History

Commonwealth member countries recognize Youth Development as an important area of attention for the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth Youth Ministers Meeting (CYMM) mandates a Commonwealth Youth Programme and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) endorses this initiative.

The Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) Head Office is established at the Commonwealth Secretariat, London. This CYP Office will supervise three CYP Regional Centres.

Three CYP Regional Centres are established to serve and assist Commonwealth member countries in youth development and to implement CYP programmes and training. The three Centres are established to cover the regions of Asia & South Pacific; Africa; and the Caribbean.

CYP Asia Pacific acquires an office building on the Punjab Engineering College campus in Chandigarh, India. The CYP Asia Centre offers its first professional Diploma on Youth Development.

CYP begins to establish itself as a delivery organization of residential human resource training in youth development for government ministries, youth development workers and functionaries.

The present CYP Asia Centre is reborn when a fourth regional centre for the South Pacific is established in Honiara, Solomon Islands.

Work begins to create a comprehensive, accredited HRD Diploma "Youth in Development Work". The Diploma will be conducted in collaboration with National Open University Systems in member countries and with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL).

Work begins to develop a programme to deliver entrepreneurial training and small business loans to disadvantaged young people in the Asia Region.

CYP Asia Centre adopts a new delivery mode for its human resource training programmes. In place of residential training programmes, a distance-learning model is adopted to better serve the learners from diverse geographical locations and those who need flexible learning hours.

Asia Centre's Commonwealth Youth Credit Initiative (CYCI) project begins, in partnership with the International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Career Development (ICECD), Ahmedabad, India.

CYP Asia Centre helps enrol 1000 Youth Development Workers when it signs a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with five partner universities.

CYP Asia Centre offers technical support as member countries begin to formulate and/or revise national youth policies and strengthen youth networks.

CYMM, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia endorses the Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment (PAYE) to direct all CYP initiatives.

United Nations Economic & Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) declares the CYP Asia Centre as a Centre of Excellence in Human Resource Development and Training.

The Youth Ambassadors for Positive Living (YAPL) Programme is launched to fight against the double menace of HIV/AIDS and drug abuse in the Asia region.

CYPTEC (Commonwealth Youth Programme Technology Empowerment Centre) is launched to provide Information Communication Technology (ICT) training to young people.

CYPTEC-on-wheels is launched - this is a mobile unit with six computers that reaches out to young people in surrounding rural and slum areas to impart ICT training.

The Commonwealth Asia Forum of Junior Chambers (C7-JC) is instituted in Singapore as an outcome of the Asia Regional Consultation on Youth Chambers of Commerce. It is a regional network aimed at enhancing co-operation among young people of the Commonwealth Asia region to promote, facilitate and develop enterprises, entrepreneurship, business skills, values, ethics, mentorship and leadership.

CHOGM, Coolum, Australia endorses the Youth for the Future Initiative, which is designed to improve the relevance and usefulness of the Commonwealth for young people.