Productive Engagement of Youth in Fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals The YES Experience! June 23, 2004 Dr. Puneetha Sagar Palakurthi Research and Development Coordinator Youth Employment Summit Campaign

The Youth Employment Challenge

Consider this: There are a billion youth between the ages of million of them live in developing countries. Another 1.5 billion are behind them in school systems About 10 million young people aged between 10 and 24 years are infected with AIDS. Approximately 130 million youth live on less than a dollar a day.

Other challenges: No clear structures for youth participation in policy formation and program design Youth employment is still not a compelling issue on the global agenda Lack of resources and the will to support young people in their efforts Lack of information on youth employment.

Cost of exclusion!.. are too high! We’ve seen it over and over again! Failure to include and engage young people = a prescription for disaster!

The choices are clear...

Alexandria Youth Employment Summit Launched a Decade Campaign for Youth Employment Engaged youth as equal partners Built the commitment of leaders Shared the knowledge base on ‘what works’ Made a call for Action!

“More than one billion jobs need to be created between now and 2010 to accommodate young workers entering the labor force and reduce unemployment” - UNFPA State of the World Population Report 1998

The Alexandria Youth Employment Summit Co chairs: H.E Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak President Hon. William J. Clinton Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt September 7-11, 2002

Alexandria Summit Civil Society Forum All sessions supported by background papers Capacity Building Workshops Building partnerships 1600 delegates countries Fifty percent youth delegates A meeting for 60 YES Country Networks

Ministerial Forum (10-11 Sept. 2002) Over 70 government delegations 45 led by Ministers Developed and adopted the Alexandria Declaration Committed to collaborate with YES Country Networks Pledged to work to achieve the goals of the YES Campaign

The Alexandria Declaration 6Es Employment Creation Employability Equity Entrepreneurship Environmental Sustainability Empowerment

What works?

We know the winning options... Creativity Support Voice Productivity Platform Hope

‘What Works’ Recognizing young people as assets Harnessing their creativity and innovation Paying attention to their ideas and offering opportunities to learn by doing Offering a non-judgmental space for experimenting Mentoring and coaching

YES Country Networks Multi-stakeholder networks focusing on youth employment Youth driven: vanguard of the YES Campaign Committed to Action Raising awareness and resources locally to address the youth employment challenge.

YES Networks: platform for youth participation and agenda setting In preparation for Alexandria YES Networks organized over 50 consultations Placed youth employment on the development agenda of their countries

Building the Capacity of Youth Not enough to demand that youth be consulted in framing policies and developing programs Essential to provide them the opportunity to learn about ‘what works’ and ‘what’s missing’ The Importance of gap analysis - SIDA/YES project for engaging youth as leaders for employment

Creating an infrastructure for youth participation Building on existing National Youth Councils, Youth Commissions and other youth focused organizations are the YES Country Networks!...building the coalitions for youth employment Governments, NGOs, Academic Institutions, Employers, Trade Unions, and other stakeholders

Opportunity to meet with the ministers! At YES2002, Youth Delegates had the opportunity to meet with Ministers from their countries and build relationships

Impact of such Opportunities YES Mozambique Met with their Minister at YES2002, presented action plan upon return, Ministry adopted the plan as a program and policy item YES Gambia Met with their Minister at YES2002, upon return launched a joint program with the government to create 100,000 sustainable livelihoods during the YES Decade Campaign

Impact of such Opportunities YES Paraguay Met with their Minister throughout 2002 in preparation for the Summit, invited local governments and authorities to YES Network meetings, engaged national government and hosted discussion for presidential candidates on youth employment as a campaign and policy matter Many more stories. See monthly YES Insider

YES Model of Youth Engagement Respect: An enabling environment of transparency, opportunity, dialogue and respect needs to be created in all communications with young people Tools: Developing the tools, working intensely and closely, and providing incentives are fundamental to facilitate genuine youth participation Trust: The most important ingredient in the recipe for youth engagement

“Working with youth for youth”

Skills Development The YES Academy

YES Academy Building the Capacity of YES Networks: Leadership development Project planning and implementation Understanding Policy Learning “what works” Establishing effective partnerships

Skills Development Two broad classifications on skills development: 1. Technical Skills: vocational training, formal education etc 2. Life skills: problem solving, negotiation, leadership development, consensus building etc

Skills Development: YES Networks take the lead.. YES Pakistan has launched a YES Skills Development Center for orphans to meet this need

What’s next? Working in collaboration with you in ensuring the success of the YES Campaign A WARM INVITATION TO ALL OF YOU TO THE YES MEXICO 2004 October 4 – 7, 2004 in Veracruz, Mexico

Closing thought... “Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world, indeed nothing else ever has” - Margaret Meade THANK YOU