As the delegates of the Youth Employment Summit continue to meet in Alexandria, Egypt to launch the Decade Campaign of Action, some are actually building on previous efforts to join together in country networks, develop action plans that consider local needs, and share their experiences with their counterparts.
“Most of the action must be focused at the local level,” says Augusto Cuginotti, 23, a delegate who is involved with YES Brazil. “Specific planning needs to be local, where you feel how things are going.”
“I think the country networks are coming together at a critical time in history,” adds Venesha Phillips, coordinator of YES Jamaica.
More than 60 country networks have sprung up during the past year and are now at various stages of progress. Two-thirds of them have held consultations in their homelands, inviting governments, NGOs, businesses and youth to help create strategies for promoting youth employment within their borders. By coming to Alexandria, they are taking the opportunity to collaborate with other country networks, give each other advice and assistance, and help others set up country networks where they don’t yet exist.
“The networks will help each other first within countries, then between countries,” predicts Ismail Serageldin, chair of the YES 2002 organizing committee. “Out of that evolves a common view of how to approach the [global] problem.”
In Jamaica, the YES country network has focused on stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS by promoting entrepreneurship and other alternatives to the sex trade, which an increasing number of young women have entered in order to feed their families.
“If we can integrate them into the organization for seven to eight years of service and use them to educate our nation then maybe we can reduce the number of people infected with HIV/AIDS,” says Phillips, 28.
Similar stories are being told throughout the halls of the Library of Alexandria. Pakistan’s grassroots country network has begun developing a YES Skills Development Centre, with the help of a number of Pakistani organizations. In the Philippines, a caravan of training is educating youth around the country thanks to YES Philippines, which has focused its energies on waste management and renewable energy opportunities.
Not all the country networks have had the same kind of success, since the local action plan idea can’t be applied to every country. In Brazil for example, members of the YES country network have been able to discuss the problems of youth employment in their nation, but have not yet taken action.
“The biggest challenge is that Brazil is such a huge territory,” says Cuginotti. “We have really nice group representation that can be joined in a YES country network, but from Sao Paulo in the south to Recife [in the north] is a three-and-a-half hour flight. That lack of physical interaction is a problem.”
The Brazilians have tried to connect through the Internet, but that has its drawbacks as well, Cuginotti says. “It prevents us from going to the countryside sometimes,” where Internet access is no guarantee.
Despite the reality of continuing challenges, the youth behind the country networks will not easily be discouraged.
“The network that we can produce can try to understand the similar things we can adapt from one country to another,” says Cuginotti. “My expectation is to have that base of knowledge and sharing.”
“We are not looking for any tangible reward for our work, we enjoy the satisfaction in impacting youth of Jamaica,” says Phillips. “And if we are driven by that motivation, the goal of YES will happen.”
For more info on the Youth Employment Summit, go to [http://www.youthemploymentsummit.org]. To check out the Global Knowledge Resource online, go to [http://www.youthemploymentsummit.org/gkr.html].
For daily REALM Magazine coverage of the Youth Employment Summit in Egypt, keep an eye out on http://www.realm.net or right here on http://www.takingitglobal.orgEvelin Ananya, 23, youth/Aboriginal activist, India Youth Solidarity, Eastern Hill Ghats, India
What do you hope to achieve at the Youth Employment Summit?
I have a plan to unite young weavers, young artisans both female and male who make beautiful art. I really hope that this summit will help me develop this idea of ours. After that, how to bridge the digital divide. If we can actually come into contact and reach out to the other young people from other parts of the world, it would be mutually inspiring and motivating.
What is the youth unemployment rate in India?
(Not sure.)
The information and communication channels are very poor. Most of the time [information] is purposefully kept away. Also, the research has not yet been done, and that is very vital.
What are the biggest obstacles facing youth employment in India?
In India there is a huge young population that is unemployed, and we cannot think about underemployment because unemployment is so acute. You can bargain [for labour], and you can get it almost for free. Eighty to 85 percent of the population are discriminated [against].
What are the biggest industries in India?
Mining, textiles, leather, rice, food industries.
What are the best/worst things about India, in your opinion?
Best: Living in the tropics. It is a heaven on earth. It’s beautifully diverse – biodiversity, cultural diversity, ethnodiversity.
Worst: Discrimination and human rights violations are rampant. Caste system. The highest number of child labourers are in India. When I think about the bad side I really think “Oh God, why was I ever born in this country?” We die in ignorance, live in ignorance.
What is the biggest issue you would like to see addressed at this summit?
The issue of racial discrimination, and the issue of the young people especially. The indigenous peoples, these are the people who need the most immediate, urgent attention, because every minute, every second thousands of them are dying in every corner of the earth.
What do you do for fun in India?
Community dancing and singing. That’s it.
How accessible is post-secondary education in India?
It is very difficult. In the government schools, the competition is very tough. Some of us are actually the first generation [of] literates.
What role should Western countries play in helping developing countries’ employment issues?
Most of the aid agencies are in the developed countries, and I’d like to say to them, look before you leap. I might sound a little bit angry, but I’d like to say, stop aid to our country. Please, you don’t know how it this aid is used. Most of the time they’re used to support [the powerful]. If you really want to do something, go down to the fields, see, look, hear what it is in reality. And then make [knowledge] your foundation. Upon that you can build anything, do anything.
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