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 The Youth Federation for World Peace will bring more than 60 young leaders as part of its delegation to the United Nations Sixth UN Youth Assembly on August 5-7. YFWP has been an active participant in past years, and based upon major initiatives in Africa in 2008 and 2009, this year's delegation will include 14 young leaders from Kenya, 2 from Liberia, and 3 from Niger, in addition to 45 from the United States. Part of the Kenya delegation is supported by a generous grant from UNESCO. The UN Youth Assembly gathers young leaders from around the world who share best practices, develop global networking capacity, and seek ways to contribute to the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals. Invest in Youth, UN tells State By Ramadhan Rajab The UN has urged the Government and private sector to invest in the youth. UNESCO Regional director Joseph Massaquoi said the Government will only realise its Millennium Development Goals if it builds the youth capacity to be more productive through education and exchange programmes. “We can’t hide or ignore the youth anymore, they are the pillars that will dictate if this country’s economy and future has to be propelled to prosperity or drained to doom and it is now or never,” Massaquoi told The Standard at the UN Headquarters in Gigiri, Nairobi. | He spoke when he presented a Sh14,000 cheque to sponsor one person to attend the UN Youth Assembly in New York, US, next month. He said the Government should step up funding and sponsorship for youth projects to nurture them and make them self-driven and sustainable to contribute positively to peace, wealth creation, and environmental conservation. Among the key speakers at the UN conference will be President Obama’s senior strategy adviser Jeffrey Sachs, and UN Millennium Projects Director Joshua Cooper.
Reprinted from The Standard, Nairobi, Kenya, July 27, 2009
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The three-day leadership training at the UN's headquarters in New York includes plenary sessions with leading keynote speakers, workshops targeting relevant development issues, and breakout sessions that invite participants to speak on the challenges and accomplishments of civil organizations working in the field. Achieving UN Millennium Development Goals such poverty reduction, adequate health care, and gender equity is a formidable task. We look forward to reporting on the conference and, more importantly, working in partnership to bring effective solutions to the world’s development challenges.
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