UNFPA in collaboration with UNECLAC, UNESCO, UNICEF, CARICOM and the OECS organized a SIDS Youth Workshop in Jamaica over July 24 – 25, 2014.
The SIDS Youth Workshop 2014 intends to enroll and empower a regional network of youth advocates who will advocate to a multitude of stakeholders for meaningful attention to be paid to the issues they identify as pertinent to their development and the inclusion of these issues in the SIDS deliberations and the Post 2015 processes. It will build on the related youth engagements including the 2013 Youth Conference, the ECOSOC Global Youth Forum (June 3) and the online capacity building training for youth advocates (June 18). The outcome document of the2013 youth conference, the Youth Declaration: “My World, My SIDS – Youth Empowerment and Sustainability” will be used as the pivotal tool for empowerment and capacity building of the young people and for the development of advocacy and communication strategies.
The key objectives of the workshop:
1. Facilitate agreement on a youth advocacy and communication strategy for the inclusion of identified youth issues in the SIDS Conference and Post 2015 development agenda processes.
2. Build the capacity of a cadre of youth advocates to implement advocacy and communication strategies aimed at improving the profile of their issues in SIDS and the Post 2015 agendas
In Attendance representing The Rap Port and TCI was Ms Vanessa Hall, in addition to twenty nine young people from 13 countries across the region.
“As young people, you have many concerns and ideas and we want to hear them. We want to ensure that the voice and realities of Caribbean people are echoed on the international stage and in Samoa so that priorities of the region cannot be ignored; and that the development agenda post 2015 is truly reflective of all our regions” - Sheila Roseau, Director UNFPA Sub-regional Office for the Caribbean
The Third International Conference for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) will be held in Apia, Samoa over August 28 – September 4, 2014. The meeting offers an opportunity for the Caribbean and Pacific to influence global discussions on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Rio+20 for long-term global development goals. While discussion will focus on green economy, climate change and other areas, there is the opportunity to ensure addressing social issues affecting vulnerable groups, including women and youth, and making linkages to population dynamics and development and gender to the economy and social development. Several preparatory activities have been executed in both the Pacific, Caribbean, Indian Ocean and other regions.
UNFPA HQ facilitated the development of a strategy agreed by Pacific and the Caribbean which outlines several actions key to realizing the integration of the social development issues into the SIDS discourse, key among them is the mobilization of a cadre of youth advocates as the primary drivers of the SIDS advocacy strategy. As part of the SIDS preparatory process, during 27 June to 1 July 2013, UNESCO Kingston Cluster Office and UNICEF Jamaica Office organized a Caribbean SIDS Youth Consultation under the theme “MY World, MY SIDS! Youth Empowerment and Sustainability”. Eighteen youth leaders from 13 Caribbean countries participated in the consultation. This was one of three global conferences organized for youth to discuss the future they want and to document the issues they would like to be incorporated in their region’s consultations and outcome documents. The Caribbean Conference resulted in: a Youth Outcome Statement and Declaration which were shared and presented at the Caribbean SIDS Regional Preparatory Meeting by one of the youth participants, Mr. Jahisiah Benoit of Dominica; a Facebook page for SIDS Caribbean youth; formation of the Caribbean Sustainable Development Youth Coalition; and country commitments from the youth delegates for follow-up work. The conference resulted in the development of the Youth Declaration: “My World, My SIDS – Youth Empowerment and Sustainability” and was presented at the Caribbean Regional Preparatory meeting held in Jamaica July 2 – 4, 2014.
Despite the successful delivery of the preparatory youth conference however, young people continue to report through social media that their involvement in the process is limited and at best tokenistic. They do not feel that their issues have been sufficiently reflected in the draft outcome documents, nor do they believe sufficient space has been provided for them to be empowered and their capacities built to advocate as bonafide stakeholders in the world they want to see. They believe they could be more involved in the dissemination of the SIDS Youth Declaration among their peers, government partner and civil society partners with the view of enrolling them in advocacy around their issues. The young people also called for capacity building and empowerment to implement advocacy activities prior to the SIDS Conference, but importantly during and after the conference.
Further to this, there is the need for advocacy to government to understand the demographic bonus and the need to understand the link between investing in young people (education, health and employment) and social and economic progress as outlined in the CARICOM Youth Development Action Plan and the Regional Framework for Action for Children.