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Stakeholders Meeting on Youth Mainstreaming and Building Partnerships

18 April 2008

A half-day Stakeholders Meeting will be organised alongside CYMM on 27 April at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, Colombo

An inter-sectoral approach is imperative for the youth development sector as no single agency can address the issues young people are grappling with in the modern world. To address issues related to young people with professionalism, different stakeholders need to get together and devise strategies for alliance and collaboration. Accordingly, a half-day Stakeholders Meeting will be organised alongside the Commonwealth Youth Ministers Meeting (CYMM) on 27 April at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, Colombo. The stakeholders meeting will be followed by the Opening Ceremony of 7CYMM.

In 2006, 6CYMM in The Bahamas accepted the Commonwealth Youth Programme’s proposed youth mainstreaming approach as a core element in the Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment (PAYE), the Youth Development Index (YDI) and its Strategic Plan. The need for mainstreaming for youth development was discussed at length in that meeting. It is therefore important to take a conscious decision to make a strategic investment in young people. This would mean directly contributing to their social, economic and political well being and, in turn, would enable them to contribute to peace, security and stability at national and international levels. The challenge is to ensure that young people are integral development partners whether working with youth organisations or others.

In this context, the CYP is seeking contributions from a range of stakeholders on the subject, aiming to answer questions such as: ‘What do we mean by youth mainstreaming’ and, ‘How do we go about it?’ The outcome of this discussion will feed into the 7CYMM - where youth mainstreaming will be a top agenda item.

The stakeholders meeting will focus upon mainstreaming strategies from youth, gender and human rights perspectives. For this reason we count on the participation and contribution of a range of stakeholders to further influence policy and bring to the forefront issues related to youth mainstreaming.