Children and Youth Engagement

Before two weeks over 40 participants representing youth-led organizations, CSOs, UN, private sector and academia met for two days in New York to coordinate and harmonize their efforts to enhance child and youth participation in the formulation of the agenda that will succeed the MDGs after 2015.
The meeting – organized by the UN Millennium Campaign in collaboration with the UN Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development, the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service, CIVICUS, GCAP and the Beyond 2015 campaign– counted with the presence of Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General for Post-2015 Development Planning.
Liana Manusajyan, a youth representative from Armenia, opened the meeting. “I am asking you to lift the barriers to children and youth participation,” she said. “Because we need your help and we offer you our help in return.”
Rajiv Joshi, Global Call to End Poverty at the opening said “Our planet stand upon a precipice and people around the world, particularly women and young people are facing growing inequality, poverty and injustice. Next month over 150 young leaders and over 800 delegates will meet at the CIVICUS Youth Assembly and World Assembly in Montreal do build a vision of the World We Want and define a new social contract for people and the planet. As World Leaders craft the Post 2015 Development Agenda, we call for a future framework that is build upon the voices of citizens around, particularly young people who are in the forefront of changing their nations and the world".

The multi-stakeholder working session was conceived to facilitate partnerships between different stakeholders, to design a children- and youth-led engagement strategy, to develop follow-up mechanisms to enhance their engagement in this process, and to mobilize resources from donors.
Speaking at the session Amina J. Mohammed, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General in Post-2015 Development Planning said “"Youth participation is fundamental for the post-2015 agenda. Their vision and energy will be needed to do the heavy lifting in its implementation.”

Read more about this meeting and the results here.

Source: EndPoverty 2015