Berlin, December 28. From Dec. 4-7, 200 youth delegates from EU member countries will convene in Brussels to discuss youth politics. They will draft a paper on the European Youth Pact which will be handed over to the European Commission as a guideline for young peoples interests. National youth agencies were called upon to organize conferences as part of the preparatory process.

In Germany this was realized by the service point for youth participation in cooperation with the ministry of youth, by holding a three-day conference past weekend:

During a “project fair” 80 young participants could share experiences from different projects, ranging from volunteering in Europe to sports opportunities in an abandoned theatre to networks for renewable energy or youth employment initiatives. In three different workshops youth talked about on education, integration, participation, youth employment, and combining family and job. The outcome, formed into a resolution, will be presented to the German authorities, and 5 delegates were elected to carry the spirit of the weekend into the sessions in Brussels.

We have the opportunity to form Europe, and our future. We thus have the responsibility to do so. And we are motivated to take initiative!

For more info visit
http://europa.eu.int/comm/youth/youthweek/index_en.html#top

Tunis, November 17, 2005. While heads of state and more than 10,000 representatives of governments, UN agencies, civil society and the private sector were gathering for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis, Tunisia, TakingITGlobal in partnership with the United Nations Millennium Campaign organized an one-hour workshop to discuss with young people the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

The workshop started with a presentation about the MDG program that TakingITGlobal is running in partnership with the Millennium Campaign and the Global Youth Action Network. TakingITGlobal’s featured theme on the MDGs was shown and the participants had the chance to play TakingITGlobal’s MDG card game, which is an excellent example of how ICTs can be used in an innovative way to raise awareness about the goals.
The participants also had the chance to share some of the work they are doing around the MDGs in their communities.

After that, the group of about 30 young people from various different countries broke up in two smaller groups to discuss the role of ICTs in achieving the MDGs. What the participants of both groups stressed was the important role that ICTs play in raising awareness about the MDGs. Also, the need to share experiences and best practices among young people was emphasized. With the use of ICTs, especially the Internet, such networking has become much easier.

Sofya Mezhorina shared with the participants her experiences in Russia: “Many of the young people who participated in the open forums on youth initiatives and MDGs in Russia admitted that had it not been the online communication with their peers from other regions and countries, they would have never known about such global initiatives as the Millennium Development Goals. I think that ICTs not only empower young people to seek and create knowledge, but also assist us to become more active citizens and contribute the development of our communities.

The workshop was part of a series of events organized by the WSIS Youth Caucus and took place in the youth hub within the ICT4All exhibition hall.

The topic was "Jugend global bewegt - Wie Jugendliche die Globalisierung gestalten" (something like "Youth global shaping - how young people shape globalisation"). The Ecumenical Discussion Circle in a Bavarian town has invited younger and older persons to discuss the challenges of globalization, the Millennium Goals, and the impact of youth. Myself, I was invited as an expert.
The event was well planned, many invitations were sent out. We expected about 15 or even 20 guests. In fact, only 2 guests came, plus a journalist who accidently read the event in the internet and drove 2 hours by car to get there for a radio interview. Myself, I drove 1 hour by car.
The discussion itself was very productive. How to help Africa? How can young people work for MDGs? How do they shape globalization? What power does everyone of us have? The discussion was very interesting, that's not the question.
But: Why came only 2 people, who even weren't young but an older couple? Since I try to connect youth activities for MDGs, it is always a very demotivating work: Some, or even many, are interested in the topic. Yes, they usually also visit workshops and conferences with MDGs as topic. But the Event in this Bavarian town showed again: when you plan to do some concrete action, it gets difficult. I tried to find work on MDGs from young activists for young activists, I didn't find very much indeed...
So, why is this so? I have a kind of idea in my head - the abstractness of MDGs. Maybe you, my distinguished fellow blogger, have an idea how to tackle the problem, this problem which makes me feeling disappointed?

A smart Christmas: nice present, great idea!

If you promote your company by means of useful initiatives you'll strike hard! Just consider Bill Gates. At Christmas, for a birthday or any other occasion, you absolutely have to buy a smart present. Instead of giving craps, with just a little money, you can help a lot of people. Instead of a diamond, you can pay a surgery operation to a child or a year of school to a whole classroom in Pakistan, India or Africa. And what about some solar panels? Once people used to tell not to give charity but to give a fishing rod and teach how to use it. The fishing rod of year 2000 are the solar panels. The easiest way to create an income or give energy to the productive activities of entire communities. Not a monthly income: give some solar panels to the dearest persons! Do what you can. It's nice to talk about stopping waging wars in the name of oil, but if you don't seed love, only hate will grow. Have a nice present!

Domenico Schietti
2010 Eliminazione Povertà
http://www.liberaassociazioneilpopolo.it/

Dear All:

We thought you would like to be among the first to know about a very important national campaign to be launched by youths, youth organizations and youth involving organizations in Nigeria. Youth and the MDGs campaign will bring to the public eye and onto the national and global public agenda the issue of Youths and the MDGs.

The issue is critical, poverty is destroying the lives of millions of youths, we- youths are the most affected with the largest population in the world, we do have a role to play in seeing to it that the MDGs are achieved by the year 2015.

Your role, if you are interested in the campaign and willing to take up the challenge is to help make it a success.

In the past few weeks, a couple of volunteers have been working on translating the MDGs into our three major languages- Ibo, Hausa and Yoruba. We would in the coming weeks be sending this out through the email to every one who believes in a just world.

Please take time to read this and to share this initiative with your family, friends and colleagues.

You too can make a difference- join the Youth and MDGs campaign now! Send your name, organization affiliation and email address to waleolafaw@yahoo.com with Youth and MDGs in the Subject line.

Thank you in advance for your time and help.

Sincerely,

Oyebisi.B.Oluseyi

Convener, Youth and the MDGs Campaign

The Conservators-Nigeria Network of NGOs