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Plan of Action Launched at Pakistan meeting

16 November 2007

Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment launched at Commonwealth Youth Programme Asia Regional Advisory Board (RAB) Meeting in Pakistan

The Commonwealth Youth Programme’s Asia Regional Advisory Board (RAB) and Regional Youth Caucus (RYC) Meetings took place in Islamabad from 3 - 8 November. Notwithstanding the internal situation in Pakistan, the meetings concluded successfully with the participation of Secretaries from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and senior officials from Brunei and the Maldives. RYC members from Bangladesh, Brunei, India, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka also attended the meetings. Sri Lanka is due to host the next Commonwealth Youth Ministers Meeting in April next year.

The Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) had recently convened RAB meetings in Africa (Seychelles), the Caribbean (Trinidad & Tobago) and the Pacific (Cook Islands); RAB meetings are a chance to get a “steer” about regional priorities from governments and youth representatives. The CYP is a decentralised programme with offices in Zambia, India, Guyana and Solomon Islands.

In his address the Chief Guest, Mr Abdul Sattar, a distinguished diplomat and former foreign minister of Pakistan delivered the key-note address on the theme “Promoting Respect and Understanding in the Commonwealth”, argued that young people should be respected. While the older generation might possess greater experience, young people have the intellect to understand and analyze problems and find solutions. Youth are also idealistic, and life is not worth living without idealism. “You have to lead and occupy the front seat”, he exhorted the young people present. Mr Sattar commended the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as promoting respect and understanding.

The Chair of the meeting, Mr Ashfaq Mahmood, Pakistan’s Secretary of Youth Affairs, stated that programmes for youth cut across different ministries and departments, and therefore, integration and mainstreaming is the key for leveraging resources and maximising outputs. CYP’s Director Dr Fatiha Serour also spoke on the importance of the mainstreaming issue and would be raising it at the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and Commonwealth Youth Forum in Uganda.

Said Dr Serour, “Mainstreaming is the process of assessing the implications for youth of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making youth concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes, in all political, economic and social spheres so that youth benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated.”

In keeping with this approach the RAB received reports and recommendations from the Asia Regional Youth Caucus, a body that represents young people’s views to the CYP. The Youth Caucus stressed the issue of youth unemployment in the region, calling for action including micro-credit schemes; the adoption of inter sectoral approach; training on life skills, personality development, and communication skills. The Youth Caucus also used their meeting to elect a new Chair and Deputy, Mr Ahmed Mahloof from Maldives and Ms Sarika Katoch from India.

CYP’s Asia Regional Director Mr Raj Mishra shared with RAB members the plan to turn CYP’s Chandigarh office into a Centre of Excellence in the field of Youth and Local Self-Governance. “While the Government of India has committed itself to provide funds for creation and up-grade of facilities, both at the CYP Asia Centre and the Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, the Commonwealth Secretariat needs to mobilize about 40 million Rupees over a 5-year period for this project,” said Mr Mishra. “A select group of member governments have been approached at the highest level. Efforts are also being made to raise resources from external agencies.”

Other issues discussed at the RAB included Youth Development Indicators, and the new Commonwealth Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment, which was officially released by the Chief Guest Mr Abdul Sattar. The Plan of Action is the Commonwealth’s guiding framework for cooperation on youth affairs from 2007 to 2015. It contains thirteen action points for governments - on issues including youth mainstreaming, youth employment, gender equality, HIV/AIDS, education, the environment, youth participation in decision-making, and democracy and human rights.

The RAB also agreed on a set of principles to guide the plans and programmes of the CYP Asia Centre for the next planning cycle beginning from 2008 to 2012. The Asia RAB members are hoping for developments in Pakistan that will be conducive to these goals.