Global Youth Leadership Summit (GYLS)

GYLS aims to bring youth together to foster their leadership in providing a global platform for young people, enabling them to speak out and become full partners in the effort to reach the MDGs. At the core of this programme is youth participation, with an eye toward how members of this group can draw on their enthusiasm and technological skills to tackle major developmental challenges as articulated by the MDGs.

Young leaders - one young man and one young woman from the 192 UN member states - will meet in New York at UN Headquarters from October 29-31 2006 to share ideas and action plans on ways to work toward the MDGs, as well as to build peace, with sport and culture as key vehicles for reaching out to youth worldwide. The leaders will examine their roles in helping their own countries and regions reach goals such as reducing extreme poverty, enabling all children to complete primary school and stemming the spread of malaria, HIV/AIDS and other diseases - with sport and culture as entry points. (For an example of how sport has been used as a strategy for giving youth a voice to encourage peace, visit the Peace through Sport website. In short, Romanians celebrated the 2006 International Day of Peace by participating in sports activities; winners were presented with an award for peace. All present were invited to "Vote for Peace - Vote for Sport" and leave their hand print on displays which will later be donated to the Museum of Sports in Bucharest; young artists expressed their visions of peace through graffiti).

Specifically, the Summit will charge the youth leaders with the task of motivating others and building local networks, as well as staying connected to a global team of dedicated young people. They are expected to propose a new UN focus on cultivating youth leadership. To that end, the delegates will break into groups on the second day to discuss such issues as job creation, information sharing, and project management. Delegates and non-delegates will also network informally in the "Young Leaders Global Village" - an interactive, community-focused space at UN headquarters. It is hoped that these gatherings will bring together youth delegates, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and the public to take part in discussing issues connected with the role of youth in accelerating the achievement of the MDGs. The summit will conclude with adoption of a Summit Declaration. A key outcome is expected to be youth-directed community and national projects for the MDGs, with support from UNOSDP, the UN system, and Summit sponsors and partners.

A team of student journalists, coordinated by the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and its partners in the Unity coalition representing Hispanic, Asian-America and Native American journalists, will add to the national and international news coverage of the official and unofficial segments through both online and paper publications.

Prior to, during, and following the summit, young people worldwide are being linked through webcasts and other internet services supported by Sun Microsystems, including online forums and digital storytelling organised by the Global Education & Learning Community (GELC). At the project's own interactive website, a Youth Action Kit may be downloaded here by those young people seeking to start their own MDG campaign, with additional links to information, activities, and resources that can help youth advocacy efforts. Interactive maps enable visitors to this website to view country data on MDG indicators, and various global and regional forums have been set up to spur interaction both among/between delegates, and among youth and other members of the population.

Entertainment is also being used as a key strategy for getting youth involved. Carried out in collaboration with the Roll Back Malaria Partnership and with the support of the World Culture Open (WCO), the October 29 2006 Youth United Against Malaria Concert is expected to feature singer Youssou N'Dour of Senegal and other well-known artists representing 5 continents using music to inspire the youth of the world to take action to fight malaria. Click here for further details.

Youth.

"Sport teaches us all, but especially young people, to appreciate essential values such as respect for the opponent, for the rules of a game, for the decision of a referee. Sport teaches us that victory is not about the trophy you win, but about the assiduous work behind it. Sport teaches us that we are stronger when supported by team-mates and if we row towards the same direction sport can prevent conflicts simply because it promotes essential and universal values plus principles that contribute to development." - Mrs. Sokan Han Jung, UN Resident Coordinator in Romania.