National 7 (Spotlight Weekly)

Strategies For Stability

Participants at the Youth Employment Summit warn that keeping youths away from jobs could jeopardize the established order

By SANJAYA DHAKAL, Alexandria, Egypt

Girl Students : Serious about future prospects

"The future of any society depends on present prospects of its youths." This quotation by former US president John F. Kennedy is a clear pointer to the fact that providing opportunities to youths is of utmost importance to any society.

Civil strife and social unrest are the most enduring tragedies present civilization is facing. Whether in Sierra Leone or Sri Lanka, Nepal or Sudan, internal battles have left tens of thousands of people in utter deprivation and without their basic right to peaceful survival.

Unfortunately, in most cases the youths are involved in strife. More importantly, it is the unemployed and frustrated youths that have taken up arms against the social order.

Quite clearly, youth unemployment now does not have a singular dimension. This problem brings with it several facets, which if left unresolved, could prove to be a recipe for catastrophe of humankind.

Rampant unemployment of youth, especially in developing countries, has become a cause for great concern all over the world. This was the issue that the Youth Employment Summit (YES) 2002 focused on during the first-of-its-kind international conference participated by around 2,000 delegates from 140 countries.

In dozens of sessions on different subjects, including the use of information and communication technology in employment and sustainable livelihoods, the delegates discussed strategies to deal with this burgeoning problem.

Among other things, the delegates expressed worry that the youths out of the mainstream could pose a problem to the social and political order.

"If the youths do not have a stake in the existing social and political order, if they do not feel there is a way forward for them, why should they have an interest in protecting the stability and social safety of that system?" said Dr. Ismail Serageldin, director-general of the Library of Alexandria and chair of the YES 2002 organizing committee.

In fact, the dire warnings like that of Dr. Serageldin are proving to be true in countries like Nepal. The raging violence and insurgency in the country seems more frightening if we look at the situation of youth unemployment. At least 1.5 million youths remain unemployed. Each year 300,000 to 350,000 more youths enter the job market. Only ten percent of them can find jobs. More than 100,000 leave for either India or Gulf states in search of employment opportunities. The rest remain idle here. The cumulative frustration and disenchantment of these marginalized youths is a powder keg waiting to explode. Already the insurgents are exploiting the situation to their advantage.

"Really, the situation of Nepalese youths is deplorable. They have to bear all kinds of pressures. It is imperative that all sectors of our society including civil society, government and media should work together to provide them with what they deserve," said Rajendra Mulmi, president of Youth Initiatives Nepal and the coordinator of YES Nepal network. "The strategies of YES will be useful in that direction."

Alexandria Declaration

Unemployed youths : Waiting for opportunities

The five-day international Youth Employment Summit (YES) 2002 came to an end on September 11, 2002 in this beautiful city of Alexandria, Egypt following the adoption of the Alexandria declaration by ministers from 45 countries and around 2,000 youth delegates from over 140 countries. The declaration promises to give special emphasis on employability, employment creation, equity, entrepreneurship, environmental sustainability and empowerment to attain the goal of providing sustainable livelihood opportunities to 500 million youths around the world by the year 2012.

"It is a coincidence that on this day of September 11 -- when exactly a year ago the world was shaken in disbelief under the shadow of tragedy -- that the youths from all over the world have crafted such a wonderful dream to take charge of their present and craft the future," said Dr. Serageldin.

During the summit, participants coming from diverse cultures expressed the singular worry that the piling volume of unemployed youths in their respective societies was causing great tensions.

"In our country, too, the issue of youth unemployment is a big one. The absence of employment opportunities have become a cause for frustration among them," said Roxan A. Guhit, communications coordinator, Philippine Youth Employment Network.

"With such a huge population, the problem of youth unemployment is probably the biggest in our part of the world. We need urgent attention to resolve this problem," said Prasenjit Purkait, consultant at the Socio Legal Aid Research and Training Center, Kolkata, India.

Developed countries are facing similar problems as well. Rising youth unemployment is one of the major issues political parties are highlighting before the elections in Germany. This gives an idea on how big and widespread this problem has become.

"We heard the message from the youths all over the world loud and clear and we have been enlightened by your dream where justice, peace and democracy prevails in the world," said Egypt's minister for youth and chair of the ministerial forum.

Nepalese Minister for Education and Sports N.P. Saud participated in the ministerial forum. "We all leaders from different countries are equally serious about the menace of youth unemployment. We unanimously adopted this declaration and we vow to take necessary steps to realize the aims of this summit," said Saud.

Among others, the declaration affirms the profound commitment to a decade-long global campaign for the creation of hundreds of millions of additional opportunities for sustainable livelihoods for youths all over the world. "A paradigm shift on employment is needed. Quality is as important as the quantity of the jobs created. The poor, living on less than a dollar a day, cannot be locked into a life of deprivation. We must move from skilled to unskilled occupations, from low paying to high paying jobs, from subsidized public employment to sustainable productive livelihoods," stated the document.

"We recognize that these goals can only be met if all actors agree to address a number of important issues: peace, fair trade, market access, technology transfer, capital flows and poverty eradication. This will require redoubled efforts from the entire international community, and donors must meet their commitments and give special attention to projects and programs for youth employment.

"Convergence and greater synergies between different initiatives and programs dealing with youth employment will benefit youth. While national governments have a special responsibility for according overriding priority to youth employment and for creating the necessary policy framework, we recognize that all segments of society must collaborate to empower youth to become the artisans of their own future," it stated.

"The YES is the first time where diverse stakeholders have gathered to address the issue of youth unemployment," said Poonam Ahluwalia, executive director of the summit.

The summit was organized by the US-based Education Development Center and hosted by the Egyptian government. In 2004, the YES will take place in Mexico to evaluate the progress made. In the decade-long action, the participants and YES country networks will regularly monitor and evaluate their progresses in order to realize the goal of creating 500 million sustainable livelihood opportunities around the world within 2012.