Photo Courtesy UN.org

The Youth Representatives in Bali created a fantastic Youth Communique that set out priorities and plans for future involvement. It is a brilliant document and shows how youth can speak clearly and coherently about global development.

The High Level Panel also produced a communique from Bali. It highlights four key areas discussed: partnerships, sustainability, implementation, and accountability.

Partnerships: They suggest that ”Enhanced and scaled up models of cooperation…” will be needed to achieve the next development framework. Global governance should be strengthened and avoid overlapping. Everyone from the UN, civil society, private sector, and local governments should all support the next framework cooperatively.

Sustainability: They say that environmental sustainability will be paramount to the future of development and suggest that each country should help in accordance with its level of capacity and responsibility.They call for changes in behavior for all countries in regards to this, as the world population will reach 9-10 billion by 2050.

Implementation: The means of implementation should prompt a more monitored, responsible, and efficient use of financial resources. Tax havens and illicit financial flows should be should closer regulated.

Accountability: Increased and more accurate data is needed to successfully monitor progress. They call for a ”data revolution.” Data should be broken down by sex, age, religion, and other variables to better understand what effect development is having and to whom.

Communiques and press statements were also released following the preceding HLP meetings, and can all be viewed here. Reading through all the official statements produced by the HLP, some common themes can be observed. Firstly, there is considerable focus and attention paid to sustainability and ensuring the next development framework takes climate change and environmental concerns into serious account.

The multiple memos also call for increased partnership and cooperation among governments, particularly to fight financial corruption. This is likely due in response in part to the criticism Goal 8 of the MDGs has received as not being coherent enough or truly enforceable.

The reports also highlights consultations with multistakeholders, such as youth, women, and civil society. There certainly has been more inclusion and involvement than in the production of the MDGs, but it remains to be seen whether this will be reflected in the coming report and framework. It is also very debatable if there has been enough involvement with various stakeholders, particularly youth.

The panel is now in the process of producing a report that will have recommendations for Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. It is expected that this report should be completed by the end of May 2013. But the process is far from being over and the next development agenda is not even close to being complete.

We still have time to have our say and make sure global youth are accounted for in the coming framework. With all the communiques in mind, what do you think the HLP has done well? Do you think their chosen priorities are fair and inclusive? Most importantly, what have they failed to include and how can we ensure the youth voice continues to be listened to? Let us know in the comments below, on our Facebook page, or send us a Tweet!

Bali Post-2015 Youth Strategy Workshop Group

Can young people really influence international development? Well, the 100 youths who assembled in Bali this week certainly think so. There is nothing special about us: we are just the lucky few selected from more than 1000 applicants to participate in the Bali Youth Stakeholder meeting here in Bali. We represent more than 30 nations across all continents (except Antarctica), and we worked hard to ensure decision-makers not just heard our voices, but listened to our suggestions and acted upon them.

So what did we actually do? Well, at 8am on Sunday morning we gathered in an Indonesian conference room full of passion, ideas and enthusiasm. We were ready to apply ourselves to the daunting, but exciting, task ahead. Most of us knew none of our fellow participants at the beginning, and for some people this was their first trip outside their home country. The youngest of us was 17, and the eldest 29. To be perfectly honest, I had little idea what to expect, but within minutes of talking to fellow participants my confidence grew and I realised we were in for an exciting few days.

Sunday’s workshop was led mainly by the wonderful Rachel and Iman of Indonesia Future Leaders. In order to prepare to engage with High Level Panelists the next day, we participated in group discussions about youth perspectives on the 2 main topics on Bali High Level Panel agenda: ‘Global Partnerships’ and ‘Means of implementation.’  We also examined the core themes arising from international youth consultations.

We received a visit from one of the High Level Panel members, Amina Mohamed (who is also special advisor to the UN Secretary General on post-2015). She was very friendly, and told us:

“Push the boundaries, give us a hard time, and you’ll get what you want.”

We heeded her suggestion, and stayed up very late to drafting the youth communique ready for the next day.

Bali Youth Representatives

Monday was the big day for all of us. We took the bus to the plushest hotel in Bali, passed through security, and gasped at the size of the venue (the main room has a capacity of 1500 people!), before settling into our seats for the morning session of the High Level Panel’s outreach day. It began with a ‘Townhall Meeting’. During this open session, various representatives of civil society made presentations to the HLP, followed by a short time for Q&A. Many interesting points were raised, for example, one CSO presenter said:

“No target should be considered to have been met if children, young people, women and marginalised groups continue to be excluded from development”

…but I found the format a bit repetitive and dry, on the whole. I think all of us were glad when the afternoon finally arrived, and we had our chance to interact directly with members of the High Level Panel. We welcomed 6 high level panelists to participate in a series of youth-facilitated round-table discussions, following 5 short and punchy presentations on:

1. The road to Bali (presentation on outcomes of youth participation in London and Monrovia)
2. Global partnerships
3. Means of implementation
4. Monitoring and accountability
5. The road from Bali (presentation on future youth participation in post-2015 process)

I was lucky enough to co-facilitate (with Jaoa from ChangeMob) the round-table involving Homi Kharas, none other than the lead author of the HLP report to UN General Assembly! It was an unbelievable opportunity, and not one we wanted to mess up. Thankfully the discussion ran smoothly and productively. The presentations were excellently received by the panellists, and all the round-table discussions were rich. Mr Kharas summed up:

“I have heard something quite exciting at this table. Young people want to be agents of change, and are starting to organise themselves to do so…[...]. The HLP report is ultimately about how your lives can be made better. Don’t worry about whether or not we’re listening to youth – we are. But it is not just about your voices: it is also about your actions. What we really want to know is what young people themselves want to do for themselves, to contribute to development, and what real blockages you feel you face.”

The buzz in the room was brilliant, and I felt very proud to be part of such a process.

But it didn’t end there: even on Monday evening, many of us stayed on to participate in a fringe event run by Restless Development, about the role that young people can play in monitoring international development progress. 22-year-old Luciano of Brazil Youth Coalition gave a great presentation to a room filled with important people, including Justine Greening (UK Secretary of State for International Development). Paul Polman (the CEO of Unilever, and HLP representative of the private sector) observed:

“When you look back in time at those who have changed the course of history, you realise just how many of them are young people. It seems worth noting that change can so often be traced back to young people.”

Tuesday was another day filled with meetings – the morning I spent with the Beyond 2015 working group was fascinating, and reminded me just how many of us there are pushing for similar objectives. But my favourite day was Wednesday, when a team of young people came back together to strategize and plan our next steps for the post-2015 process. Some of us were bees (buzzing around getting involved in everything), some of us were beavers (diving into the detail of discussions), and some of us were butterflies (fluttering beautifully and attracting attention to important issues) – but the key message that I took away is that there is a role FOR EVERYONE when it comes to setting the post-2015 international development agenda.

So, if you want to be part of these activities, please do contact us here at Generation Development!

Reflections on the UN HLP and youth engagement post-2015

This morning I got up at 6.23am to watch the sun rise here in Nusa Dua, Indonesia. As I sat on the hotel rooftop, waiting for the first rays to peek above the horizon, I was reflecting on my experience of the past 2 days here at the 4th meeting of the UN High Level Panel on Post-2015. Personally, it has been an eye-opening experience, professionally a positive one, yet patience has been essential. I found myself drawing parallels between the decision to pull myself out of bed at dawn (after only three hours of sleep!) in the hope of witnessing a spectacular sky, and the challenges that faces young people in the effort to engage and influence decision-makers.

When I was rudely awoken by my alarm this morning, I didn’t really know whether it would be worth sacrificing precious sleep to witness what could have been a dull dawn. I had no guarantee that the sunrise would appear beautiful – in fact as I peered bleary-eyed out of the small window in my room, the sky seemed cloudy and dim.

UN systems, from what I have observed over the past couple of days, are similar: certainly cloudy, and sometimes dim. Information is often foggy, language used is inaccessible to many, and the format of meetings makes the High Level Panel seem about as far away from us as the sun is!

And yet, there is hope. There are windows of opportunity, there are important people who will listen, and the sun will rise on development beyond 2015. If you care enough, if you’re willing to take risks, make sacrifices, and be patient, then you CAN effect change. You can navigate your way through the clouds, and seek out the ear of those who can help make the sun shine.

Young people WILL engage in the post-2015 process. We will get out of bed in the morning knowing that we CAN influence the right people, at the right time, in the right way. It might take a while, and we might encounter some bad weather as we try, but we know it will be worth it and we know our voices will be heard.

“Youth are not just the chartmasters of international development, but also the captains and the navigators. If you look to the West, you will see the sun setting on the High Level Panel, but if you look to the East, you will see the sun rising on post-2015″

[A closing remark from a member of the High Level Panel during youth round-table event]

I have seen the sun rise, not just on the rooftop of a Balinese hotel, but also on the role of young people as agents for development. I have seen many powerful people negotiating the future of the world, but I have also seen the same people look to young people for energy, hope and solutions. And over the last few days, it has dawned on me that we really can work together for a better world. The sun is rising and it is finally time for youth to shine. Here’s to a brighter future!

For full coverage of Sarah’s time at the HLP,  including photos & videos, please see our Facebook page.