capacities on Sustainbale Development Goals (SDGs), to motivate and engage young multipliers from the Balkans in the action/2015 and to mobilize communities on SDGs. #BA2015YA resulted in the Balkan action/2015 Youth Declaration on SDGs and the action plan for the national and regional SDGs’ mobilization. More

 

 

 

International Youth Day Workshop for underprivileged youth

International Youth Day Workshop for underprivileged youth

Green Hope, a youth organization that empowers, educates and engages the future generations, celebrated International Youth Day by conducting an environment workshop in Dubai for underprivileged young people building on the theme of "Youth Civic Engagement". This workshop was conducted by young people for young people and highlighted sustainable consumption as its core message to ensure a life of dignity for all. Adapting to a sustainable lifestyle would ensure social equity and well-being for all and would remove economic disparity. More

Publications

UNCTAD promotes youth entrepreneurship and economic empowerment

UNCTAD promotes youth entrepreneurship and economic empowerment

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) works to address the challenges facing young people. UNCTAD’s Policy Guide on Youth Entrepreneurship aims to support policymakers in developing countries and in transition economies to design policies and progarmmes, and to establish institutions that will promote youth entrepreneurship, providing the foundation for job creation through the development, expansion end growth of youth-led enterprises. Fulfilling the development needs and rights of youth is UNCTAD’s priority area of work.

UN MGCY: Youth-led Journal Publication on Youth Participation in the SFDRR and WCDRR

UN MGCY: Youth-led Journal Publication on Youth Participation in the SFDRR and WCDRR

The importance of youth participation in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) policy design and building young peoples capacity in DRR is now evident. Members of the UN Major Group for Children and Youth (MGCY) have documented the success of meaningful youth contribution in development of the Sendai Framework for Action, and the capacity building events for 200 young people at the Children and Youth Forum and the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR). The outcome consists of an article in the International Journal for DRR.

 

 

 

UN MGCY  Submits Official Response to the Habitat III Issue Papers

UN MGCY Submits Official Response to the Habitat III Issue Papers

The Habitat III process is in full swing as Major Groups submitted responses to the issue papers published by the Habitat III Secretariat. The UN Major Group for Children and Youth (MGCY) has facilitated several offline open-ended and online consultations. These were used to submit the official response to the all the papers of all issue areas. In addition, UN MGCY presented its governance structures and Habitat III working group annual report at the last civil society meeting in New York. Click here for link to papers.

UN MGCY Contributions to World Humanitarian Summit

UN MGCY Contributions to World Humanitarian Summit

The World Humanitarian Summit is in full swing as stakeholders submitted position papers to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The UN Major Group for Children and Youth (MGCY) has facilitated over 50 offline open-ended consultations and received more than 1,000 online responses to compile one overarching and four thematic papers on areas of the process. These findings were also presented at the official regional consultation of South and Central Asia. In addition, UN MGCY participated in the Under-Secretary-General briefing on the World Humanitarian Summit on 31 July 2015. Click here for link to papers.

 

 

 


Disclaimer

Reference herein to any organization, view, or event is intended for explicit description only and does not constitute or imply endorsement or recommendation by the United Nations, or anyone else.

© 2013 Copyright, DSPD Focal Point on Youth