Green Economy Task Force Meeting - Beyond Rio+20- 19/01/13

Dear all,

This is a quick update on the call we had last week. I am sorry, I was busy the last days, so I could not send it earlier.

We had our meeting on the 19th of January; unfortunately not that many people joined, but we had a good and successful meeting. Here is a summary:

Updates on the last facilitation team meeting:

- Low responses to Emails send through the google-mailinglists, this needs to be changed.
- Starting work in the working groups again, which working groups do we want?
- No updates on CSD20 yet, they are still not sure which topics will be discussed.
- At the moment main discussions on international level: Post 2015 and SDGs
è Proposed working groups for the MGCY: Green Economy, IFSD (which can both be used as input for the other WG and to follow up on Rio+20 outcomes), SDGs & Post 2015, Mainstreaming youth engagement, other WG on general MGCY-stuff
è We need to outline key objectives for the next year!
Discussion on our role and way forward in the GE Taskforce:
- Do we still want a GE TF? Does it make sense? What could be the main objectives?
è We decided that we want to keep our group as Green Economy and alternative economies are still very imporant topics discussed a lot on different policy levels, as well as big events and on local level. As we were already involved in the discussion before Rio+20 we should keep track and make sure that young people stay involved in the process and in decision making. There are different discussions and conferences where we can get active, we can also provide input to other discussions of other groups

- What comes next?
è We should keep our eyes and ears open on discussions, events, etc. coming up
è We should see who is attending which of those events and discuss which kind of contribution we can bring, so that those attending can act as good representatives of the MGCY; if possible/ necessary we can also work on presentations, speeches … those people can give.
è We will work on a spreadsheet which will give an overview on the different events, discussions, conferences, etc. coming up and which we could be working on.
è Student reporters who are already present on many conferences and other events could also be representing young people from MGCY if they know how to do
One of those events coming up soon: UNEP TUNZA conference and UNEP Government Council in Nairobi, mid of February. Who of us is attending? Is there any contribution we can bring? We submit a workshop proposal for a workshop on GE during the TUNZA conference, but until now no approval.
Others:
- Ghana Youth Conference on Natural Resources taking place in August: http://www.sustainghanaconference.org

ToDo:
- Lena: create spreadsheet to fill with updates, discussions, events interesting for us
- Everyone: informing each other on things going on, filling in the spreadsheet
- Next meeting: discussion on which topics/ events we want to focus in the upcoming time to get started
- Date of Next meeting is at the moment set on the 10th of February at 1pm GMT.
This is the link to our spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhukcwCEPARcdFUtNWpaaWNlaERkTmZLU3ZBUlF2U0E#gid=0
Please have a look and provide feedback to me until next Sunday, the 3rd of February if you think that we can work with it or what to change. You can also already start filling it.

Day 2 CSO pre-consultative forum Post 2015 HLP meeting

Tuesday 29 January: Day 2

A successful second day of the CSO pre-consultative forum culminated in the presentation offive key statements to Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who attended the meeting at 4pm GMT. Five vulnerable group representatives addressed the outcomes of the CSO forum and aCSO Communiqué will be published and widely circulated tomorrow 30 jan, for the global civil society to use this advocacy tool as theirs and take action towards individual members of the high level panel in their respective countries or regions.
Each vulnerable group task force - children, youth, ageing and disability, women and gender, farmers, workers and informal sector - worked very hard to come to a consensus on what should be the one thing HLP members must remember for the framework to be truly inclusive and working towards sustainable human development and human rights.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf acknowledged the tremendous work done by civil society in Liberia, Africa and globally and was delighted to see the diversity and number of CSO representatives attending this important meeting. She thanked civil society for "the robust consultations and key recommendations she will bring to the HLP members".
Watch President Sirleaf's response to civil society below:-

Vision statements for groups

1. Children
The HLP needs to consider developing a framework that addresses structural child poverty in various contexts and enables good governance and accountability around child rights and protection. In order for children to participate in the economic transformation the new framework must prioritize initiatives that promote quality education, health care, reproductive health, information, adequate nutrition, appropriate services for children living with disabilities and must ensure that national governments provide budgetary allocations and are held accountable for the protection of children from all forms of violation and exploitation.



HLP co-chair Sirleaf is firmly committed to inclusive post 2015 consultations.
Photo by Caroline Testud

2. Women
The achievement of gender equality, the protection of women's human rights including sexual and reproductive rights and support for women's empowerment are critical to the success of the entire post 2015 development agenda. Madam President, our key ask is for a reinforced standalone gender goal and expanded gender targets and indicators across the entire framework. Failure to do so would reverse the gains of the last 20 years.



Special round-tables discussions are held on gender.
Photo by Caroline Testud

3. Farmers, workers, traders, the informal sector (joint statement)
Inclusive and sustainable growth, underpinned by a rights-based approach, which must include citizenship participation and empowerment through education, training and skills development, increased decent employment for all and universal social protection.
Urgent need for policy frameworks that support small/traditional/communal farming in order to ensure access to traditionally accelerate and affordable food for all ensuring their access to input into production, income, land, infrastructure services and to markets while respecting the rights of farmers to decide what to produce and for whom.



An opportunity for farmers, workers, traders and members of the informal sector to be heard.
Photo by Caroline Testud

4. Youths
An unemployed youth population significantly increases the danger of major structural unemployment for many years to come. This is a massive inefficiency to both them and to global society in terms of costs to government and lost potential wages. As well as the economic concerns a large dispossessed population such as this is also a trigger for rising crime and social disorder, which includes disparity of access between young women and adolescent girls towards the productive resources and enabler factors.
We agree that a comprehensive international youth policies must rest upon four pillars:
- The provision of more and better education, including formal education, informal education and vocational trainings;
- Active and dignified insertion of youth in the workplace ensuring them a good wage and jobs as part of a career path, as well as liberty, gender equality, and security;
- The provision of career centers, knowledge exchanging facilities among youth nationally and internationally by the establishment of youth workers union.
- Social dialogue to facilitate a successful matching of labor demand and supply, to ensure successful programming and to foster youth hiring.



Round-table session on the youth. Photo by Caroline Testud

5. Aged and disabled people
The post-2015 framework must enable focus on the poorest and most marginalised groups, such as persons with disabilities and the aged. The new framework should include full and equal participation of people with disabilities and the aged in all stages of the process including decision making, focus as cross-cutting theme across all the goals, ensuring required targets and indicators are measured through the collection of disaggregated data. It is also important that the post-2015 framework should redress the effects of discrimination and exclusion, and address economic and social transformation as well as access.



The issue of people with disabilities has been included and is being discussed during CSO consultations.
Photo by Caroline Testud

CSO Outreach Day with the HLP members tomorrow wednesday 30 january from 11am to 1.30pm GMT.

Day 1 CSO pre-consultative forum Post 2015 HLP meeting

Monday 28 January: Day 1

A boosting first day meeting for civil society organisations from around the world in preparation of the CSO Outreach Day with the HLP members on Wednesday 30 January, Monrovia, Liberia.
Day 1 of the CSO pre-consultative forum brought together over 100 participants from all continents and saw the meaningful presence of the Minister of Gender and Development of the Republic of Liberia, Hon. Julia Duncan-Cassell, and Monrovia's Mayor Mary T. Broh. The meeting combined expert, citizen and governmental input concerning the post 2015 future framework and the need for civil society to agree on common perspectives to be presented to Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf tomorrow at 4pm GMT and on Wednesday at 12.30pm to the 27 HLP member representatives, co-chaired by President Sirleaf of Liberia, UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Indonesian President Yudhoyono.
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Morning sessions
The Liberian Minister of Gender and Development, Hon. Julia Duncan-Cassell, Monrovia's Mayor Mary T. Broh and Professor Gita Sen from the Indian Academia, attended the Conference Opening ceremony and shared their thoughts on the importance of human rights, equal opportunities, social inclusion and efficient local governance in the development of the post 2015 framework, with a particular emphasis on advancing and protecting the rights of women and girls. Reference was made to the alarming level of sexual violence against women in India - gang rape - and in Liberia - child rape.
Professor Sen acknowledged the importance and relevance of organizing such a high level meeting here in Liberia, Africa's oldest republic still recovering from the continent's bloodiest civil war. A message of hope, peace and unity. She also encouraged CSOs to come up with concrete recommendations drawn from ‘development reality' and an ambitious and inclusive yet realistic framework.
Mayor Broh insisted on the key issues of local governance, community inclusiveness, education and water and sanitation, to shape most of the post 2015 framework. The Minister of Gender and Development would like to see a future with better opportunities for all in a more conducive environment where no women would die when giving birth, no child would die before the age of 5, where girls would access university education...The Minister regards the youth, especially adolescent girls, as a critical issue for the post 2015 framework and all harmful practices such as widespread practice of early marriages, sexual gender based violence and lack of access to sexual reproductive health, as the ‘worst off-track of the MDGs so far'. Critical too is the informal sector where most women work and it needs to be given special attention along with the urgently required access to resources and skills for women.
In her keynote address, Professor Gita Sen paid tribute to the significant role played by Liberian women in setting positive examples, led by the election of a woman president. Sen's priority 1 action is without doubt to break the culture of impunity as the scourge preventing development progress around the world. ‘SGBV and human rights must form a strong goal in the new framework'.
A major concern civil society must address is the way development actors ‘work in silos', leading to misalignment in the direction and focus, yet aiming to achieve the same overall objectives. For instance, we tackle economic growth without addressing it along with sexual and gender based violence. ‘We need to create linkages and address issues as a block not in isolation'.
Tackling the main theme of the HLP meeting "Economic Transformation", Prof Sen stressed the risk to underestimate the negative impact of an increased financialization of economic growth. Financialization being seen as the increasing importance of financial markets, financial motives and financial actors in the operations of the economy. Sen to emphasize that ‘current growth engines are dependent on resource depletion' which poses serious ecological and sustainability issues.
She invited all of us to continuously ask ourselves the following key questions as we contribute to developing the post 2015 framework: Who benefits from resources? Who is and will be impacted by growth? Who holds the cards? How are citizens involved and what is their level of influence in the development of the future framework?










Lastly, Prof. Gita Sen gave special attention to the most vulnerable people in particular children, the aged, migrants, widows, adolescents...stressing the need for an inclusive framework where social inclusion and zero discrimination would be key words. As highlighted by one of the participants who took the floor "we need to look at people's ability more than their disability; the post 2015 framework can make a difference if it starts considering people with disability in the light of their potential more than seeing them as a burden".
As the morning was coming to an end, discussions focused on measuring social progress. Whereas economic growth can be monitored through clear indicators, how would civil society suggest a way forward for evaluating social progress? Such key question must be addressed as we develop the new framework.
The following sessions led by the Latin America/Caribbean and Asia/Pacific civil society delegations, focused on regional perspectives and the journey traveled from Dakar to Monrovia. Presentations were given on the ongoing consultation processes at all levels, stressing the need to ensure that the voice of the voiceless is heard at the highest level and informs the new framework.
Latin America and Caribbean CSOs see the right of workers and SGBV as major issues in their region, and stressed the necessity to make human rights violations much more visible.
Asia and Pacific CSOs brought out the non-negotiable need for equality, human development and sustainability indicators for the new framework and advocated for stronger budget allocation for social services and protection. Least but not last, they paid particular attention to universal access to education, including the most marginalized groups with a particular focus on people with disability and migrants.
The Beyond 2015 Global Campaign on poverty eradication was presented and warned against the prioritization of one sector over another, development sectors must collaborate and work hand in hand for better results. This was reinforced by the Africa-wide CSO working group's address. Drawn from conducted studies and the outcome of the Post 2015 October Monrovia meeting, issues of food security and the right to food, energy, WASH, environmental sustainability, citizens' participation - especially the grassroots, and investment in science and technology, must be given crucial consideration and concrete recommendations.
It was agreed that civil society would present common perspectives and those will be developed and finalized in a communiqué tomorrow Tuesday 29 January.
Afternoon sessions
The afternoon of Day 1 saw 5 group sessions taking place, respectively focusing on: i)children, ii) youth, iii) women and gender, iv) farmers, traders, informal sector, small businesses, and iv) ageing and disability. These groups are based upon the 5 roundtables scheduled on Wednesday during the CSO outreach with the HLP members.
Working sessions aimed at developing a "one-sentence" statement to be presented to Her Excellency President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf tomorrow and to the HLP members on Wednesday. The 5 groups started to address the question: ‘If there was one thing you want the Co-Chairs to remember for the post- 2015 agenda, what would it be?' and will finalise tomorrow Day 2.
Another high point of this first day of the CSO pre-consultative forum was the remarkable words of a 12-year old Liberian girl who spoke on behalf of children and articulated the need for quality education, access to decision making for children, better access to sexual and reproductive health care, and ending violence against children.

Tomorrow Day 2 - 29 January
Day 2 in a few hours...more updates here and on twitter @AskAfricaNow

                The UN Secretary General Opening Message for the Youth 21

World Youth Report calls for participation of young people

The UN is preparing for its 2013 World Youth Report (WYR) on Youth Migration and Development. As part of the process, the UN Focal Point on Youth will launch a four week online interactive discussion platform on 23 January aimed at bringing together young people, who have experienced or been affected by migration, to share their personal stories and perspectives. Newly available estimates of international migrants by age produced by the Population Division of DESA indicated that by mid-2010, globally, there were 27 million international migrants aged 15 to 24, constituting about one-eighth of the global migrant stock of 214 million. While considerable attention is given to the issue of migration and its potential economic and social impacts on origin, transit and destination countries, to date, very little attention has been given to understanding the livelihood struggles and opportunities that migration presents for young migrants themselves. “We need to listen to what youth have to say about their migration experiences or how migration affects their human development. The World Youth Report which is expected to be launched on International Youth Day, 12 August 2013, will offer youth, youth-led organizations, policymakers and the general public , youthful perspectives that could influence the development potential of migration for young people while mitigating risks. The report will highlight the “voices of youth” on the opportunities and challenges migration presents in origin, transit, and destination countries under various types of migration – regular, involuntary and undocumented. This is particularly relevant in the lead up to the 2nd UN High Level Dialogue on Migration and Development in October 2013,” said Daniela Bas, Director of the Division for Social Policy and Development of DESA. To highlight some of these concerns, challenges and successes, the UN World Youth Report 2013 will attempt to offer a multidimensional account and perspective on youth migrant life experiences. Besides the e-consultation, the UN Focal Point on Youth has been organizing a number of interactive activities such as an online survey and a Google+ Hangout with young people and experts. To ensure that the World Youth Report is based on the perspectives of those young people, DESA is inviting the participation of young individuals aged between 15 to 35 years and representatives of youth-led organizations, to share their perspectives and experiences on youth and migration. Efforts will also be made to target young people who have no or limited access to the Internet or online platforms to facilitate their participation in the consultative process, mainly through youth migrant networks and other relevant youth organizations. Related information UN World Youth Report ( www.unworldyouthreport.org ) http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/news/social/world-youth-report.html

Global Week of Action Campaign

DESTINATION – Global Week of Action Campaign
WHEN - 21st – 28th Jan 2013
ACTION

• Get your Partner Code!
We want to ensure that the work your organization does to drive voters to the
MyWorld2015.org website are recognized. In order for your mobilization efforts to be
tracked, you can use your MY World partner code as part of the link you distribute. For
example, if you are given partner code "green" you can add it to your link like so:

http://myworld2015.org/?partner=green

When a potential voter uses that link to get to the MY World website, a record will be
made that they came in via your mobilization efforts. We will be regularly reporting back
to partners on the number of voters that have used their "custom link", giving you a clear
measurement of the effectiveness of your mobilization efforts.

To get a partner code, please send a request to support@myworld2015.org the codes can
be up to 8 characters. In your message please indicate the code that you would prefer. Or
you can register and submit you application at MY World's Partners' Site

• The “How to” guides for online, offline and mobile are available CLICK HERE!

• Spread the word! Mobilise your network and hand them these toolkits!

GOAL - Let's challenge ourselves to getting the first "Million" votes announced and
show the world our amazing outreach effort

Secretary-General appoints young Jordanian as his Envoy on Youth

Secretary-General appoints young Jordanian as his Envoy on Youth

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=43944&Cr=youth&Cr1=#.UPg9Qh0azL8

17 January 2013 – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Ahmad Alhindawi of Jordan as his Envoy on Youth, a spokesperson for the world body’s chief said today.

“The Secretary-General in his Five-Year Action Agenda identified ‘Working with and for Women and Young People’ as one of his top priorities, the spokesperson added in a note to the media. “In this context, the Envoy on Youth will work to address the needs of the largest generation of youth the world has ever known.”

 

“Mr. Alhindawi is a strong youth advocate and brings to this position extensive knowledge of and commitment to working on youth issues at the local, regional and international level,” the spokesperson continued.

According to the media note, since December 2012, Mr. Alhindawi – who was born in 1984 – has been Team Leader at a World Bank-funded programme to the League of Arab States on Institutional Development to Strengthen Arab Policy and Participation.

Prior to this, he served as the Youth Policy Advisor in the League of Arab States in Cairo and as an officer in the Technical Secretariat of the Arab Youth and Sports Ministers Council, between 2009 and 2012. Past experience also includes serving as a Team Leader for the National Youth Policy Project in Iraq, a Youth Program Associate at the Iraq office of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and as an Emergency Program Officer at the non-governmental organization Save the Children. As a regional consultant, he has also supported the Danish Youth Council's projects in the Middle East and North Africa.

In addition, as part of his voluntary work, Mr. Alhindawi was among the co-founders of the All Jordan Youth Commission, and co-founded and headed the Youth for Democracy Network at the Jordanian Commission for Democratic Culture and co-founded the International Youth Council in New York.