Voice Newsletter

August 2006 Edition

To read past editions please visit the archive - click here.

Oxfam's International Youth Parliament (OIYP) Voice Newsletter showcases the positive social change accomplished by Action Partners worldwide.   Distributed to over 4500 OIYP Network members in 150 countries, Voice also features relevant news from external partners and organizations for the benefit of our readership.  Also Published at www.iyp.oxfam.org/news/

Email us at: iypvoice@oxfam.org.au

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Focus

Welcome to the August edition of Voice which has a range of stories with a focus on education.  From Saneeya Qureshi reporting on education projects in Pakistan, to Ruby Kennedy sharing her story on assisting young people lead a project themselves, there is much to learn in this month's edition. 

Next month, Karsten from Germany will be guest editing an edition focusing on alternative education and democratic schools.  If you want to share stories on how you are working on your experiences or understanding of alternative education, please contact us at iypvoice@oxfam.org.au.

Action Partner News

Saneeya Qureshi, 2000 Action partner, Pakistan

After my experience with "Education for Life" at IYP2000, I became so involved with the field of education, that after completing my Masters in Business Administration, I decided to become a teacher and have never looked back since! I now teach class IV primary school students (8-9 yr olds) here in Karachi and truly enjoy the profession and the field.

In terms of my social work, I am now the Senior Vice President of The Galaxy of Youth (GOY), which I represented at IYP 2000. It has been a long journey for the GOY, from humble beginnings in 1981 to what it is today. GOY has supported a school in Qasba Colony, a very low income area in Karachi, since the last twenty years. We had many plans in the late 90s to expand into a new vocational education centre for women, but unfortunately there are so many limitations here in Pakistan. Apart from financial issues, social issues are also majorly constraining.

Currently, we are in the process of opening up a second school here in another low income area of Karachi. We already have 16 students registered for the term beginning in August and are very excited about the new project!

This new school is modelled on the "Adopt-a Schoool" programme wherein various benefactors commit to helping/ funding certain elements involved in running the school for a particular time period, eg: books, building maintenance, teacher salaries, etc.

It is our hope that through this new school too, we can bring some positive change into the life of the less-priviledged children here. By giving them an education that they can use to avail opportunities that come their way - that is the contribution that GOY tries to make.

Hind Ottmani, 2004 Action Partner, Morocco

The World Economic Forum on the Middle East held its 2006 regional meeting in Sharm Al Sheikh (Egypt) from 20^th to 22^nd of May.  The theme of this year’s meeting, “the promise of a new generation” highlights the urgent need of youth empowerment and youth participation in the region, to face its many challenges.

The tight security in Sharm Al Sheikh, after the Dahab bombings last april, reminded the 1000 participants of the importance of the quest for peace and stability in the region, as one of these challenges, without denying the many other problems that shake the region, such as the tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, big gender gaps, poverty and education.

The discussions were intense and the debates fruitful, around five sub-themes: Democracy, Peace and Security, the Business Agenda, Global Integration, Investing for the Future and Youth and Understanding.

One of the key moments of the forum was the meeting between Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas – the highest-level Israeli-Palestinian encounter in almost a year.

Many projects were launched throughout the forum, which this year included a quorum of youth from the region. Among these projects: the Egypt Education Initiativeto benefit 820000 children in 2000 schools, a regional five-year action plan for public and private sector policies to address the region’s gender gap(through the initiative of the Women Leaders Programmethat brought together women ministers from across the region to discuss the project), and a private sector-funded branding campaign to counter inaccurate perceptions of the region.

H.R.H. Princess Lolwah Al Faisal of Saudi Arabia, Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees and General Supervisor, described the next generation as a “population bulge” where 60 million people in region are under 25-years-old. She added “We need a dialogue to listen to the needs of the young so we can turn the 'youth bulge' into assets we can be proud of”.

More than half of the Arab world is under 18 years of age. This demographic represents big challenges but also offers opportunities for the region. There is a need to create up to 80-90 million new jobs over the next two decades. Even if this challenge is not envisioned with optimism, the forum highlighted that with educational reforms, better inter-generational dialogue and innovative technologies, a better future can be guaranteed to arab youth, and to the region, as young people are identified as the actors of change.

STORy OF THE MONTH

What I learned in helping a youth group undertake a project

Ruby lives in Papua New Guinea, where she says HIV and AIDS infection rates are increasingly, especially amongst people aged 18 – 49 years.  Ruby received OIYP small grants funding to undertake HIV and AIDS awareness raising activities in her community and to help the Sima Youth Group, a group of indigenous, local young people, develop small income generating activities. 

Ruby was located in Port Moresby at the time she applied for the OIYP grant.  The proposal was specifically designed and developed to implement with the Sima youth group, however she moved to another Province for her new job when the proposal was approved.  In her new job, her supervisors worried that implementing this project would take up too much of her working time, but they gave her permission to supervise a youth group from the sidelines while the youth group implemented the project.

Ruby says she learned some valuable lessons in supporting a group of young people to implement a project.  She learned:

• That it’s very important to visit the group as often as you can.  Ruby felt that the group worked better at implementing the project when she visited them often.  It also gave the opportunity for some technical inputs
• That it’s important to be present when any workshops or trainings take place.  That way you can see how the group is presenting the material and it encourages the presenters to do their best;
• That people can have different ideas about what a good report looks like.  Ruby received a report form the group but explained to them that the narrative reporting was too narrow and that they needed to put in more details;
• That people might have different skills in managing financial resources.  Ruby was worried about giving the youth group access to the full amount of money at once and so divided the project into two phases.  She told the youth group they would only be able to continue on to phase 2 funding once they completed and reported back on phase 1 of the project, including the financial reporting;
• That it’s important to plan how a project will be monitored and evaluated right from the beginning.  Ruby realised that the youth group did not have any assessments done about the situation they wanted to change at the start of the project which made evaluation at the end of the project difficult.  The group is in a difficult position about making assessments about what change their project has made.
• That before considering to manage projects from the sidelines, careful consideration and proper planning must be undertaken by the youth group and you before the implementation of activities.

Ruby says that managing the youth group took up lots of her time!  She missed lunch at work and spent her weekends undertaking training. Ruby says she learned a lot by helping the young people do the project and that she thinks the young people learned a lot too.  She hopes the above lessons will help any other Action Partners who are managing a project from the sidelines.  

AUGUST FEATURE

Educating business: OIYP Action partners challenge world’s leading companies to listen to the voices of youth

On July 12, OIYP action partners Mercy Agkongo and Hadson Kargbo addressed 1500 of the UK’s leading Business people and HRH the Prince of Wales, at the Annual Awards ceremony of Business in the Community  (http://www.bitc.org.uk/) Hadson and Mercy challenged the group to consider the impact their companies have on young people, and the role they can play in supporting young people to contribute to positive, long-term change.  

Business in the Community is an independent business led charity whose purpose is to inspire, engage, and support and challenge companies, to continually improve the impact they have on society. BITC has a current membership of over 750 companies, including 71 of the FTSE 100 and 82 per cent of the FTSE’s UK leading companies in their sector.

The Awards for Excellence 2006, presented by BITC’s President, HRH The Prince of Wales, recognised inspiring examples of companies that through responsible business behaviour are building their business and achieving significant positive impact on wider society.  Marks and Spencer was named company of the year.

Congratulations to Mercy and Hadson for the wonderful way that they represented their communities and OIYP at the Awards Ceremony.  Both speeches made a significant impact on those who attended the dinner.  Mercy’s speech is below:

Your Royal Highness, Lords, ladies and gentlemen; good evening.

I come from the north eastern part of Uganda, and I feel honoured and happy to be here today.

As a child growing up in a community described as poor, remote, primitive and with lots of internal conflicts, I wondered why my community was in this state. Some of the reasons responsible for this was lack of access to information, lack of full participation of women and young people in the development processes.

I believe individuals, can make a difference; and as a young person, I`m taking action to make sure the future is better. In addressing this, I founded an organization to empower women and young people because to me, these are the backbone of the future

For the first time, we have succeeded in getting eight (8) women to leadership positions with seven (7) as Local Councilors and one (1) as a woman representative in parliament.

I therefore, call on business to play their roles by supporting the work of women and young people; and also to believe in their capacities towards building a more peaceful, equitable and sustainable world.

WILL YOU LISTEN? CAN YOU HEAR?

Endnote

A closing thought to inspire you this month.

WILL YOU LISTEN? CAN YOU HEAR?

Mercy’s call to businesses at the Business in the Community dinner

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