[kictanet] Opportunities fund for urban youth development

[carthy]

Introduction

During the 21st session of the
Governing Council that oversees the work programme and budget of UN-HABITAT,
member countries in 2007 passed a resolution calling on the executive director
of UN HABITAT to set up a special fund to help young people living in poverty. A
high proportion of the world’s population is young, especially in the
developing world, and this segment of the population is disproportionately
affected by the problems of unsustainable development.  At the same time, urban
15-24-year-olds in
developing countries have immense potential to contribute to social and
economic development if given the right opportunities.  

 

UN-HABITAT recognizes
that young people need to be active participants in the future of cities.  Its
“Strategy for Enhanced Engagement of
Youth” aims to promote leadership and participation of young women and men in
all its efforts to improve the lives of people living in the rapidly expanding
cities of the world.  It sees the urgent
need to create opportunities for youth to play a much more active and
constructive role in making cities the engines of development. Championed by
Norway, the new
Opportunities Fund for Urban Youth-led Development
is designed to improve understanding, and lead to more effective ways of
involving young people in sustainable urban development. 

UN HABITAT in partnership
with the Norwegian government will be launching the Opportunities Fund for
Youth Led Development, a fund which will fund youth led initiatives globally at
the third World Urban Youth Forum from (WUYF) 1
to 2 November, 2008, prior to the main Fourth Session of the World Urban Forum,
building on the huge success of the previous two forums in Vancouver and
Barcelona.

 

 

 

2 Why Youth-led Development?

 

All over the world young people are responding
to the development needs of their communities through social projects and
youth-led businesses. Youth want to be involved and all development actors
should
take youth-led development (YLD) seriously in their efforts to achieve the UN
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), as well as the Convention on the Rights of
the Child (art.12), which guarantees youth the right to participate in
decision-making. Putting youth at the centre of development can be compared to
the challenge, two decades ago, of putting gender issues on the development
agenda.  A similar shift in society’s
thinking is now required for youth in urban development.  

 

Young people are the most vulnerable to
social problems caused by unemployment and poverty.  Girls and young women are
most at risk.  With over 200 million youth living in
poverty, 130 million illiterate, 88 million unemployed and 10 million young
people with HIV/AIDS, there is a clear need to direct efforts and resources to
youth.


 

While youth are the promise of the future,
failure to invest in them greatly reduces potential for future development.
  YLD is about young people making a living and
future for themselves and their communities. YLD involves business and community
improvement projects, devised and managed by young people, often working
alongside adults with skills to mentor them.

 

The Opportunities Fund for Urban Youth-led
Development has been set-up by UN-HABITAT to catalyze innovative approaches to
YLD
that can improve understanding, and lead to more effective policies and
strategies to strengthen the role of youth in sustainable urban development.

 

 

3     
THE INTENTION

 

The Opportunities Fund aims to facilitate
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and their youth-related targets.
It will help young people in the poorer
neighbourhoods of cities in the developing world find new opportunities in life,
especially in employment and entrepreneurship.  The fund will strengthen
youth-related
policies, help governments, civil society organizations and the private sector
address youth concerns, and support new information and learning channels for
young people.  The Fund will promote
collaboration with the private sector, CSOs and other UN bodies, who can propose
relevant initiatives to the fund as well as contribute their own resources.

 

More specifically, the fund will support
youth-led initiatives in the following areas:

·        
Mobilization of young people to
help strengthen youth-related policy formulation;

·        
Building capacities of
governments, civil society organizations and the private sector to better
address youth needs and issues;

·        
Supporting information and
communication oriented networks;

·        
Piloting innovative ideas on
employment, governance, shelter and secure tenure;

·        
Sharing of best practices;

·        
Vocational training and credit
mechanisms to promote entrepreneurship and employment for young women and men;

·        
Promoting gender mainstreaming
in all activities of urban youth.

 

While the Youth Fund will clearly benefit
many youth and youth groups through direct support to their initiatives, it is
intended to creating greater awareness of the urgency to mainstream a youth
focus in development policy and strategies. 
It will thus promote strengthening capacity of youth organizations to
participate
in local development planning, as well as helping local and national
governments to address youth issues as part of democratic processes.

 

Knowledge about youth-led initiatives
around the world is very weak.  One of
the benefits of a mechanism for supporting local initiatives is that
information on what is happening on the ground can be easily obtained.  In this
way the Fund will contribute to
learning on the role of youth in development, providing input to strengthening
international and national youth policies.

 

4 How will it work?

The Opportunities Fund is being set up
under the authority of the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT.  The operation of
the Fund will be managed by
a committee of experts drawn from UNHABITAT, donor governments and youth
representatives. At least two youth representatives will also sit as members of
the Advisory Committee.

 

Funding activities will be based on
applications from relevant groups.  A
Steering Committee will assess proposals and develop strategies to enhance
access to and effective implementation of the fund.  The Committee will
facilitate linkages with
partner agencies, and put in place procedures for promoting the fund,
monitoring and evaluation of projects and documentation and dissemination of
best
practices.

 

The Youth fund will represent a milestone
marking recognition at the highest levels of the need to practically support
youth-led initiatives and lead the way for other organizations and governments
to place youth at the centre of their development strategies. 

For more information: Partners & Youth Section, UN-HABITAT, P.O. Box 30030,
Nairobi, Kenya Tel: + 254-20-7623710/4218;
Fax: + 254-20 -7624588, 3080;

 E-mail: partners at unhabitat.org






      
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