A new perspective from the International Gold Event

The partnership between the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) and the International Awards Association (IAA) is anchored on common principles and values of endeavoring to serve the young people from diverse cultural, religious, regional and national backgrounds by bringing together young people from the two programmes to share experiences, perspectives, challenges and best practices.

One such event is the just ended International Gold Event (IGE) 2011 which is a tri- annual event that brings together selected gold award holders from all the member states to share experiences and deliberate on programmes that can be done after completing the gold award which is the highest level of the programme. The IGE was held in Naivasha, Kenya from 2nd to 16th September 2011 with the theme “Each One, Reach One” which called upon young people to join hands and tackle the challenges facing them head on.

The IGE was graced by both His Excellency the Kenyan President Kibaki and His Royal Highness The Earl of Wessex Prince Edward in the opening and closing ceremony remarks respectively. It was noted that young people have their destiny in their own hands and it was upon them to make the right choices in life. The delegates representing more than fifty countries across the world pledged to further the theme of the IGE for the next three years through networking and collaboration to impact on young people as it was deemed as a fertile ground for youth partnership between the award holders/participants and the RYCs.

The IGE was organised into two sessions; the first four days were dedicated to IAA programmes like rafting, adventurous hiking, rock climbing, cycling and camping at Sagana, Kenya. This was mainly for bonding among the delegates and showcasing the exciting approach of the Award to youth development. Later in the programme, the delegates were engaged in community service where they erected a fence, painted classrooms, built tank stands, built a floor and netball stands for four schools in the region. The cultural nights for the fours regions; Africa, Americas, Asia Pacific and EMAS (European, Mediterranean and Arab States) were the climax for the informal session.

The second session involved formal engagement between the youth and the different stakeholders including the International Council- which governs the Award and the International Secretariat that is involved in the running of the programme. This included thematic workshops that discussed issues relevant to the Award and the youth in general. The Youth Forum was perhaps the climax of the IGE but was quite different from the Commonwealth Youth Forum. While the CYF focuses on youth-to-youth engagement, the IAA focused on youth-to-decision makers’ engagement. The decision makers, including HRH the Prince, were treated to thematic workshops by the delegates to highlight the areas that the young people wanted addressed and the proposed approaches. This was a strategic high impact forum in that its recommendations were the basis for the three year planning cycle of the Award.

In these defining times in the Commonwealth where there is structural review through the Eminent Persons Group, there was a lot to learn from the IAA both in governance and delivery of youth programmes. With key emphasis on the strategic networking and partnerships in IAA with schools, universities, scouts, youth groups in delivery CYP can also borrow a leaf to raise its profile and broaden its cope at national level. With regards to governance, a key feature in the Award that can be replicated is the structure of the Youth Forum in focusing more on addressing the decision makers. This was thought would be a discussion point in the just ended CYF in Perth, Australia.

In the spirit of partnership and knowledge sharing, there are several key aspects of governance and delivery that CYP can learn from the Award. The Kenya RYC- representing the youth caucus- proposed to work alongside other IAA youth representatives in delivering programmes that are in line with the principles of IAA and the Commonwealth Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment to young people. This can only be done through linking the RYCs to the existing National Award Authorities (NAAs) in their respective countries. It was noted that, in countries like Kenya and Uganda, there was already a formal partnership initiated to strengthen the CYP and the Award delivery of programmes to the youth. By this, it is also expected that RYCs will approach their Awards authorities for possible partnerships.