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• South Pacific Regional Youth Caucus Meeting

South Pacific Regional Youth Caucus Meeting

5 October 2007

"RYC is a living proof of what the Commonwealth Youth Programme meant by effectively enabling young people to participate in the governance processes of the CYP.

This is a very dynamic group. I was really impressed by the level of participation showed by all the RYC members during the meeting. It was really empowering to see the young people discussing and making decisions during the meeting."

The South Pacific Regional Youth Caucus (RYC) met on 19 September 2007 in the Cook Islands for the purpose of assessing the work and impact it made in member countries and with the objective of formalising a work plan of the RYC for the consideration of RAB 2007. The Meeting also discussed the Pan-Commonwealth Youth Caucus Youth Representative Handbook which provides standard operating guidelines for RYCs across the Commonwealth.

The meeting considered a report on the strategic plans and activities of RYC for the last two years. The members noted that RYC is an advocacy and consultative body dedicated to young people in the Pacific. RYC acts as a voice and intermediary for young people. It also noted that a number of activities were undertaken by the RYC members since the last RAB meeting in the following priority areas since last RAB: [i] strengthening family relationships, [ii] youth health and well being, [iii] youth education, [iv] youth economic enfranchisement, [v] youth participation, and [vi] network and partnership building.

The activities in these priority areas were implemented through partnership building, youth participation and representation, and advocacy. The meeting also noted the effective profile and advocacy of CYP work regionally but noted that their RYC profile nationally needed support.

The RYC also commended the internship programme developed by CYP since it is a valuable facility, both for the intern (learning on the job), and for CYP and the region (in terms of the work the intern is mandated to complete and leave behind for the Centre and the region).

Looking forward, the RYC has set [i] education for livelihoods, [ii] health & wellbeing, and [iii] governance, leadership and democratic processes as priorities in 2007-2009. It hopes to implement the activities in these priority areas through strategies such as youth mainstream, and strengthening families.

Discussions also took place on the RYC Handbook and it focused on the RYC membership and succession plan. A structured induction programme for new RYC members coming in to ensure continuity and momentum was considered. CYP will look at supporting the process of making the working relationship between RYC and RAB more meaningful.

The quality of discussion and issues raised in the RYC meeting impressed many observers. One RAB member commented that "To all our RYC members, we admire your commitment and dedication. You have inspired us with a lot of your brilliant ideas and contributions. Thank you for displaying great leadership at the meeting. Sometimes we senior citizens fail to look through your eyes and often push ahead with our own agenda. You have taught us that this is a partnership and that our contributions put together will make a whole lot of difference."

Another commented that the RYC was a living proof of what the Commonwealth Youth Programme meant by effectively enabling young people to participate in the governance processes of the CYP. “This is a very dynamic group. I was really impressed by the level of participation showed by all the RYC members during the meeting. It was really empowering to see the young people discussing and making decisions during the meeting”.

In her address to the RYC members, the CYP Regional Director Ms Afu Billy said that at the recent Pacific Parliamentarian Association meeting she had the privilege of observing some of the RYCs participating in the meeting and more so it was great to hear the positive comments from the Parliamentarians about their presentations. She said they showed them that young people have the right to express themselves. She commended them for their ability to influence these big men to realize that if they do not want to hear what the youths are saying, they will be limited in their ability to intervene in youth issues or be able to work alongside young people.

"You have proved the truth in the CYP placing greater emphasis on the participation of young people in its decision-making and governance which had resulted in empowered young women and men. For those of you who will be leaving the RYC use every opportunity that you may to also mentor and empower as many young people as you can, including the new RYC members; and do not forget the values that you acquired as members of the CYP RYC.

You have learnt to lead through good governance practices; to be accountable and transparent; to be democratic, to be participatory, to involve young people in all aspects of your youth programmes, to consult and get a wider perspective of things before arriving at a decision that everyone is satisfied with; to treat everyone the same, to not discriminate, to be gender sensitive, to advocate for the rights of all human beings; and to always adhere to the rule of law.

In the short time that we have had with you it has been a tremendous experience for us. The future will be challenging especially in trying to find meaningful and realistic ways in which to engage better with the RYC.

Questions such as how more involved can the RYC be with the CYP especially to support them in achieving their own national goals in the programmes that they will be conducting in their own countries; how better involved can the RYC be with the RAB members, in other words, how more involved can the RYC be with their government departments responsible for young people and also how more involved can the CYP be to the RYC. “I guess the reality for the RYC and the CYPSP is that we will always be separated by the Pacific Ocean and as much as we would like to meet on a regular basis it is impossible to do so, hence we must try and now think up ways in engaging better with ourselves” said Sushil Ram, Programme Manager, CYPSP.