Youth Declaration from the International Youth Forum as part of the HLM2, GPEDC
We are present! Make us represent!
Let us be partners for development!
Youth Declaration from the International Youth Forum
as part of the 2nd HLM of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation
Nairobi, Kenya | November 28, 2016
Long have the youth been recognized as the future of the world, the inheritors of development.
Today we up the ante – make us represent, let us be shapers and stakeholders of development.
The youth are here, there and everywhere. We come from various class backgrounds and groups. We represent various economic sectors in both urban and rural areas. We all struggle for a brighter future not only for ourselves but also for our society. Yet many of us experience underdevelopment. Many of us are poor, under or unschooled, living in slave-like conditions, displaced or forced to migrate, facing discrimination and exploitation, vulnerable to abuse.
What the world leaders decide affects us. International trade agreements, development policies and plans, global compacts shape our societies and us. We are at the receiving end of these decisions, solutions and actions. But these worthwhile initiatives are lacking – involvement of the youth.
Investing in the youth takes more than being passive recipients of policies and programs of adults. It should mean development of young people actively contributing to addressing economic, political and social problems obstructing comprehensive and genuine development for the people. It means creating space for our involvement, participating not only at the last stretch of the project implementation, but at the start, when we shape and set goals for these development plans.
The youth are dynamic, vibrant and have much potential for pushing for change. History has proven the active contribution of the youth in shaping policies, advancing advocacies and making development work not only for themselves but for the whole society.
Through the International Youth Forum, we hope to convey the following challenges:
- To recognize the youth sector as official partners and stakeholders for development. The youth as agents of change and torchbearers of the sustainable development agenda through 2030 should be acknowledged officially.
- To secure a space for the engagement of youth and other stakeholders in the development discourse through the universal application of effective development cooperation. Certain mechanisms and indicators can be developed to determine and measure the level of participation and involvement of the youth in this discourse at the local, national, regional and international levels.
Source: www.csopartnership.org