Meetings and workshops

Meetings and workshops

As part of its work to promote effective policies and programmes for young people, the Focal Point on Youth organizes meetings and workshops on issues related to the priorities of the World Programme of Action for Youth

(WPAY).

Expert Group Meetings

Expert Group Meeting on “Youth Civic Engagement: Enabling Youth Participation in Political, Social and Economic Life”, 16-17 June 2014, UNESCO, Paris

The Division for Social Policy and Development in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations and UNESCO will organize an Expert Group Meeting at UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, under the theme “Youth Civic Engagement: enabling youth participation in political, social and economic life.” The meeting will bring together experts and representatives of youth organizations, academia, representatives of Member States, United Nations entities, and intergovernmental organizations to discuss the ways in which youth civic engagement can be an enabler for political, social and economic participation, as well as to examine current opportunities and challenges affecting such potential.

Further detail will follow

 

Expert Group Meeting on “Youth, development, and rights”, 13-14 November 2013, United Nations, New York
The Meeting will focus on the barriers, and how to overcome the barriers, facing young people in exercising their full set of rights to participation in civic, political and economic life. The Meeting will focus on issues related to civic and political participation, and economic participation of youth. The meeting will bring together experts and representatives of youth organisations, academia, Member States, UN entities, and intergovernmental organizations.

EGM Presentations

Expert Group Meeting on Quantitative Indicators for the World Programme of Action for Youth, 12-13 December 2011, United Nations, New York
The meeting was convened in the context of General Assembly resolution 65/312, in which the General Assembly adopted the outcome document of their High-level Meeting on Youth: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding, held on 25-26 July 2011. The outcome document enumerated several requests to the Secretary-General, one of which was to propose a set of possible indicators for the World Programme of Action for Youth and the proposed goals and targets, in order to assist Member States in assessing the situation of youth.

The Meeting proposed a set of 34 core indicators and 15 supplementary indicators under the following priority areas of the WPAY: education, employment, poverty and hunger, health, drug abuse, juvenile delinquency, globalization, information and communication technologies, HIV/AIDS. The proposed indicators are included in the report of the meeting.

Expert Group Meeting: Working Towards a Framework for Monitoring and Evaluation of the World Programme of Action for Youth, 14-15 December 2011.
This expert group meeting aimed to put forward draft guidelines, a set of criteria, for Member States to consider when developing national monitoring and evaluation frameworks for the World Programme of Action for Youth.

Expert Group Meeting on Goals and Targets for the World Programme of Action for Youth: “Youth in Civil Society” and “Youth and their Well-being”, 19-21 May 2008, United Nations, New York
Opportunities for self-development and the participation of young people in society are often constrained by a number of challenges, such as changes in family structure and the erosion of traditional values, which has left gaps in the support systems youth were once able to rely upon in times of difficulty. The Expert Group Meeting will address the challenges to youth development in a time characterized by complex and rapidly evolving economic and social circumstances. The meeting will work to develop a comprehensive set of goals and targets in priority areas essential to youth development including: the environment, leisure-time activities, participation in decision-making, intergenerational issues, and information and communication technology, health, HIV/AIDS, drug abuse, juvenile delinquency, girls and young women, and armed conflict. These goals and targets will help to monitor progress towards the implementation of the World Programme of Action for Youth. The recommendations of the meeting will be included in a Report of the Secretary-General to the 47th Commission for Social Development and the 64th session of the General Assembly.

Expert Group Meeting on Intergenerational Solidarity: Strengthening Economic and Social Ties, 23-25 October 2007, United Nations, New York
Intergenerational solidarity can be understood as a sense of mutual dependence between people, arising from shared or common interests that generate any number of positive social outcomes. Some have defined the concept as a social contract, based on reciprocity across generations. Within the broad objective of developing specific strategies to promote social inclusion and enhance solidarity between generations, this meeting is geared at exploring essential elements of solidarity at all levels — in families, communities and countries. The experts will discuss ways to promote mutual support among generations, especially between older persons and youth; what can be done to avoid conflicts among generations; and how to address the specific needs of various socio-demographic groups in this context.

Expert Group Meeting on Goals and Targets for Monitoring the Progress of Youth in the Global Economy , 30-31 May 2007, United Nations, New York.
Recognizing the importance of clear guidelines in the form of internationally agreed goals and targets to guide investment in youth development, the Commission for Social Development at its 45th session in February 2007, requested the Secretary General, in consultation with organizations, programmes and specialized agencies of the United Nations system, to identify goals and targets regarding the World Programme of Action for Youth’s cluster – “youth and the global economy” – which covers the areas of globalization, employment, education and hunger and poverty. The outcome of the meeting will be incorporated in a report and presented to the 62nd session of the General Assembly, later this year.

Expert Group Meeting on Youth in Africa “Participation of Youth as Partners in Peace and Development in Post-Conflict Countries “, 14-16 November 2006 Windhoek, Namibia.
The Expert Group Meeting worked to critically analyze the complexity and gravity of the challenges youth face in post-conflict situations in Africa, with the core objective of devising specific strategies and mechanisms to include youth as central stakeholders in rehabilitation, reconciliation, and rebuilding of war-torn communities, and contributing to sustainable development in their countries. The main outcome of the meeting was a set of policy recommendations, based on the analysis contained in expert contributions and the outcomes of the working groups, to promote the productive inclusion of youth in society and their participation as partners in post-conflict peacebuilding and conflict-prevention efforts.

Regional Expert Group Meeting “Development challenges for young people in Asia”, 28-30 March 2006
The Division for Social Policy and Development (DSPD), UNDESA, organized an Expert Group Meeting, hosted by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in Bangkok, Thailand. The meeting brought together experts and representatives of universities, United Nations Member States, United Nations Agencies and Programmes, and intergovernmental organizations, to identify and discuss major youth development challenges in Asia in preparation for the World Youth Report 2007.

Expert Group Meeting on Youth Development Indicators, 12 – 14 December 2005
The World Programme of Action for Youth (WPAY), adopted in 1995, is a blue-print for action to further youth development. However, it does not provide for a set of verifiable indicators to monitor progress. During its 60th session and 10-year review of the WPAY, the General Assembly requested that the United Nations Secretariat collaborate with other relevant United Nations agencies to establish a broad set of indicators related to youth. This expert group meeting convened to develop such a draft set of indicators that Governments and others could use to monitor and measure the global situation of youth.

Consultative meetings with youth organizations, February 2005
To contribute to the review of the implementation of the World Programme of Action for Youth (WPAY) by the General Assembly in October 2005, the Focal Point on Youth organized two consultative meetings with youth organizations and youth representatives. The meetings reviewed achievements made since the adoption of WPAY in 1995. The first meeting was hosted by the Government of Portugal, The Portuguese National Youth Council and the Municipality of Coimbra from 31 January to 4 February 2005 and the second meeting took place at the UN Secretariat in New York from 14 February to 17 February 2005. The outcome documents will be used to draft a supplement to the Secretary-General’s World Youth Report 2005. This supplement report will be submitted to the General Assembly at its sixtieth session.

Panel “Working with Young People on Common Goals”, New York, 14 February 2005
During a panel discussion, the Commission for Social Development discussed the linkages between the World Programme of Action for Youth and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The panel consisted of Johan Schölvinck (Director, Division for Social Policy and Development, DESA), Joao Salviano (Bureau member European Youth Forum and participant to the consultative meeting in Coimbra), Renata Florentino (Co-coordinator, Brazil Youth Voices and participant to the consultative meeting in New York) and Guido Schmidt-Traub (Policy Adviser, the Millennium Project). After the presentations, a discussion was held with representatives of UN Member States.

Workshops 

Capacity Building Workshop on “Youth development in Africa”, 27-29 June 2006
Within the context of technical cooperation activities aimed at strengthening national capacities in the field of social policy, the Division for Social Policy and Development (DSPD) will organize a capacity building workshop in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Experts in youth issues will speak to representatives from Governments and the NGOs and discuss major youth development challenges in Africa.

Youth Policies and Strategies in the Context of the MDGs in the Arab Region
Three workshops will be held in the region to address youth concerns related to the Millennium Development Goals. The activities constitute an exploration of a possible UNDP youth programme for the Arab region, and contribute to mainstreaming youth concerns into ongoing Arab regional programmes.

Youth in Poverty in Southeast Asia, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, August 2-4, 2004
Although young people are one of society’s groups most affected by extreme poverty, little is known about the special characteristics and the movements of youth in and out of poverty. This Workshop aimed to gain a better understanding of these characteristics and to contribute to the development of policies and programmes by specifically focusing on young people in poverty. It focused on youth from the Southeast Asian region, where large concentrations of poor young people live. Participants from the region were invited. For more information, please contact Ms. Charlotte van Hees at vanhees@un.org.

Strategies for Creating Urban Youth Employment in Africa, Nairobi, June 21-25, 2004
This workshop, organized jointly by UN-Desa and the Youth Employment Network (YEN) in collaboration with UN-HABITAT, included both an expert group meeting and youth round-table. It brought together experts in youth employment from different regions of the world, as well as young people from African countries who addressed the challenges of urban youth employment and young people’s hopes for decent employment and reduced social exclusion. For more information, please contact Ms. Julie Larsen at larsenj@un.org

“Global Media-Driven Youth Culture”, New York, April 28-29, 2004
This expert group meeting explored the impact of a powerful global media culture on young people and how it has affected their socialization and their values (both as a unifying and diversifying influence). It included a review of the gender implications, as well an exploration of how this global media culture is changing relations between the generations and within the family. The results of the workshop contributed to a report on the global youth media culture for the World Youth Report 2005. For more information, please contact Mr. Joop Theunissen at theunissen@un.org

Some of the documentation for this workshop is available below:

“Youth and Employment in Post-Conflict Situations in the Arab Region”, Beirut, 28-30 January, 2004
Youth participants from Lebanon, Syria, Algeria, Egypt and Jordan worked together to assess current policies and programmes for youth employment, focusing on 4 main aspects, namely employability, equal opportunities, entrepreneurship and job creation. They worked to develop practical strategies for youth employment in their respective countries and practiced advocacy skills for mainstreaming youth issues and mobilizing resources. For more information, please contact Ms. Julie Larsen at larsenj@un.org

Some of the documentation for this workshop is available below:

“Policy Workshop on HIV/AIDS and Family Well-being”, Windhoek, Namibia, 28–30 January 2004
This workshop brought together representatives of governments and non-governmental organizations, as well as academic experts and practitioners from various countries in southern Africa, to discuss the impact of HIV/AIDS on families in the region. Participants considered how families and communities are coping with the disease and contributed to the development of a strategic policy framework to assist Governments to strengthen the capacity of families and family networks to cope. In order to compare experience across regions, a participant from Eastern Europe was also invited to the workshop. For more information, please contact Ms. Julie Larsen at larsenj@un.org

Some of the documentation for this workshop is available below:

“Social integration of youth with disabilities”, Saint Petersburg, 22-24 December 2003
This workshop examined information presented concerning the situation of disabled youth in the member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The meeting produced a series of recommendations concerning environmental accessibility, information needs, employment, vocational training and retraining, and social innovations. The meeting was held in Russian.