FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE : YOUNG PEOPLE WE CARE (YPWC) RECEIVES YOUTH SERVICE AMERICA’S DISNEY’S FRIENDS FOR CHANGE GRANT TO HELP KIDS MAKE A DIFFERENCE

BUNKPURUGU-YUNYOO, NORTHERN REGION –13TH APRIL 2011– MATTHEW NYANNUBE YOSAH, A COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT STUDENT AT UNIVERSITY FOR DEVELOPMENT STUDIES WA, AND PROJECT OFFICER OF YOUNG PEOPLE WE CARE (YPWC) GHANA IN NORTHERN REGION was one of the selected youth leaders around the world to be awarded a $500 Disney’s fiends for Change Grant from YSA (Youth Service America) to support youth-led projects encouraging kids, families and communities to work together to make a positive change in their world.

One of 20 grants awarded in the United States, Matthew Nyannube Yosah will implement Youth Participatory Environmental Action for Sustainable Development from April 15th to 17th in celebration of Global Youth Service Day, the world’s largest and longest-running youth-led service campaign. According to Matthew, ‘Youth Participatory Environmental Action for Sustainable Development is a community felt, need-based and grassroots approach to a youth-led community action project that seeks to enhance the environmental health of communities. Located in the Northern Region of Ghana, an intervention is needed to enhance the attainment of the Millennium Development Goal 7 (Ensuring Environmental Sustainability) and improving climate change globally’.

Disney's Friends for Change (www.disney.com/projectgreen) is a program created to inspire kids and families to join together and make a positive impact on their world (and the people and animals that live there). The grants offer youth needed resources to bring environmental initiatives to life and inspire change within their local communities.

“These grants were extremely competitive, but ‘Youth Participatory Environmental Action for Sustainable Development’ exemplified the goals of the Disney’s Friends for Change program,” said Steve Culbertson, President and CEO of Youth Service America. “Young people in Kinkangu want to make a difference, and Disney’s Friends for Change Grant, in coordination with YSA (Youth Service America), offers them the resources needed to make a positive, measurable impact on their community.”

Now in its 23rd year, Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) engages millions of young people via partnerships with schools, youth development, community, and faith-based organizations. Events are currently planned in more than 100 countries and in all 50 states, addressing the most challenging local, national and global issues facing the world including health, literacy, childhood hunger and the environment.

"Kids and families are at the heart of everything we do athttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif Disney. We strive to partner with and inspire the next generation to improve the planet’s future by using creativity, arts and problem--solving to make a difference through Disney’s Friends for Change Grants,” said Leslie Goodman, senior vice president, Corporate Citizenship, The Walt Disney Company.

For more information about Youth Participatory Environmental Action For Sustainable Development visit www.ypwc.org and also join our Facebook fun page. For more information about YSA (Youth Service America) and Global Youth Service Day (GYSD), visit www.YSA.org.

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Disney's Friends for Change is a multiplatform initiative that helps inspire kids and families to join together and make a positive impact on their world (and the people and animals that live there). Through PSAs on-air and online tool-kits, the program aims to provide useful information to help kids make small changes that add up to big differences. As part of the program, Disney donates $1 million dollars annually to fund projects all around the globe and has funded over 41 projects that help the planet ranging from educational & community programs to species & habitat protection. Friends for Change currently has over 3 million actions taking place from kids in 33 countries throughout Europe, Latin America, Japan, India, and China. Kids can join online at www.Disney.com/projectgreen .

Youth Service America (YSA) improves communities by increasing the number and the diversity of young people, ages 5-25, serving in substantive roles. Founded in 1986, YSA supports a global culture of engaged youth committed to a lifetime of service, learning, leadership, and achievement. The impact of YSA’s work through service and service-learning is measured in student achievement, workplace readiness, and healthy communities. For more information, visit www.YSA.org.

Young People We Care (YPWC) is a youth led and youth focused organization headquartered in Ghana. Founded in 2005,our mission is to educate and inform youth on global issues, inspire them to take action, encourage their participation in global issues, identify and build sustainable partnerships aimed at youth development and provide young people with tools and resources for effective action. Our vision is to provide a ‘youthful voice’ that seeks to address the numerous challenges facing young people by effectively using young resourceful minds to influence the course of global policy formulation and development in a consistent and harmonized manner. For more information, visit: www.ypwc.org .

CONTACT:
Diane Dray
818-567-5384
The Walt Disney Company
diane.dray@disney.com

Jen Voss
Youth Service America
202-650-5064
jvoss@ysa.org

Matthew Nyannube Yosah
Young People We Care/ Development Education Club
+233-249431332
matthew@ypwc.org

YPWC Thank You 2010

Dear YPWCer:

Five years ago, a group of young people founded Young People We Care to promote youth-led development through building the capacity of young people in Ghana and beyond to be active change makers and to also direct engage young people in development issues such as the Millennium Development Goals, HIV/AIDS and International Migration. We have had tremendous success over the past five years including: hosting more than 60 global anti poverty campaigns, supporting young people on three occasions to have a voice at the Global Forum on Migration and Development and bringing together over 80,000 young people for inter-generational dialogues on development issues with policymakers and people who matter most in development.

Recall, that for the 2nd time we were selected for an award by the United Nations Volunteer in recognition for our innovative voluntary support in the area of youth-led development on International Volunteers Day and also as a as a Regional Lead Agency by Youth Service America. Organizations such as ours, which is supported by volunteers, funds from individuals and some amount of small grants from donor organizations rarely do well in such difficult environment.

As the holiday season approaches, we’d like to thank you for your moral support. The exciting accomplishments would not have been proudly achieved without you.

As YPWC gets stronger, we have innovative ideas on how engage young people in promoting sustainable development. However, we would not be able to realize our noble vision without your support. As the year draws to a close for a new year, please think of YPWC if you are considering supporting a youth organization that aims to create a better tomorrow through the active engagement of young people. We need your help to keep this important work alive!

We have the vision, so having your generous support can ensure that our work is done in a more structured and forward-looking manner. Here’s what your donation will provide:

• With a $5 donation you can support the travelling cost to schools where we have Development Education Clubs.
• With a $15 donation you can buy programs, posters and refreshments for community and school events.
• With a $50 donation you can sponsor an online consultation on a key issue such as poverty and MDGs and Migration.
• With a $125 donation you can sponsor a development oriented campaign such as STAND UP 2011.
• With a $500 donation you can support a Fundraising and Advocacy Training for youth.
• With a $1500 donation you can support a 4 young people to implement innovative activities on Global Youth Service Day in April 2011.
• With a $5000 donation you can support the August 2011, Road to Rio + 20 Regional event in Accra-Ghana.

Please help us move into 2011 with a guaranteed mission of educating and informing youth on key development issues; inspiring youth to take action; encouraging youth participation in global issues; identifying and building sustainable partnerships aimed at youth development; and providing young people with tools and resources for effective action. Your donation can be made easily and securely on our partner’s page (Omprakash) (full link at: https://omprakash.org/DonationForm?go=DonationForm&p=166)

If you need more information on our fundraising strategies please contact Shantell at: shantell.scott@ypwc.org or Tel: +233-3220-52537

Thank you in advance and we look forward to sharing much good news with you throughout 2011 in the spirit of co-development and solidarity.

With very best wishes,

Michael Boampong

Founder and Advisor, Young People We Care

michael@ypwc.org

Shantell L. Scott

Executive Director, Young People We Care

shantell.scott@ypwc.org

YPWC: DISNEY’S FRIENDS FOR CHANGE GRANT ADDRESSING ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Where: BUNKPURUGU-YUNYOO, GHANA
25TH SEPTEMBER, 2010

Mr Jakperuk Judges Bilanmah of YPWC’s Development Education Club was one of 75 international applicants to receive a Disney’s Friends for Change Grant worth $500. The grant is administered by Youth Service America for youth-led environmental initiatives. A major project component occurs on International Coastal Cleanup Day on September 25.

Disney’s Friends for Change: Project Green is a program that encourages young people to take steps together with their friends to help the planet. The grants, administered by Youth Service America (YSA), offer youth the resources they need to bring environmental initiatives to life for their local communities, including the new Friends for Change project guide providing youth with helpful tips on contacting local media and public officials.

The Greening Ghanaian Child and Youth For Sustainable Development project engaged 100 children and youth in an environmental improvement initiative which was led by YPWC Development Education Club at Najiong No.1 Kings and Queens International School in the Bunkpurugu Yunyoo District of Northern Region in Ghana.

The project embarked on a cleanup exercise at the school, street, market, public toilets, urinal pits and capacity building workshops where young people were trained as “Green Child for Sustainable Environment Advocates”. Participants also discussed issues including, but not limited to, the MDGs, with emphasis on the MDG 7: Importance of Clean environment, Time Management. The group planted 20 mango trees on the school compound.

Waste collection and disposal bins, brooms, detergents and other items were also presented to the School Head Mistress, Madam Amuquandoh Hawa, who expressed her gratitude for such need-based intervention.

The PTA Board members present were Mr. Laamong Burika (Chairman), Mr. Elijah Laari-Bugri (Member), Mr. James Chapoli Suuk (Secretary). They expressed gratitude during a community impact assessment forum for such an intervention in their community--one of a kind ever realized in their community.

Matthew Nyannube Yosah,YPWC Project Officer, said “the Greening Ghanaian Child and Youth For Sustainable Development project was a grass-roots, child-led community service intervention responsive to the current environmental needs of the community as far as filth and climate change is concerned”.

He encouraged the community to involve children in decision making and in community developmental processes so as to showcase their aspirations and concerns in order to influence change. He again pledged the commitment of Young People We Care (YPWC) in sustaining the project even as the service dates are over since it helps achieve its mission as a youth led, youth serving organization”

“Youth around the world care a great deal about the environment,” said Steve Culbertson, YSA president and CEO. Disney’s Friends for Change grants provide thousands of young people opportunities to address the issues that are the most pressing in their communities.

National Public Lands Day is on September 25. Last year, 150,000 volunteers participated in local activities to improve and enhance America’s public lands.

For more information about the Disney Friends for Change Grants, visit Disney.com/projectgreen. To learn more about Youth Service America, visit www.YSA.org.

Disney's Friends for Change: Project Green is a multiplatform initiative that helps kids help the planet. Through the program, kids can learn practical ways to help the environment, get their friends involved, track their collective impact and have the opportunity to help Disney decide how $1 million in donations to various environmental causes will be made over the course of a year. Kids can join online at www.Disney.com/projectgreen, where they'll commit to taking simple everyday actions, such as turning off the lights and switching to reusable water bottles, and find out more about why these actions matter. To date, kids have taken 1.5 million pledges that stand to prevent more than 70,000 tons of carbon emissions per year, save nearly 122 million gallons of water per month and prevent close to 200,000 pounds of trash from entering landfills every month.

Youth Service America (YSA) improves communities by increasing the number and the diversity of young people, ages 5-25, serving in substantive roles. Founded in 1986, YSA supports a global culture of engaged youth committed to a lifetime of service, learning, leadership, and achievement. The impact of YSA’s work through service and service-learning is measured in student achievement, workplace readiness, and healthy communities. For more information, visit www.YSA.org.

Young People We Care (YPWC) is a youth led and youth focused organization headquartered in Ghana. The organization is operated by young people (ages 15–30) and adult allies working on youth and development related issues worldwide. Our mission is to educate and inform youth on global issues, inspire them to take action, encourage their participation in global issues, identify and build sustainable partnerships aimed at youth development and provide young people with tools and resources for effective action. Visit us at: www.ypwc.org

CONTACT: Lily Bedrossian
818-553-7292
The Walt Disney Company
Lily.Bedrossian@disney.com

Brandon Gryde Youth Service America
202-296-2992 x 128
bgryde@ysa.org

Matthew Nyannube Yosah
Young People We Care
+233-249431332
matthew@ypwc.org

Mango tree planting image by treesftf

Stand Up, Take Action 17-19 September 2010

Many citizens across the world are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the slow progress being made towards achieving the MDGs and are taking action by petitioning and talking to their elected representatives. In 2009 more than 173 million people gathered at "Stand Up, Take Action, End Poverty Now!" events, setting a new world record for the largest mobilisation of this kind. Visit http://standagainstpoverty.org.

This year, the United Nations held the Millennium Development Goal Review Summit from 20th to 22nd September.

 YPWC's Programme's Director involved in radio phone-in in Kumasi

Meanwhile, YPWC held its own Stand Up events in the days leading up to the UN Summit. This is how it went:

DAY 1: SUTA @ SEA SCHOOL, 17TH SEPTEMBER, 2010

The first day of SUTA activity took place at Sea School at Kwadaso Community in Kumasi.

One student said, ‘We want our government to be committed in ensuring that the MDGs are well-achieved for a better life for all Ghanaians’.

The Proprietor of the School, Mr. Atta Badu, read the STAND UP PLEDGE to the hearing of
the student populace and the entire staff at the assembly ground. Both students and
teachers stooped down and STOOD UP whilst making noise for the MDGs. Students then
proceeded to the dining hall where they continued making noise for the MDGs by banging
spoons on metal plates as a way of illustrating hunger.

DAY 2: RADIO DISCUSSION @ KFm 103.7, KUMASI, 18TH SEPTEMBER, 2010

The Programmes Director of YPWC, Francis Koomson and the Development Officer, Stephen
Acheampong had a fruitful discussion live on KFm 103.7 with Nana Gyantuah, the host of
the popular ‘Entertainment Edge’ in Kumasi.

 Francis Koomson, YPWC's Programme's Director, on air in Kumasi

Discussion centered on MDGs, the need for localizing the MDGs, citizens participation and monitoring at the grassroot level, recommendations on what Government must do in order to realize the MDGs by 2015, and why SUTA 2010.

After the discussion they held a phone-In Segment during which callers requested information on MDGs, how they can participate in the annual STAND UP call, and how to be involved in ensuring they hold government accountable.

YPWC staff ensured that the message was passed on to callers during the phone in session. 


DAY 3: MAKE NOISE FOR THE MDGs AT CHURCH SERVICES,
19TH SEPTEMBER, 2010

YPWC took the SUTA activities to the Pakyi No. 2 and Ahenema Kokoben Assemblies of
the Church of Pentecost respectively.

In both locations the Presiding Elders read the pledge to the congregation after the Programmes Director had done the yeoman job of explaining the SUTA 2010 to the congregation.

Members numbering 250 and 425, respectively, stood up and made noise for the MDGs. The congregations sung and played musical instruments, vuvuzelas and whistles.
OTHER YPWC ACTIVITIES
1. Isaac Twumasi Ampofo, the Executive Director of Richbone Initiative Foundation (RBI)
in Accra, organized the STAND UP event successfully at Sarfoa Memorial School by
kicking out poverty through a football competition involving students, teachers and
staff of RBI. It drew a crowd of 250 people.

2. Matthew Yosah, a Project Officer of YPWC for the Northern Sector of Ghana, in
collaboration with his MDGs Support Club, held a SUTA 2010 event at
University of Development Studies. Check this link:
http://www.ghananewsagency.org/s_economics/r_20523/

3. Samson Nimako, an MDGs advocate, organized a STAND UP event at Church of
Pentecost, Assin Sibinso Assembly, with a church population of 100 people. Members
openly declared their stand against poverty and made noise with the musical
instruments to that effect.

4. Abdul Hasim, an MDGs advocate, organized the STAND UP event at Bunkprungu
Senior High School in the Northern Region through a football match. 270 people
including students and the public partook in the event kicking out poverty.

What Did YPWC Learn From This?
During the activities it became clear that there was little knowledge of what the MDGs are. We identified a need to educate and inform the citizens on MDGs and more especially on global development issues.

YPWC would want to strengthen its Development Education Unit by opening more development education clubs at various first cycle and second cycle institutions in the country to train students on MDGs and how they can be involved in development issues.

YPWC would like to collaborate more closely with the media, especially the radio stations, to cover a larger spectrum of people in the MDGs education process, and also on global development issues.

What were the Challenges?

The main challenge was that the media showed little or no interest in the event and in development issues, generally. such as MDGs. They appear to be more interested in political issues than social issues, even though the MDGs are both political and social.

The public has little awareness of the MDGs indicating that better communications is needed to raise public awareness of the MDG campaign itself, and then on tangible strategies to try and meet the MDGs.

Actions Going Forward

YPWC believes that MDGs/GCAP Ghana, in collaboration with partner organisations, should take on the task of reminding Government of their pledge to realize the MDGs by 2015 through press releases, letters to Members of Parliament, planned peace protests and through any other appropriate medium.

MDGs/GCAP Ghana together with its partner organisations should seek ways of
monitoring progress at the grassroot level and encouraging citizen participation in the
realization of the MDGs.

We recommend that governments should adopt a reliable scoring model to enable them assess the trend of progress made in realizing the MDGs by 2015.

To raise awareness, YPWC will produce a Youth Community Action Guide on the MDGs to guide young people in taking more action on the MDGs at the grassroot level.

YPWC: ‘STAND UP, TAKE ACTION AND MAKE NOISE’

With funding from the United Nations Millennium Campaign, Africa Office (Kenya), on 17th September 2010, YPWC held an event to mark the International Day Against Poverty as part of activities towards making the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) reality.

The event was developed to give religious youth groups in the Pakyi community the platform to urge government and the international community to fulfill the MDGs promises they made in 2000—through football! In Africa (and Ghana is no exception) football offers youth an excellent forum to unite, have fun and show support for causes.

The objectives were to:

• Create awareness about the MDGs;
• Remind government to implement MDGs-based development strategies;
• Maintain the focus on poor and vulnerable groups, particularly children, youth, physically disabled people, and women’s groups;
• Demand increased transparency, accountability, monitoring and evaluation on MDGs related government programmes.

The event was attended by a Chief Imam, Pastors, community elders, YPWC staff and volunteers, Hon. Abieku Ahin (who stood in for Hon. Grace Addo, MP for Amansie West), Assemblyman for Pakyi No. 2, Mr Seidu Abdulai (who was representing Hon. Charles Oti Prempeh, the District chief Executive for Amasie West District). Mr Robert Hagan, former Sekondi Hassakas player, was the technical director for the day.

The main event was a game of football at Pakyi no2 Presby School Park between teams comprised of different faiths from the Pakyi area in Ghana. The competition was designed to send a symbolic message of unity from Muslims and Christian youth to Ghanaians that peace, especially among tribal and religious groups, is essential to reduce poverty and achieve the MDGs.

The five teams were named after the MDGs (with the name of the faith following):

• Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger (Ghana Apostolic church)
• Achieve Universal Primary Education (the church of Pentecost)
• Promote Gender Equality and empower Women (Presbyterian church)
• Reduce Child Mortality (Muslim Youth Team)
• Improve Maternal Health (Global Believers church)

Before kick-off, Elder Bismark Asaere, who served as Chairman for the event, addressed guests. He observed that poverty poses real challenges to raising young people in Ghana and that it denies many children quality education, health care and employment. He added that it was important that citizens hold the government accountable to its pledge to eradicate extreme poverty by 2015 and explained that the youth have an important role to play in this. He urged churches to take advantage of the day’s games to learn more about the MDGs and to also help monitor progress towards achieving them. Finally, he cautioned the players to play fair!

“Actions and Passion to Kick Out Poverty and Win the Trophy”

YPWC donated jerseys that were branded with the goals to each team who selected their MDG in a ballot just before kick-off. The first match was officially “kicked off” by Hon. Abeiko Ahin.
Four(4) churches and a team from the Muslim community played together for the trophy. Each team vowed to kick out poverty in their friendly match with their opponents.

The final winner was Ghana Apostolic Church (Eradicate extreme poverty and Hunger), beating the church of Pentecost 2-1 in the finals.

The teams and the dignitaries enjoyed refreshments after the short presentation and closing ceremony.

At the end of the day, ‘Games against Poverty’ gave participants, guests and dignitaries a chance to truly understand what the MDGs stand for and to ‘STAND UP, TAKE ACTION AND MAKE NOISE’ themselves. A total number of 3002 people raised a loud voice and made noise against poverty, many signing onto the campaign.

Read more about our activities at YPWC's main web site.

ViewChange Films and Youth Olympics

What are people doing to help end poverty, disease, hunger, conflict, inequality, and illiteracy? ViewChange Online Film Contest showcases powerful films that tell stories of progress in developing countries. Films can win $20,000. Contest closes: 3rd September.

On 23rd August, 2010, we discovered UN enables athletes to know their carbon footprint at Youth Olympics.

The Youth Olympic Games are being held in Singapore, now, and aside from the honour of competing at the highest level in international sport, young athletes will also learn about climate change.

The United Nations Environment arm will hold workshops and activities with the young athletes to educate them about climate change—and their role in it.

“Some of the activities that UNEP is coordinating during the inaugural Youth Olympics include the bicycle generator, which entails the riding of a bicycle connected to a dynamo that produces electricity. By riding the bicycle the athletes will gain a sense of how much effort is needed to produce enough electricity to run a CD player and heat a mug of water.”

“Another activity is the carbon footprint calculator—an interactive computer software enabling the athletes to calculate their personal carbon footprint and learn the exact environmental impact of their activities.”

Youth Film and Climate Change

Youth Change 180: An International Film Festival for Youth by Youth

This is a short film festival for youth to allow youth to show themselves positively impacting their community, “telling a story of leadership and social justice.”

The organizers say that they are more interested in story than cinematic craftsmanship. Entries are open to youth 18 years and younger.

We came across another interesting, youth-led article on Mon Aug 16, 2010. African Youth Raise their Voices on Climate Change edited by Esther Agbarakwe, Founder and Coordinator of The Nigeria Youth Climate Coalition.

“Already young people in Africa are recognisin that climate change will undermine efforts to eradicate poverty and achieve the Millenium Development Goals. This raises serious questions about justice and equity. The present generation of African youth will spend the next 40 years of their lives de-carbonising the environment even though they have not been the ones responsible for climate change.”

The article explained that young people in Africa are uniting to be heard under the umbrella African Youth Initiative on Climate Change (AYICC), with a regional office in Nairobi, Kenya, and connected with The Nigerian and Ghana Youth Climate Coalition groups.

They ask, “What do the wealthiest nations that have grown rich by polluting the environment owe to the young people in regions that are hit hardest by climate change?”

This is a huge question and one we will continuously try to address at YPWC. You can read more at our site by clicking the link.

Youth Camps and Conferences

You may not know that YPWC has an online volunteer programme with the UN, called UN Online Volunteers.

Another organisation in Ghana is also part of the program. On the 11th August, 2010, Pajaf released news on the UNV site United Nations Volunteers Organizing a Youth Conference in Ghana

“Paajaf is a Ghanaian foundation that serves underprivileged children, youth and women. Youth leaders in the communities that Paajaf serves have expressed the desire to share knowledge with other youth around the world. In response, Pajaaf is working to hold an international youth conference in Ghana on the theme “youth engaging youth on the MDGs.” Online volunteers are helping Paajaf make this ambitious project happen.”

And on the 13th of August, 2010, the Asia Pacific Climate Youth Camp was announced.

The Asia Pacific climate Youth Camp to be held from Nov 3-6 2010 is designed to allow participants to understand and take action on climate change as an issue of indigenous rights and self determination. The camp will be held in Baguio City, Philippines Apply to jenawingan@yahoo.com.

If you're interested, why not email and find out how you can get involved? After all, "be the change you wish to see!"

Youth and Climate Change Worldwide

YPWC is keenly interested in youth events happening around the world. Why? Because it inspires us and helps us determine new ways we can make a difference too.

For example, on July 20th, Kenyan Climate Youth discussed how they returned to check on trees they planted at Mt Kenya one year ago at the blog Gmwaura.

It explains that, in May 2009, a group of young people under, the banner of Nature Kenya Youth Committee, set off for Mt Kenya to plant trees. They planted 8000 seedlings on Mt Kenya. The blog explains that the trees have grown and a year later youth returned to the mountain. While some trees died, most of them survived. Youth look after the trees, watering and making sure they don’t get eaten by livestock or trampled upon.

On the other side of the world G Magazine ran an article about what Australian youth are doing to battle the big issues: climate change, called Australian Youth Climate Change Super Heroes on Friday August 6, 2010.

“The Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC’s) mission is to build a generation-wide movement to solve climate change by uniting all major youth organizations and over 50,000 young Australians.” According to the article, they hope to achieve short-term influence and long-term cultural change.

According to this article, AYCC is one of Australia’s few entirely youth-run and youth-led organizations.

YPWC is also a youth-run organization with a strong focus on youth-led action for change.

Worldwide Youth Voices

This week our theme is Youth Voices and we’re focusing on two interesting events.

Posted on May 20, 2010, are notes from Global Voices Citizen Media Summit.

Global Voices posted notes from a session in which youth exchanged ideas about digital media from the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2010. Participants in this discussion hailed from Hungary, Pakistan, Malawi, India, the USA, and Spain, to name a few of the countries.

Overall, the discussion focused on youth engagement in digital media, how to include youth in mainstream media, and some of the pros and cons of digital media for youth, including more freedom of expression versus online bullying and related issues.

One of the participants, Issa Villareal, explained that she engages with several youth groups and has been teaching “digital online tools” free of charge for the past three years. She’s also involved in holding “rap” workshops for youth to encourage young people to read more and learn about verse.

Marietta from Hungary explained that she’s been working with NGOs who are “struggling with communicating with young people. Even if they [the NGO] have a Facebook or Twitter account, it [communication] doesn’t work. This suggests that, even though youth are actively engaged on Facebook and Twitter, attempting to communicate with youth through those platforms is not a short-cut to effective communicating strategies with youth. Adult-managed NGOs still need to find alternative solutions to communicate with young people.

Emily made an observation that young people may not have political rights and asked the question, “Having a voice in the media is important. Is there a space for teens to say what they want to say?”

Victor from Malawi explained the platforms of choice in Malwai in which youth want to express themselves are: “In Malawi, being on Facebook is the “in” thing and everyone wants to be there. For others radio is the “in” thing and they don’t want moderated radio, they want to have free reign. Both groups want space of their own.” He also mentioned a project engaging youth in the mainstream media in South Africa: Grocot’s Mirror. “Young people send SMS to the newspaper, contribute to the story and get published in the process.” He mentioned that young people are involved in editing these, too.

And a couple of weeks ago in Austin, Texas, USA, youths aged between 15 and 25 performed their hearts out in a show that included hip hop, poetry and writers from The Cipher hip hop project, Texas Youth Word Collective, and Rhythm Writerz.

The youth, who would normally be labeled by mainstream commentators as “disadvantaged,” “at-risk” or “hopeless,” use words and performance to carve their own unique identity and create opportunities for a brighter future which were showcased at the Austin performance space to let the youth express themselves and give the public an opportunity to experience youth-oriented community development.

In their report on the event, The Austin Times quotes one young female performer as saying, “I am…a poet, a person who takes responsibility, a daughter, a son…my own person, an artist…”

“The Cipher is an award winning group of young leaders who are on a mission to build community and engage hip hop artists to strengthen the East Austin community,” in Austin, Texas, USA. Their website explains that the platform for creative expression and performing in public provided by involvement in The Cipher “creates a group of confident and engaged young people.” After their involvement in the group, youth leave the group with enhanced confidence, self-esteem, better academic performance and more hope for the future.

Texas Youth Word Collective conducts “city-wide poetry slams and open mics for youth to compete and communicate on issues important to them.”

An open mic refers to an “open microphone.” In other words, a microphone which is “open” to the public to come up and perform with. “Open mic” nights are common events in cafes, bars and pubs where singers, musicians, writers can perform.

Young People Speak Out

From now on, once a week we'll be doing a round-up of what's going on in youth action around the world since this is directly connected with what we do at YPWC. Here's our first post.

The YPMN blog wrote about the upcoming Afghan Youth Voices Festival which will be held in the coming weeks in Afghanistan. The festival will give young people a voice through various media including radio, television, internet, blogging, and so on.

Here is an excerpt:

“Welcome to the Afghan Youth Voices Festival, the first youth media festival in Afghanistan. The Festival will provide an opportunity for the country’s youth to express their ideas and dreams about their future through the media.

The festival will empower the next generation of leaders to discover the power of their creativity and learn to express their voices through different mediums including radio, television, the internet, blogging, photography, posters, art and music. If you are a young person (aged 15 to 24) you will have access to training, grants and there's a competition with special prizes. So we invite you to expresses your big idea.”

The blog Political Flirt just published an article about youth empowerment in the Niger Delta entitled Political Process Urban Youth Development in Niger Delta 41. The post discussed the number of young people not enrolled to vote in Nigeria, putting the figure at around 20 million young people (or just less than the entire population of Ghana)! It also mentioned that many of those youth do not have birth certificate. The point of the article is to raise awareness about the disempowered youth. The latter part of the article raises strategies that could be employed to overcome the youth problems in Nigeria. Here is an excerpt:

“20 million youth aged 18 and above have no Identity cards automatically eliminating them from the voting process.
A significant number of them have no birth certificates therefore they do not exist.
Majority (34.3%) of the youth who have votes are apathetic to the whole process. They feel their voting would not make a different.

For the youth that vote, majority (32 million) vote for the wrong reasons such as: electing leaders from their ethnic groups even though they do not merit, electing those who have dished out the most money, peer pressure and often pressure from one’s family to vote for particular leader as a block.”

On the other side of the world, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition
have been busy writing letters to their elected officials, including the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr Kevin Rudd, about climate change concerns affecting their environment.
In their most recent blog post, they profiled a year 10 (4th year of high school) student named Jarrah Gosbell about his decision to join the coalition and how he's taking action. Here's an excerpt:

“In year 10 at school, Jarrah hasn’t had any local climate action groups to be involved with. Instead, he’s just had the never-ending view of coal ships coming in to Australia’s largest coal port, Newcastle, to load up and head off to China. The sight of those ships, and the knowledge that the amazing Great Barrier Reef is deteriorating as a direct result of our huge fossil fuel consumption, was too much for Jarrah to take.

Jarrah found the AYCC through online searches and also the advert we ran on Channel 10 calling on world leaders to take action. But before he found the AYCC he was already taking action. In 2008, Jarrah embarked on an ambitious campaign to write hundreds of letters to politicians with his views on how inadequate their climate decision were. He said he got started with some auto-generated ones, but took the idea and ran with it.”

Meanwhile in India, the Indian Youth Climate Network held a conference in March this year to try to find solutions to the rapid climate change taking place in their beautiful Kashmir region:

“The Kashmir valley, often known as Paradise on Earth, is famous for its beautiful mountainous landscape; in recent years though, Kashmir's environment is undergoing rapid change and pollution. These changes are happening due to various reasons such as deforestation andmelting glaciers combined with depleting snow cover. These lead to shrinking water supply and shrinking water bodies and wetlands, soil degradation, etc.”

And during June the Philippine Youth Climate Movement will actively participate in Philippine Environment Month during which a range of activities to heighten environmental awareness and find solutions to evnironmental problems are planned across the country.

Here is an excerpt about the Philippine Youth Climate Movement:

“WHAT is PhilYCM?
Philippine Youth Climate Movement is an environmental youth network that unites and mobilizes Filipino youth towards environmental activism and responsiveness.Our goal is to mobilize youth all over the Philippines to take action on Climate Change.


VISION
We envision a country where Filipino Youth is in the forefront of nation-building to take action on Climate Change.We work in close cooperation with the global youth climate movement to empower Filipino youth and take their voices into decision making platforms.”

Finally, in January 2010 the blog Conversations for a Better World published a post about a UN report that collected the voices of 1700 children living in conflict. Here's an excerpt from the post describing the report:

“Will You Listen, the companion to a United Nations report on the impact of armed conflict on children, is a compilation of the views of over 1,700 children and young people in more than 92 countries. Their thoughts, beliefs, and ideas were collected through focus group discussions and questionnaires and reflect what young people living in humanitarian crises have experienced.”

UN Online Volunteering Award 2009 for Young People We Care Team

Recipients of Award:Chelsea Wyatt, Daniela Georgieva, Haddy Sarr, Kwame van Eijndhoven, Laurene Graziani, Stella Mihailova, Tizeta Getaneh, Wei Wang

A team of eight online volunteers helped Ghana’s youth-led NGO Young People We Care (YPWC), to develop a strategic proposal to address youth migration issues and involve youth in international dialogue and decision-making.

Each member of the online volunteering team worked on a different aspect of the proposal such as problem statement, objectives, activities, sustainability and partnerships. A team coordinator, appointed by the volunteers, facilitated their collaboration.

YPWC was able to use the proposal to attract funding and technical support from several organizations. The UNICEF initiative, Voices of Youth, supported a four-week online consultation on migration and development, which was one of the activities conceived by the online volunteers. The consultation engaged youth from across the world and led to the first youth statement to be presented at the Global Forum on Migration and Development in Manila.

Some of the online volunteers involved in the development of the programme have extended their support to the implementation of its various projects and activities, writing the background paper for one of the themes discussed during the consultation, for example, or acting as mentors and advisors.

“The different ideas that the members of this intercultural team brought to the programme led to an outstanding proposal that has served as a stepping stone for YPWC, helping the organization work in a sustainable way in addressing issues of youth migration,” says Michael Boampong, the organization’s founder.

Laurene Graziani, France: "As a postgraduate in international and human rights law, I was very interested to work on the specific issue of children and immigration. I wrote the part of the proposal related to the legal aspects of migration. Later on, I moderated the third week of the online consultation, which dealt with solutions to reducing illegal migration. In the team, we kept in touch quite often, and shared any difficulty that we were facing or any suggestion that we needed to make. I think it had a real impact on youth in Ghana and helped to strengthen the potential of YPWC."

Tizeta Getaneh, Ethiopia: "I have chosen YPWC to volunteer online because their need was something I was interested in, and I had experience in working with youth. The task was to help YPWC prepare the project planning on the issue of youth migration, adding my ideas from Ethiopia’s youth perspective."

Source:UN Online Volunteering

Youth-Led Development and Volunteerism: Making a Case for Sustainable Development

August 12th has been declared by the United Nations and is thus recognised by the international community as International Youth Day. Its purpose is to pay tribute to the contributions of young people in the development of their countries and also the world at large. It also serves to create a forum for discussion about issues surrounding both youth and development.

The theme for the International Youth Day 2009 was: “SUSTAINABILITY: Our Challenge. Our Future.”

Youth development issues continue to be one of the most significant and pressing issues of our era. Among the many issues that confront the youth of today are those such as high risk of HIV/AIDS, unemployment and underemployment, lack of education and skills, social exclusion, limited infrastructure to meet youth interests, civil war, unstable political environments and the struggle for identity.

The World Program of Action for Youth (WPAY) lists ten areas to be considered as of pressing priority. These areas cover a wide range of issues relevant to the youth of today, including: education; employment; hunger and poverty; health; environment; drug abuse; juvenile delinquency; leisure-time activities; girls and young women; participation; globalization; Information and Communication Technologies (ICT); HIV/AIDS; youth and conflict; and intergenerational relations. For the governments of developing countries, bringing these priority areas into their decision-making and policy development in order to promote youth development has proven to be little more than lip service. Countries such as Ghana can do little more than wait whilst the implementation of policies such as Ghana's National Youth Policy continue to be postponed

Young people form a major proportion of population segments in developing countries. This has major implications for policy formulation, resource allocation and the development of youth programs. Unfortunately, more often than not in the development arena, young people are perceived as a 'problem in development', rather than a 'resource for development' that can act as catalysts for the development of their countries. Thankfully, despite this prevailing attitude in some forums, the positive contributions of young people continue to illustrate the fact that if young people are given the required platform and resources they can “be the change” that we want to see.

Youth Led Development (YLD) initiatives are community service projects planned and implemented by young people under the age of 25 (although some African countries tend to define the age category to which ‘youth’ applies in a very broad sense, for example from 10 to 35). Such initiatives are generally grass-roots, small in size, and carried out mostly, but not exclusively, by youth volunteers. Resources are more often than not limited but YLD initiatives make important impacts in promoting human and/or community development.

Ghana is just one country that benefits greatly from YLD initiatives. It is important that this volunteerism is promoted, recognised and sustained, through initiatives such as the National Award scheme and events such as International Youth Day, and the annual Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) held in America. Nevertheless, further incentives are necessary to ensure that young people are motivated to offer their youthful exuberance for the purpose of development.

In his victory message after the United States elections, President Barack Obama remarked that “[Change] can’t happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice. So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other.” The Obama campaign highlighted its belief in youth by promising a US$4,000 education credit to students engaging in 100 hours of community service a year. This shows a practical approach towards promoting social entrepreneurship and aiming to reduce blame placed on the state for the all societies woes.

By investing in YLD, unemployment and underemployment among young people can be reduced. In an era where most employers want to see relevant working experience as part of their recruitment policy, volunteerism can be a stepping-stone towards meeting some of these demands. The youths involved in YLD learn invaluable project management, fund-raising and leadership skills, build self-esteem and self-confidence, all of which hugely boost their future employment chances. Additionally, promoting YLD can be seen as a cost effective approach toward promoting sustainable development as most young people value experience and knowledge rather than hard cash salaries, which many employers may not be ready to offer. Moreover YLD is a means of promoting human security towards sustainable development. Young people, who may otherwise fall into activities such as armed robbery and prostitution, find themselves doing something worthwhile that promotes their personal and community’s development.

Operational challenges facing youth structures and organisations are numerous, such as a lack of independence in terms of decision-making, lack of recognition coupled with the challenge of being seen as a credible organization, and lack of resources (both human and financial). One way of mitigating these limitations would be through the support of youth focused organisations by corporate institutions and governments. Similarly, there is a need for fellowship programmes that build the capacity of young people from regions like Africa as well as mentoring programmes that promote adult (experts)-youth engagement. Developments such as these would serve as a great step towards building the capacity of young people for them to make outstanding performances in their entrepreneurial activities.

Most operational challenges that confront young social entrepreneurs can be overcome by well-planned pilot processes, public-private partnerships and an enabling YLD and volunteering policy framework. The invaluable resource of youth needs to be recognized and invested in, in the same way in which other resources are. For development to be sustainable, we need to ensure that the next generation is enabled to participate in every step of the development process. However, rather than relying solely on top-down development and implementation of policy, we as youth can prove our worth by acting, caring, and making a stand.

Michael Boampong,YPWC

UNICEF Rural Voices of Youth, Ghana's 2008 Rural Representative Application is now available! - Deadline: April 20th, 2009

Dear Friends,

Are you between 10 years and 25 years old? Do you care about child rights related issues? Do you have an interest in promoting the concerns of young people in rural areas? Do you want to help inspire young people in your local community to take positive action? UNICEF Rural Voices of Youth is an innovative initiative that links young people from rural areas in different countries, who do not have access to Internet, to explore, speak out and take action on global issues that are important to them in order to create a world fit for children. By becoming a Rural Representative you join a team of youth working hard to promote the voices of young people for action! To access the application form please visit: http://www.ypwc.org/images/docs/unicef_appform.doc

Good luck in your application.

Regards,

Michael

Managing the issues of irregular migration among young people: Perspectives from Youth People

Today a lot of young people are migrating across boarders. Whereas some people have migrated through legal forms other have done so under clandestine manners. Daily, the images are portrayed – pictorially as well as verbally – of the different accounts of the harsh realities confronting thousands of youths of African descent staking attempts at finding the so-called greener pastures in the Western countries, particularly Europe and America. Over the land and across the sea, they made the tortuous journeys which frequently resulted in tragedies, with many of them either losing their lives or ending up in jails or detention camps before the shame of deportation to their countries of origin. There is, hardly, a group comparable in friendlessness to irregular immigrants. Neither could there have been a more community of citizens with overwhelming recorded cases of wanton abuse, traumas, humiliation with precipitates of anguish of physical and psychological defeat than as occurring among the migrants from the Northern to the South hemisphere. But even under such unsuccessful attempts are not going behind their intentions of migrating.

What question that comes to mind under this kind of situation are that what are the driving forces and what can both sending and host countries do in partnership to save the thousands of lives that are lost through migration?

During a study that was conducted recently by a team of young people from Young People We Care and also on our recent youth consultation on Migration and Development there were some interesting comments that some young people shared with us.

Its is expected that if these young voices of would-be migrants and migrants are handled and addressed with some strategically youth design interventions the situation high trend of irregular migration of young people to reach the Europe through the high-seas and the Sahara Desert as in some trend of migration will reduce.

Young people recommended that governments should implement policies that encourage youths to stay and engage themselves in positive activities that can contribute to development of their country. National Youth Policies that entails strategies and programmes for developing the capacity of young people and also the creation of well paying jobs and good working conditions for young people are important in reducing the level of migration on the basis of unemployment or underemployment as one Ghanaian participant suggested.

Youth migration should not be seen as purely negative; a positive aspect of youth migrating is that young people are exposed to how things are done politically and socially in their host countries, allowing them to see that things can be done in a different way improves the standards of living upon return.

It is thus important for us to share ideas on some strategies of promoting return of young migrants to facilitate some development and change on some critical issues of development in the countries of origin.

To read the full report of the consultation please visit: • Report on the Youth Consultation on Migration ( http://www.ypwc.org/images/pdfs/report_on_the_youth_consultation_on_youth_migration_18_11_08.pdf  )

World AIDS day In Nigeria

The 2008 World aids day (1st December, 2008), was marked all across Nigeria and especially in Cross River State with the theme, Lead, Empower and Deliver.  The atmosphere in Cross River State, South South Nigeria was indeed peaceful and soothing.  The key highlight of the day was a 6 kilometers walk across the beautiful city of Calabar, the state capital.

The walk was motivated by the common desire of all stakeholders in the state to create awareness on the preventive mechanisms in place for the fight against HIV/AIDS and to sensitize the public on the need to treat People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWA) as normal human beings and citizens as well, without any form of stigmatization or discriminations.

Dignitaries who participated in the walk included the State Governor, Senator Liyel Imoke, his wife Obioma and other Civil Society Organizations and AIDS advocacy groups.  Youth People We Care (YPWC) Nigeria Ambassador was also on ground as one of the volunteers to mobilize people at the occasion.

The event for the day ended with goodwill messages from the Governor, development partners and other stakeholders in the fight against the disease.

For Enquiries please contact: Emma Ngwu

African Desk Officer

Young People We Care (YPWC)

# 3 Otop Abasi Street, Calabar, Cross River State, 

# 8 Aliyu Jodi Road, Sokoto, Sokoto State, 

Nigeria

ngwu@ypwc.org, engwu2002@yahoo.com

+234 80 3480 0360

A brief Introduction

Profile
Young People We Care (YPWC) is a registered youth-led, non-profit organization that is headquartered in Ghana and has satellite offices in the UK, Canada and USA. The organization is operated by young people (ages 15–30) and adult allies working on youth and development related issues worldwide. At YPWC, we are passionate about sustainable development, the realization of the Millennium Development Goals and the promotion of a culture of peace and universal human rights for all.
 
Our vision is to provide a 'youthful voice' that seeks to address the numerous challenges facing leaders of tomorrow by effectively using young resourceful minds to influence the course of global policy formulation and development in a consistent and harmonized manner.

Our mission is to: 

• Educate and inform the youth on global issues;
• Inspire youth to take action;
• Encourage youth participation in global issues;
• Identify and build sustainable partnerships aimed at youth development;
• Provide young people with tools and resources for effective action.

Pay us a visit at: www.YPWC.org, find helpful resources and information and get in touch to see how we can change the world together!