CYP hosts stakeholders meeting on youth mainstreaming

The Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) on 3 April 2008, held a half day stakeholder workshop which discussed ways of ensuring that young people are integral development partners on all issues that impact on their social, economic and political well being.

Commonwealth Secretary-General, Mr Kamalesh Sharma, opened the meeting, and stressed the need to enable greater participation of youths in decision making at all levels of governance.

“It is not enough to say that you have a youth ministry. You have to have a youth perspective to everything you are doing,” he stated.

He called for an end to discrimination against the youths, and emphasised the importance of investing in their education and allowing them more opportunities for self employment. “We cannot afford to take a patronizing attitude towards the youths”, he added.

Dr Fatiha Serour, Director and Head of Youth Affairs said the purpose of ‘youth mainstreaming’ is to “make work with young people an aspect of everything the Commonwealth does, through all its various Divisions, ministerial meetings, and interventions”.

She noted however that more funding is needed to fund programmes for youths, and for member governments to mainstream youth alongside gender and human rights.

The meeting featured presentations focusing on mainstreaming strategies on youth, gender and human rights perspectives from other Secretariat Divisions, external stakeholders and High Commissioners. It is anticipated that the discussions at the meeting will feed into the youth ministers meeting in Colombo.

Sri Lanka will host the Seventh Meeting of Commonwealth Youth Ministers (7CYMM) in Colombo 27-30 April 2008. The meeting will be officially opened on Sunday 27 April 2008 by the President of Sri Lanka, HE Mr Mahinda Rajapaska.

The theme for 7CYMM is ‘youth and peace-building’. The youth ministers meeting will be preceded by meetings of the Pan-Commonwealth Youth Caucus and Pan-Commonwealth Regional Advisory Board. A skills building workshop on gender and youth dimension in peace-building; and a stakeholders’ meeting on youth mainstreaming is also scheduled.

Youth mainstreaming is built into the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Strategic Plan, as well as the new Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment 2007-2015. Some high-profile Commonwealth work now involves young people as a matter of policy decision, such as Political Affairs Division’s election observer missions. At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Uganda last year young people had an unprecedented dialogue with Heads of Government.

Secretariat Links:

• Report of the Stakeholders Meeting on Youth Mainstreaming