for more information on the below, and for links to the final report,
see
http://www.iypf.org/IYPF-projects.htm#YMDGs
cameron
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YOUTH RESPOND TO CHALLENGE BY PROF. JEFFREY SACHS ON THE MILLENNIUM
DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Youth are Key to Development, States New Report,
Released April 19 at United Nations Headquarters
New York City, USA (19 April, 2005) - When asked how the United
Nations intended to involve young people as partners in achieving the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Professor Jeffrey Sachs' reply
last spring was: "You tell us!"
And so an international team of youth experts responded by producing
a report that contains recommendations on how national and
international institutions can successfully engage young people in
efforts to achieve the MDGs. The report, "Youth and the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs): Challenges and Opportunities for
Implementation," will be launched on April 19 at the United Nations
Commission on Sustainable Development.
Distinctively, the report has been authored not by World Bank
economists or UN diplomats, but by a global team of young people
themselves. The report finds that, while young people often comprise
70% of the population in many developing nations, much work needs to
be done to address the needs of youth and their potential to
contribute significantly to achieving the MDGs.
During an intensive 12-month process, the Ad Hoc Working Group on
Youth collaborated in research and drafting the report, and organized
a consultation process that spanned more than 100 countries. An
interim version of the report was released in November 2004, and
circulated for feedback from young people. More than 24,000 downloads
of the Interim Report were recorded as of March.
"The Secretary General is very pleased with your assessment that the
MDGs are an opportunity to mobilize youth and your determination not
to miss this occasion," commented Mark Malloch Brown, Chef de Cabinet
to the U.N. Secretary General.
The Report's many recommendations include: encouraging the
establishment of grant programs for young 'social entrepreneurs' who
are leading development programs but lack access to mainstream
funding and loan financing; an emphasis on partnerships between youth
and their local authorities; and peer-led awareness campaigns to
rally young people in western countries in support of their peers in
developing countries.
Luis A. Davila-Ortega, a 22 year old Venezuelan with the New York-
based Global Youth Action Network, the acting secretariat for the Ad-
Hoc Working Group, said: "Young people must be recognized as key
partners in implementing the MDGs; investing in youth today will
provide the best return for tomorrow."
About the Millennium Development Goals
The MDGs are a global agreement between developed and developing
countries, to make a better world for all by 2015. The Goals
originate from the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000, where
189 Heads of State and Governments came together and agreed on
specific time-bound targets the world should meet, in areas such as
poverty, education, gender equality, health, diseases, and
environmental sustainability. In 2002, UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan appointed Jeffrey Sachs, an economist and professor at the
Earth Institute at Columbia University, to lead the Millennium
Project in developing a concrete action plan to achieve the MDGs.
About the Ad Hoc Working Group on Youth
The expert taskforce is comprised of youth leaders from: Development
Partners International, Earth Charter Youth Initiative, Global Youth
Action Network, International Young Professionals Foundation,
Lutheran World Federation, NGO Committee on Youth, Mexican Youth
Alliance, Millennium Project Taskforce 10, Rescue Mission: Planet
Earth, South Asia Youth Environment Network, UN Commission on
Sustainable Development Youth Caucus, United Nations Environment
Program, United Nations Programme on Youth, UN Youth and Student
Association of the United Kingdom, World Federation of Engineering
Organisations, and Young Volunteers for Sustainable Development.
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