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Last week, we conducted a national level conference on "Education and Conflict". We were not able to receive any grants from donor organizations to conduct the program, but when we talked to the presidents of the Free Students Unions (FSU are the democratically elected students unions in the colleges) about the conference and the lack of funds, we received full support from them. They insisted that the conference was timely and essential, that we should conduct it, and that they would each donate some money to help us conduct the conference. To see the participation, willingness and the drive to help us conduct the conference was a huge eye opener. It showed us that the youth are truly becoming more aware and proactive with a sense of ownership and participatory feelings about the community and the nation. Most of the student and youth leaders with whom we have worked or had contact with, have shown appreciation towards AfP for working single-mindedly to enable and empower the youth and also to bring about peace and sustainable democracy in Nepal. We have been careful to maintain clear objectives, without diversifying target groups or methodology and approaches, unlike other organizations that work in any sector for which funding is available.
MP: Are there any other organizations similar to Alliance for Peace and how well do these organizations work together?
DT: There are quite a few organizations working in Nepal for and amongst the youth. I don't know if all are working to enable and empower the youth or for peace and sustainable democracy. Initially, our focus and target group were essentially the school and college going students and youth: therefore, the Alliance for Peace just worked with the eight students organizations (these are the students' organizations of the major registered political organizations in Nepal). But with the passage of time, we at AfP have seen the importance of targeting all the youth without exception to their educational background or political affiliations and helping to enable and empower them. With this in mind, we saw the need for working collectively with other organizations, especially organizations working at the grass roots level in the rural areas. Also, as there has always been an inclusion problem in Nepal, with most of the indigenous nationalities being neglected and excluded from most decision making processes or their rights and welfare not being addressed, the Alliance for Peace saw the need to include and work together with these groups to advocate for their rights and build their capacity. So, we have been working in conjunction with the excluded and disadvantaged groups such as the Dalit Bidyarthi Sangh, Sherpa Bidyarthi Manch, Magar Bidyarthi Sangh, Gurung Bidyarthi Sangh and more (these are students organizations of indigenous groups who have always been excluded from the governance and bureaucratic framework of the country)
MP: We know that youth representation in the form of the Constituent Assemblies will help establish a practical democratic process in Nepal. In what specific ways or programs can the youth be involved with in helping to build the democratic process?
DT: First of all, as I have already said, it's essential to have representation of the youth in the CA, since more than 60% of the general population of Nepal is believed to be youth below 25 years of age. Therefore, having a direct representation of youth in the CA would reflect their demands and aspirations, helping establish a practical democratic process in Nepal. Till date, the youth in most political parties have not been included in the decision-making bodies. This capacity has always been in the hands of the seniors and elders within the parties.
With the purpose of helping build and consolidate the democratic process, more capacity building and empowering work needs to be done (by this, I mean, leadership trainings and confidence building programs and more). What this also means, is that we need to unite all students' organizations under one umbrella and work with them to enable, empower and build capacity so they can take leadership in their own parties and participate in the constituent assembly elections. We are also trying to conduct a campaign program to help the students and youth, as well as the general population, to understand the different facets of the CA and the importance of their roles and representation in the CA.
Several ways of accomplishing this task include an institutional structure, political commitment, adaptation of national youth policies to local circumstance, and monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.
An institutional structure would mean to establish a lead agency in the Government. Youth development implies a cross-sectored approach. This agency can be a ministry or a department within a ministry. Its aim would be to coordinate the activities of different ministries on youth matters in order to secure the effective integration of youth policy into national development planning. Such an agency also creates coherence between implemented policies and programs.
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Mariya Petrova
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