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Youth Summit in Sri Lanka Closes
Negombo, Sri Lanka – The Youth Summit, a lively week of work and fun, sharing and participation officially closed Friday, November 12 with drama, games, speeches and a presentation of recommendations to policy makers.
The European Commission programme coordinator Heshni Halangoda, Sam Rannuge, Sri Lankan Secretary of Youth and Sports, and RHIYA national coordinators all pledged that they would take the recommendations seriously. They also said that creating better channels for young people to participate in decision-making should be a priority.
“Your role as peer educators is an important and powerful one,” Ms. Halangoda told the group. “And youth are now integrated in some advisory roles, so you will be able to carry this work on beyond the life of the programme and to make it sustainable.”
Although most of the young people at the summit have no direct way to affect policy, the recommendations were seen as a way to give them more credibility and leverage in requesting programme support.
“I think the young people did an incredible job in the recommendations they made. It shows what young people have to contribute if you involve them in these kind of exercises,” said Lubna Baqi, the UNFPA representative to Sri Lanka.
Delegations for each of the seven Asian countries also told the group how they planned to follow up on the experience of the summit in their own countries. “We have a lot of work to do,” said delegates from Cambodia, who plan to use the upcoming Water Festival as an opportunity to build more awareness and support.
Among the planned follow-ups are formations of in-country networks, motivating more volunteers and the development of Internet capacity to facilitate better communications within the diverse region.
YouAct, the group of European youths that also attended the summit, offered support to begin an Asian network, starting with one person from each country.
“I’m very pleased with the way this has all worked out and with the followup actions the groups are taking back to their countries,” said Wilma Goppel, RHIYA programme coordinator. “It has fulfilled our dreams of what it could be. I feel such a vibration in the air of enthusiasm and excitement. Even if only a small percentage of this remains when they get back home, then I think our mission was fulfilled.”
For more information contact:
Thierry Lucas: tlucas@unfpa.org
Galanne Deressa: deressa@unfpa.org
This section was posted on 12 November 2004.
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