The Youth Action Summit, organized by the Netherlands’ branch of United World Colleges, took place in Utrecht University in July and August. It saw the coming together of a large group of young people – aged 15 to 19 – and representatives from various international youth NGOs. The mission was to create a better understanding of sustainable development and to agree on a message to take to the delegates of the WSSD in Johannesburg.
The conference was split into three themed weeks, each focusing on a central pillar of sustainability – planet, peace and prosperity.
At the start of the conference, many of the younger participants had never heard of sustainable development, but, by the end, they were fully versed in concepts as varied as corporate accountability and participatory democracy. But the aim of the summit was not to verse another generation of concerned youngsters in the overused rhetoric and clichés of the environment movement.
Conference organizer and lecturer, Jan Gustav Strandenaes, said that the attendees very quickly reached high levels of understanding and were quick to push boundaries further. “I was very pleased with how fast they took on board the concepts offered, and then went beyond them. When they had the opportunity to ask the visiting speakers questions, the response was overwhelming.”
Various educational techniques were used to illustrate the notions of sustainability. As well as attending a wide range of seminars, discussion panels and lectures, participants produced a newspaper, teaching them how to deal with stressed out news chiefs and use the media as a vehicle for their message.
They also put on a performing arts show in the main square at the Hague. Together with the Dutch pop sensation K-otic and the French singer, Kate Bryan, YAS participants managed to get their message of tolerance and sustainability across to the audience of screaming 11-year-olds.
Participants also spent a good deal of time learning how to “scenario build”. This is a process where you take on an imaginary role and then map out how you envision the state of the planet in 30 years’ time. Some of the scenarios were bold dreams of a peaceful planet where diversity and difference are celebrated, whilst other visions were of a less ideal nature, charting future conflicts between a new triangle of super powers, the US, the EU and China.
The summit provided the opportunity for international participants to come to the Netherlands and exchange ideas with their contemporaries. There were representatives from 60 countries, some of whom had never had the chance to travel before – one participant from Armenia saw the sea for the first time on a day trip to the Dutch coast. Many of the other participants had not heard of sustainable development.
Borana Toska, 18, a participant from Albania said, “in my country, sustainable development is almost an unknown concept. Coming to this summit has opened my eyes and made me understand that even though people might be too overwhelmed by economic problems, there is still good scope for sustainable development.”
Running parallel to the youth education programme was a series of workshops and round tables for international youth NGOs. Representatives had come from as far as the US, Israel, Georgia and Burundi to exchange ideas and contacts in their areas of knowledge.
Mike Brantjens, the main organizer of the summit, explained why this was done: “Very often, NGO workers approach the same subject but from only their own line of thinking. You can have the situation of five groups working to the same goal but not learning from one another’s field of expertise and just sticking to their own preconceptions.”
The summit worked around this by ensuring that the NGOs teamed up to learn from each other’s ways of thinking. At the end of each week they came to a common agreement about what they should work towards collectively, fostering an atmosphere of cooperation instead of competition. For example, at the end of one week, the groups agreed that the biggest obstacles to peace were inequality, small arms availability, corruption and lack of education, and made a collective action plan to create a common direction on these themes.
Caroline Nicholls of the US group, Search for Common Ground, said the summit was “an extraordinary opportunity to meet my international peer group, and learn something new from every interaction.”
Not all of the conference ran smoothly; some participants complained that there was no time for reflection and there was not enough interaction between the NGOs and the youth participants “There was too much going on, next time we will do it a little differently and have the groups working together at a much deeper level,” said one of the organizers.
At the end of the summit, participants presented their findings to the Mayor of Utrecht in City Hall. They said youth participation in international decision making was vital, as “more than 50% of the world’s population are aged under 25.” They also announced their wish list for the WSSD.
Ali Al-Jaberi, 18, from Iraq, is going to the WSSD. He said, “We will be telling the delegates that youth participation is vital. That, together with compulsory primary education for every child on the planet, will really help the world become a more sustainable place.”
Jan Gustav Strandenaes left the participants of the conference with this parting message: “Be patient – change is slow to come, it is only when you look back that you can see progress has been made.”
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