Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), first introduced the proposal for a youth standalone goal at the International Conference on Family Planning in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) in October 2013 focusing on the need for investment in the capabilities of adolescents and youth for a greater return in the sustainable development of nations.
This dialogue has been further picked up at the recently concluded World Conference on Youth (WCY) in Sri Lanka where the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Commonwealth Youth Council held a side event entitled “Should there be a standalone youth goal in the Post 2015 development framework?”. Amongst the other panellists at the session were UNFPA and Restless Development.
In supporting the position of the standalone youth goal, both the Commonwealth Secretariat and UNFPA, highlighted that the targets should focus on the provision of comprehensive sexuality education; universal access to sexual and reproductive health services for young people, especially girls; improved education and training that facilitates decent employment and livelihoods; meaningful engagement of youth people in finding and implementing solutions for sustainable development and ensuring the safety for girls in public spaces which enables their continuation in schools.
However, those who put forward the argument of youth mainstreaming across the next development priorities highlighted the necessity of ensuring youth engagement, participation at the different levels in the goals, targets and indicators facilitate greater youth empowerment and engagement. These proponents further added that if a standalone approach would be taken, then it also runs the risk not being included across all priorities whereby young people could miss out on opportunities.
Where do we go from here?
In Bangladesh, we have been fortunate to have participated in various national and subnational Post 2015 consultations focused on youth since 2012. Having participated in these processes, we note that both the Government of Bangladesh Report and the UN Country Report submitted suggest that adolescent and youth engagement in the development goals should cut across the socio-economic, political and environmental goals. The targets and indicators address the need to focus on making necessary investments in health and quality education and at the same time focusing on ensuring decent work and livelihood.
The recently participation at the WCY has also made us revisit our own thinking and positioning on youth in the Post 2015 agenda more closely. What we have learnt from various international, national and local engagements on this issue is the need to be current and updated on the latest discourse and ensure that the relevant opportunities for networking and contacts are generated before , during and after such high global events.
Samiuddin Ahmed and Sesheeni Joud Selvaratnam have been involved in various processes related to addressing youth in the Post 2015 Development Agenda. Sami participated at the World Conference on Youth in Sri Lanka and also joined the Child and Youth Governance Accountability Task Team led by Restless Development and Plan International.
