• Commonwealth:
• News:
• News Archive Search:
• Deputy Secretary-General Calls for Increased Partnerships in Delivery of CYP Diploma

Deputy Secretary-General Calls for Increased Partnerships in Delivery of CYP Diploma

20 July 2004

Deputy Secretary-General Florence Mugasha says the success of the Youth In Development Work Diploma depends on a strong partnership between Governments, the private sector, partner institutions, employers and the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP).

Deputy Secretary-General Florence Mugasha, CYP Africa Centre in Lusaka, Zambia.

Mrs Mugasha was speaking at the opening of the CYP Africa Region 3rd Regional Stakeholders Meeting and Training in Human Rights for Youth Workers. The event took place on 19 July 2004 at the CYP Africa Centre in Lusaka, Zambia. She said strengthened partnerships would increase the capacity to design programme strategies that could be used to achieve desired outcomes and ideas.

The Deputy Secretary-General noted that these strategies were critical in addressing the increasing challenges of unemployment, poor skills, inadequate health facilities, lack of access to education, information and skills development faced by young people in the developing countries of the Commonwealth.

Mrs Mugasha challenged the participants to identify strategies to address some of these challenges especially through youth worker education and training, including a focus on human rights.

The meeting, which bore the theme 'Developing Partnerships to Promote Youth Empowerment in the Africa Region', brought together 55 representatives from universities, tertiary institutions, government departments and youth development agencies including the New Partnership for Africa's Development and GTZ of Germany. The delegates from 17 countries in Commonwealth Africa reviewed and evaluated the delivery of the CYP Diploma in the region.

The meeting focused on training Diploma tutors in this distance learning programme, as well as coaching policy-makers and partner organisations in human rights by stressing the importance of incorporating human rights in development work in the Commonwealth.