Yen News Nov 05

Embed Doc
Copy Link
Readcast
Collections

CommentGo Back

Download

1

News FlashJamaica Joins as number of YEN LeadCountries Grows.

Prime Minister PJ PattersonrecentlyannouncedJamaica’s joining YEN as a LeadCountry – the first Caribbean nation to doso. The Prime Minister’s announcementnoted youth unemployment as a priorityissue for his government, stressingJamaica’s support in helping young peopleempower themselves and to ‘place them onthe path to development as productiveadults.’ Prime Minister Patterson alsorecognized efforts made by the JamaicaEmployers Federation (JEF) in advancingthe issue of youth employment. It was theJEF who successfully lobbied for YEN LeadCountry status, the first employers’organization to do so.

Annan calls youth unemployment a‘growing problem to be addressed’ in newYEN compiled report.

The urgency of the need to provide youngpeople with access to decent, productivework has increased and inaction is not anoption, a recent report by United NationsSecretary-General Kofi Annan says. Basedon a global analysis and evaluation of 39national actions plans on youth employmentcompiled

by the YEN Secretariat,

A Globalanalysis and evaluation of national action plans on youth employment

provides anassessment and several recommendations:It reiterates the fact that little progress onimplementing the Millennium Declarationwill be achieved unless young people areprovided with “the resources, self-esteem,and dignity which decent work canprovide.”It advises the General Assembly toencourage countries with national reviewsand actions plans to move forward towardsimplementation and devising new policy-oriented indicators to monitor and evaluateprogress.Furthermore it calls for an annual review of this global analysis and evaluation of progress made in the development andimplementation of national reviews andaction plans on youth employment to act asa benchmark for best performance bycountries in developing youth employmentstrategies.

Jamaica Hosts Lead Country Meeting atthe UN.

In direct follow up to becoming a LeadCountry, Jamaica’s Ambassador to the UNhosted a meeting of YEN Lead Countries inNew York during the 60

th

session of theUnited Nations General Assembly.Representatives of 9 Lead Countriesparticipated, including at Ambassadoriallevel, as well as government representativesfrom “like minded” countries; Sweden,Germany, Canada and Korea and officialsfrom the UN, ILO and YEN Secretariat.Participants discussed Lead Countries plansand progress in formulating andimplementing National Action Plans.Through this peer sharing, membersidentified political, technical, and financialkeys to overcome youth employmentchallenges. Practical ways in which theLead Countries can work together and builda broad-based community were discussed.

Youth Employment Network (YEN) Newsletter, November 2005

2

The event served to encourage thedevelopment of Peer Partnerships in tacklingyouth employment at a global level.There was a strong recognition of the needfor inter-ministerial relationships and a multistakeholder process to enhance politicalcommitment and coherence.The United Kingdom strongly advocatedtheir rationale for becoming a Lead Country,especially to those likeminded countries inattendance. Furthermore, they outlined thepeer partnership process in the context of theEU demonstrating how such a model couldserve to inform the YEN.Participants made requests for follow upactivities. One suggestion was for the YENto organize a more in-depth meeting on peerpartnerships in early 2006.There was also a clear call for moreinformation and tools to facilitate thedevelopment of NAPs, in the form of aguide to their formation, a Lead CountryGuide, and a descriptive paper outlining theYEN’s vision of peer partnerships.

UK hosts two major events focusing onyouth employment at the UN

High Level Business Roundtable with HRHThe Prince of Wales and the UN Secretary-General.

This event entitled,

The challenge of youth

employment and enterprise: what can the

private sector do?

, saw a series of

discussions in the presence of the Prince of Wales and Kofi Annan, UN SecretaryGeneral, focusing on how business leaders,

UN agencies, and others involved inencouraging youth entrepreneurship jointlycan tackle the problem of youthunemployment and under-employment.Private sector representatives that includedHSBC, Merrill Lynch, Microsoft StandardChartered and Accenture agreed that youth

employment was now one of the mostpressing problems in the world and that therole of business in meeting this challenge is

crucial.Business leaders showcased examples of their support to entrepreneurshipprogrammes including the provision of

mentors and start up financing, includingsupport to YEN partner organisation,YouthBusiness International. The Prince of Wales mentioned that he waspleased to hear discussion of public-privatepartnerships especially in the presence of the UN.The Secretary-General welcomed thegrowing engagement of the private sector inthe issue of youth employment andhighlighted both his YEN and the GlobalCompact as mechanisms that might allow a

further expansion of concrete private-publicpartnership efforts on the ground.

The Prince of Wales felt that this was aclear sign that this new approach to

partnerships is now far higher up the UNagenda and seen as vital towards making

progress on the Millennium DevelopmentGoals.Participants agreed that the role of business,in partnership with government and civilsociety, was broader than support forentrepreneurship. For example the role of the private sector in making training andvocational education strategies relevant tothe needs of the labour market was seen ascritical to ensuring an integrated approach toyouth employment policy (one whichfocuses on both the supply and demand sideof the challenge).Press ReleaseWeb cast

Outcome Document

Side Event during the 60

th

Session of theGeneral Assembly

This event entitled

Youth employment:moving from policy commitments to action ,

was held on the margins UN’sEvaluation of the World Programme of Action for Youth+10during the 60

th

session of the GeneralAssembly. Organised as an interactivedebate between panellists and the audience,this event highlighted innovative examplesof work on youth enterprise from Marothodi

3

Resources Mining Company, South Africa,skills training from Jaguar-Landrover, androle of business in supporting youngentrepreneurs by YEN partner

YouthBusiness International

. It further exploredthe conditions necessary for success, how toscale-up and adapt initiatives in differenteconomic contexts, and the critical role of business. The YEN Secretariat were alsopanellists. Debate generated practicalsuggestions for actions, including questionsfrom Haiti on how to become a YEN LeadCountry as well as from NGOs on how topartner and share knowledge. Participantsincluded government representatives,NGOs, and youth delegates.

Call for submissions as the World Bankbegins global stocktaking of youthemployment interventions.

Within the framework of the YEN andsupported by the German Ministry of Development Co-operation (BMZ), theWorld Bank is undertaking an inventory of policies and interventions designed tointegrate young people into the labourmarket. This project will build a globalinventory of good practice accessible toyouth employment policy-makers andpractitionersAs a broad range of organisations

have beenidentified as potential sources of informationabout policies and interventions the YENwould like to encourage all inputs to thisinitiative. This is an excellent opportunityfor organisations

at the international,regional national and local levels to inputpractically into a global youth employmenttool.Call for content Submissions Template

Core Partner Activities Launch of World Youth Report 2005.

The United Nations Programme on Youthreleased its2005 World Youth ReportonOctober 4

th

. The report examines thesituation of young people in relation topriority areas identified in the WorldProgramme of Action for Youth adopted byMember States in 1995: grouped under threebroad headings: youth in a global economy,youth in civil society, and youth at risk. TheYEN contributed to the employment sectionof the Global.

6 October 2005 – Evaluation of the WorldProgramme of Action for Youth

The General Assembly recently evaluatedthe UN’s World Programme for Action forYouth duringtwo plenary sessionsat UNHeadquarters, New York.An informal and interactiveround tablediscussionbetween non-governmental youthorganizations and Members States, “Youngpeople: making commitments matter,” took place the day before the event.A number of interventions by youth focusedon employment including those of RenaldasVaisbrodas of Lithuania, President of theEuropean Youth Forum, and a member of the YEN’s Youth Consultative Group, whodiscussed the significant consequences of the lack of education and employmentopportunities for young people. He pointedout that young people had repeatedly heardthat they were the generation with thecapacity to end poverty, and he expressedhope that they would succeed. He remindedeveryone that the eradication of poverty,however, was not solved with money alone.In a world with enough resources to meeteveryone’s basic needs, it was unacceptablethat so many could not access the resources.

UN Considers Role of Young People inPoverty Reduction Strategies.

TheUnited Nations Programme on Youth and the National Council of Swedish YouthOrganizations, with financial support fromthe Swedish Government, have initiated atechnical assistance project, “TacklingPoverty Together: The Role of YoungPeople in Poverty Reduction Strategies.”The project will recruit a team of 28 youngpeople from seven countries (Ghana, Kenya,Malawi, Sweden, Tanzania, Uganda, and

of 00

Leave a Comment