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| "The MDGs are young goals" - An Interview with Erik T. Wedershoven Part I |
 PRINTABLE VERSION |
So you managed to get on the delegation, but what was your actual role at the Summit?
My most important role was to go to as many meetings and side-events as possible and to work on my networks, try to prepare myself for the speech I’m going to give on the 6th of October, of course a lot of work was again showing how important it is to involve young people in the MDGs and showing to many governments how good it was that The Netherlands was sending their youth delegate. The other important point was to raise awareness about youth issues concerning the MDGs and making clear that they are youth goals.
But also to bring back a lot; because I learned a lot, I did a lot of networking, I did a lot of lobbying, I worked on my speech. That was really useful. It’s something to bring back, because, as bad as it sounds, if a youth delegate goes to the Millennium Summit it really is something interesting, it’s something you can talk about and you can talk with a personal angle about international politics.
…so you mean it’s something good for your own personal development…
Of course, but it’s also something interesting for youth organizations. The contacts I made are interesting for them and they can say “see there are youth going to the Millennium Summit”. Then media for example came up to me and I could raise more awareness about the MDGs. I was talking about youth, but I also went to a lot of media, trying to raise awareness for the MDGs and for development cooperation. That was very useful. Not only for supporting policies, but also for supporting organizations: What could people in The Netherlands do to support development cooperation?
You talk about the MDGs being youth goals. How do you see the role of young people in international development, where do they fit? What do you think are the most effective ways for young people to contribute to the achievement of the MDGs?
There are a couple of obvious things and I’m going to start with the most concrete examples. Of course, there are so many organizations working on the MDGs already. Youth are very motivated, they are strong, they have good ideas, they are creative. And development organizations, for example in The Netherlands, are jumping for young people. They would love to have more young people working on their policies, working in the field. Young people are such strong contributors, they’re such good networkers, they can do so much on the ground, they can do so much on the grassroots levels, they can support projects for achieving the MDGs. Because the MDGs are not achieved by the governments themselves. Of course we need money and resources, but achieving the MDGs is also a matter of awareness, of work on grassroots level - it’s the most important work.
But then there is also the maybe more abstract form that’s advocating for the MDGs. I can see when I’m at debates and discussions in The Netherlands and in Western Europe a lot of experts, a lot of managers from developing organization are very pessimistic about the MDGs; and I find that the only organizations in The Netherlands that are truly supporting the MDGs and are really advocating for the MDGs and convincing our government to stay sharp with this, are youth organizations. They are the strongest lobbyists when we are talking about the MDGs and development cooperation.
So there are basically two things, the concrete work and projects, trying to invent, to think of projects, but also trying to just advocate for the MDGs.
Read more about Erik’s thoughts on the World Programme on Action for Youth, the difficulties of getting more youth delegates from developing countries to the UN General Assembly and what you can do if you want to become a youth delegate yourself in Part II of this interview.
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Franziska Seel
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advice/internship/volunteering elizabeth kibalama | Feb 20th, 2006
hallo mr. Erik T Wedershoven
I hope you got my last comment. I made an error by addressing you as Seel, the writer. I am a wageningen uni aluminia and have looked for a working experience for the last 2 years. have not succeeded. Could you please give me some advice on how to get a placement in NGOs working on African issues. I trust you have a lot of expert knowledge on how to deal and approach the Dutch ngos. my email is maynaki@yahoo.co.uk. groetjes, elizabeth
This is good Henry Ekwuruke | Aug 21st, 2006
I became happier reading this interesting and challenging piece. One more point Erik, have you told them that the world cannot achieve the MDGs if the people are left aside, and who are the people, the youth are, with about half of the world and getting bigger, who are they planning for? Themselves? No at all, they are planning for us, they are doing the meeting for we, our future is at stake. Please can you inform me of what you tell them? I will more happy to hear you give insight of the activities of the people at the CSD because, this time I am out to make myself and delegate to the event in 2007 and will like to make our case known from this part of the world, on the impacts of the MDGs and what works and what doesn't and ask them to give me answers. I appreciate you. Thanks
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