First World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth

Mr Chairman, Your Excellencies, distinguished delegates, my young friends, it gives me great pleasure to be here in Lisbon representing the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, and to take part in the first UN World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth. We have an exciting opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences in our efforts to empower young women and men in the new Millennium. My particular purpose in addressing you is to present the Commonwealth's Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment (PAYE) which our Ministers adopted in Kuala Lumpur last May.

The Commonwealth of nations is a voluntary association of 54 independent states. We are bound together by no treaty or written constitution, but by a set of common values defined in a series of declarations. These include the principles of good governance and human rights, the rule of law, and sustainable development. The Commonwealth includes one third of the world's population. I am comforted by the presence of a significant number of Commonwealth Ministers and delegations here today, and welcome the chance to reinforce their message.

The Commonwealth has a long-standing commitment to its young people. The Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) was established upon the recommendation of Commonwealth Heads of Government 25 years ago in 1973, with a mandate to assist governments to realise the potential of youth. The Commonwealth thus disproved Coco Chanel, who remarked "Youth is something very new: 20 years ago no one mentioned it".

At Commonwealth meetings young people are consulted directly on the policies and programmes of the CYP through the Commonwealth Youth Caucus whose spokesperson, Marcus Akuhata-Brown, was our active participant at last week's UN Youth Forum and is with us today. Through its network of regional centres, the CYP works closely with governments as well as international, regional and local organisations, and has built a strong track record in policy development and capacity-building.

The Commonwealth's Youth Policy

In 1995 Commonwealth Youth Ministers identified three interrelated areas as the key to realising the potential of their young women and men: human resource development, national youth policy and youth empowerment. Though the latter is my principal topic today, let me mention two innovative programmes which have been implemented by the CYP in fulfilment of this mandate.

A new Commonwealth Diploma course for Youth in Development was launched in Kuala Lumpur in May 1998. Previously this was a residential course taught by one-to-one tuition at each of the CYP's Centres in Guyana, Zambia, India and the Solomon Islands. While the quality was high, the quantity was limited. By contrast, the new programme is to be delivered by supported distance education in partnership with 16 institutions, and will train 2,000 youth workers between now and 2000. These Youth in Development workers will work directly in their communities to contribute to youth empowerment at the local level.In 1995 Ministers also committed themselves to set up national youth policies in all Commonwealth countries by the year 2000.

In 1995 only 17 out of the Commonwealth's 54 countries had such policies. The CYP therefore developed the National Youth Policy 2000 Project which provides a framework and a participatory approach for formulating and implementing national youth policy. By 1998, Ministers reported that 33 countries were now engaged in putting national youth policies into action.

The Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment (PAYE)

The Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment was approved as a framework for action by Commonwealth Ministers last May on the basis of a vibrant consultation between Ministers and the Commonwealth Youth Caucus. A short version has been distributed at this meeting. You will see that it starts by defining what we mean by empowerment.

We believe that youth empowerment has two dimensions. First, young people are empowered when they feel that they can make their own choices in life, are aware of the implications of those choices, can make informed decisions freely, can take actions based on those decisions and accept responsibility for the consequences of such actions.

Secondly, empowering young people means creating and supporting the enabling conditions under which they can act on their own behalf and on their own terms, rather than at the direction of others.

This enabling environment must include a sound economic and social base; a supportive legal and administrative framework; a stable environment of equality, peace and democracy based on a positive value system; and access to knowledge, information and skills.

To meet these needs and create this environment may seem an overwhelming task. According to UN estimates, the number of people under the age of 30 could form as much as 55% of the world's population by the year 2005. In the developing countries, the figure could be close to 70%. So we are confronted by a demographic imperative, for young people are the greatest resource for any nation's future.

The Plan of Action will help governments to empower their young people by establishing and maintaining the necessary enabling conditions. To do this effectively will need vision, courage and resources. It will also need a multi-sectoral approach, for everyone has a role to play - governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations, the media, educational institutions, the private sector, families, communities, and of course, young people themselves.

As you will see, the Plan of Action sets out ten strategic objectives for governments to consider. These include special measures to promote young peoples' economic activity, increasing their participation in sporting and cultural activities, and promoting positive values in the society they are growing up in. These objectives can be summarised as an investment in the social capital of the future, the indispensable underpinning for a stable, equitable and democratic society.

The Challenge

We should remember with Benjamin Disraeli, that "almost everything that is great has been done by youth". Yet it is easy for older generations to underestimate the obstacles many young people face. For example, those who have ambition, drive and good business ideas are often caught in a vicious circle. They want to develop skills and enter the workforce, or set up micro-enterprises, but cannot. Financial and credit institutions do not allow them to borrow money to start those enterprises, or offer training in business skills to maintain them. Young women are particularly disadvantaged here.

If they are not a part of the economy, they may well become a burden to it. Without education and skills they cannot develop as contributors to nation-building, or as individuals. They need a secure environment in which to feel valued, trusted and part of the wider social, political and economic processes which form our societies and nations. Young people are often the worst affected by conflict not of their making, are often given a role in society which has been decreed by a government which never asked them what they needed, and their potential and contribution to our communities and societies has often been disregarded or undervalued.

The Plan of Action therefore sets out to place the value of young people at its centre, as agents for the stability and cohesion of our countries. Implementation of the Plan of Action will build the potential for good governance and democracy. A strong youth component in civil society, with vibrant democratic youth NGOs giving a voice for young people, will enrich the life of our nations and harness the talents and enterprise of our young for a better future.

Conclusion

The Commonwealth's Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment is not merely a statement of good intentions or conventional pieties. It is a menu of practical steps which governments can take, enlisting the support of all the active agents in the contemporary polity. These include the many intergovernmental agencies present here today, whose agendas will be enriched by the active and enthusiastic support of the young people they are seeking to assist; the NGOs working at grassroots level and especially in the non-formal economy, where so many human assets are today lying unused or neglected; the private sector with its dynamic potential for wealth-creation and promoting employment, especially when they can be persuaded to make the leap of faith in young people through enlightened training policies and the financing of their enterprises; and above all the young people themselves, so often overlooked or discarded in policy formation, but so prolific and constructive as positive contributors when their potential is recognised and when government policy is deliberately expanded to encompass their needs.

It is now a major task of the Commonwealth Secretariat which I represent to ensure that all the programmes mandated by Commonwealth ministers are executed with full consciousness of their impact on young Commonwealth citizens. Our health and education programmes perhaps lend themselves most easily to this vision. But there are also many ways in which our work on the environment, on science and technology, on economic policy and on gender is already being enriched by the deliberate addition of a youth perspective; and our programmes of technical assistance for capacity-building are also being deployed to capture the many new demands in this area.

The Commonwealth is proud to offer this Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment as a basis of co-operation with all members of the world community. We believe it offers some insights which others will find useful; and no doubt their experience can be added to the Commonwealth's to enrich and strengthen the relevance of the model we have sketched out. Our young will certainly expect the lessons derived from this week's meeting here to be translated into life-expanding benefits for their place in the world over the coming years.