Harness the power of youth

Youth are a powerful resource for development and are critical actors in the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals. This was one of the key messages of the World Youth Report 2007, which was presented in Geneva on 3 April by the CONGO Committee of Youth NGOs. 

Ms. Patience W. Stephens, Team Leader and Focal Point for the United Nations Programme on Youth, presented the report to representatives of youth organizations, including WAGGGS, and UN agencies in Geneva.

Ms. Stephens said that the current generation is a generation of volunteers and both governments and communities must harness this potential power of youth volunteerism if the Millennium Development Goals are to be achieved. 

The report highlights that young people between the ages of 15 and 24 now constitute 18 per cent of the world’s population and 25 per cent of the working-age population. Today’s generation of young people is on the whole also the best educated generation of youth in history. Yet their ability to grow into adulthood is being hindered by poverty and unemployment.

"The problem of unemployment", declares Ms. Stephens, "is not due to a lack of education, but mainly to the tightening of the labour market". Ms. Stephens highlighted the issue of migration which, in all regions, is seen as a window of opportunity, and yet this very fact also contributes too much of the social exclusion that young migrants face in their host countries.

The report also highlights that gender inequality continues to impact negatively on the lives of girls and young women, as reflected in higher unemployment rates, higher HIV infection rates and more young women being affected by poverty.

CONGO Committee of Youth NGOs

WAGGGS is a member of the CONGO Committee of Youth NGOs in Geneva, which is currently chaired by WOSM and the World Alliance of YMCAs. 

The main goal of the Committee of Youth NGOs is to strengthen the position of youth, youth NGOs and NGOs working with youth in the UN, and to facilitate co-operation and exchange of information between youth and NGOs about the UN and the different NGOs present.