Above - Workshop on 'Working a great idea without money' - see video
See INSPIRE 16 for lots of information on the WYC
Motivation from the World
“Keep on going! We all support you”.- Corrine Howard, Canada; “ Africa has a great potential!” Alain Horé, Cameroon; “Lets go Africa! We love you !” Miguel Garcia, Mexico; “Peace and Love” Simpore Issaka, Burkina Faso; “Lets work together to promote the rights of women and children” Farida John; “Beautiful Africa, You are the great of the world” Imseok Kang, South Korea
Inspirational Quotes for NAYDians
“ People should be leading d evelopmet. Not being led by Development” Tom Burke; “You [Youths] are part of the solution” Michaelle Jean, Governor General of Canada; “Every stranger is a friend you have not met yet” David Wollcombe, PeaceChild International; “We have a lot to learn from youths. We have to work together” Sha Zu-kang, UN under Secretary General; “As youths, you go to be concerned… There has to be something else in life worth fitghting for . Stand up and fight for your rights” Kandeh Yumkella, UNIDO
“ We
did not inherit the earth from our parents, we borrowed it from our
children”
Ismail Serageldin, Director of Library of Alexandria, Egypt
The boy who saved a fish!! - anecdote from the WYC 2005
Once
on a beach, there was a small boy who met many fish. He picked one
of them and threw back in the water, as he could not pick all of them.
As he threw the fish in the water, he told himself ‘ I may
not be able to save all of them, but I am sure that this one I picked
up and threw back in the water will survive and live many years »
You may not be able to save the world. But if you can save one person or
correct just one situation go for it!!
Working a Great Idea without money - P Tamba
The
idea behind the workshop was to learn ways of going round the big black
wall called MONEY that shows up when youths have bright ways of changing
the world. TIps included the following:-
- Do not aim to change the world. Try to change your friends and your neighours.
That is, think of something small and feasible that you can do with friends
and family to better things around you.
- Volunteer for others and encourage a culture of volunteerism whever you
can. No one will volunteer for you if you never do same for others.
- In projects,money is used to buy equipment and pay people. Make a list
of things you need and go to those who supply them. You will find most companies
will rather give you tons of what they produce than money. For instance,
you need paper, write and ask for help from the paper company, instead of
asking for money .
- Recruit volunteers around you. You could be frustrated if you go recruiting
in a social milieu you do not master.
- Don't use intermediaries. Go search for all the information yourself. If
you want to find out if the media will charge you to talk about your project,
go yourself. If you want to ask for help from any company, go yourself. Lots
of information get thwarted along the way as it changes mouths.
To find out more about this workshop, check out this website by the end of
August for a podcast
Inspirational activist, Kyle Taylor of Ashoka’s Youth Venture speaks taking action!
Pochi : You mentioned in your discourse a while ago that it is important to think globally and act locally. What does that mean?
Kyle : I think for us, the historic or the more traditional mode of development has always been one organisation or one government taking action at global field. And I think that kind of gives young people the feeling that the only way they can have an impact is if what they do, the action they take reaches millions, if not billions of people. I was trying to get across the idea that maybe that is not what development has to be anymore. The most crucial needs are on the local level. And the people who are best equipped to handle this problem are living within those communities. So local people have local solutions to local problems. And taking action on a global scale, you are losing a lot of that resource. So what I want young people to do is to think about instead is connecting on issues like HIV/AIDS or teen pregnancy. Connect on a values level, the value of change and making things better. So stop thinking that the only thing we have in common with someone else is that we both care about HIV/AIDS. And take it up one notch and say that and say what we have in common is that we call care about social change. And view themselves as part of a collective. So its local action on local community but when you take that collective of local actions, what you have is a new way of looking at change in the world. There is nothing wrong with solving a problem at local level, it is not any less valuable than acting on a global level. If you have a problem and you are fixing it, then you are doing good work.
Pochi : You have just returned from a tour of some countries. What are some of the challenges that the youths you met have to deal with?
Kyle : I think there is still a huge respect for goverment institutions that exists, and I think that is really important. But part of the problem is that so many people look for legitimacy in government acceptance and media acceptance, and not small media but major media. If it does not cover the paper, then what they are doing is not important. I think that is a huge challenge. And also the older generations who now control a majority of institutions to start viewing youths as a valued resource. Not as a young activist, but just simply as an activist who happens to be young. And it seems like a small thing, but it is actually very major, because it changes the way you act and the way people perceive your actions. If you are acting and you see yourself only as a youth activist, then for some reasom, you are not a fully fledged activist or change maker.
You have to be able to start seeing yourself in a bigger context and that is the biggest challenge. Obviously, the flow of resources is a huge challenge, always is. In a lot of countries, governments are struggling to live up to that and support young people, and there are tons of independent organisations but as usual, funding is always a huge problem.
And not feeling like being part of something bigger. You feel really alone, I mean, in townships in South Africa, one person is starting a project to help 40 or 50 people and he is kind of just like « What does it matter what I do? » They dont see themselves as part of a big picture and what I am trying to do is share that bigger picture.
Pochi : In NAYD and with most young activitsts, the first thing that comes up when people think of a project is money, and that is a real obstacle. If you were to say something about this, maybe in way of advice, what would it be?
Kyle :
I think that because we live in a market driven capitalist global society,
the first thing everyone thinks of is how am I going to pay for it.
I think that is a real hurddle. But I don’t think that is the
only thing that matters. There is a project that I started when I was
19. We ran on a zero dollar budget, because all we had to do was get
to the school to where we were participating, our university sponsored
the transportation and the action was free. There are other problems
beyond money, but also being realistic about the funding you really
need, because often people think anything that they want to do is going
to cost money. Or cost a fortune. That is just not true. I mean, Ashoka’s
youth centre gives people a thousand dollars, and we sponsored 2200
projects. With 25 thousand young people under a thousand dollars. These
are all venture projects which are now anyhere from 2 to 10 years old.
You have to start from somewhere. You are not unique. We start there
so just take it one day at a time. Focus on being passionate about
what you are doing before focusing on how to fund it. Because if you
care obviously, you are going to care enough to be able to find the
means. But there are organisations out there who are trying to overcome
that hurdle for young people
What
is the World Youth Congress?
The 4th World Youth Congress will bring 600 of the world's most dynamic young
activists in the field of sustainable development to Québec from 120
different countries. The congress offers a unique opportunity to meet and
work alongside young people who are really doing things and going places.
This event sets a new standard for international youth events, and will be
the largest and most inspirational gathering of its kind for young people
taking place anywhere in the world in 2008. There is a strong role at the
Congress for young journalists, cultural performers (e.g. dancers / actors
/ film makers / musicians), as well as for those with an interest in sustainable
development, but less personal experience in this area. Delegates will join
forces with young Canadians to undertake hands-on community action projects
across Québec, and will help shape international policy by documenting
and showing governments what young people are doing to achieve the MDGs.
When
will the congress take place?
The congress will be take place from the 10th to the 21st of August 2008.
Where
will the congress be hosted?
The congress will be hosted at Laval University in the beautiful city of
Québec.
What
is so unique about the World Youth Congress Series?
The first World Youth Congress coined the term, Youth-led Development. Each
subsequent Congress has worked to mainstream YLD in the development community.
It is the only International Youth Gathering to focus on this issue so if
you are a young person and want a chance to help make poverty history, you
should be involved.
The
Commitments PCI would like from Civil Society Partners.
To Promote the Congress - and the Virtual Congress through their member networks
and any channels they have access to: - schools, NGOs, youth groups, youth
newspapers, TV, radio, faith groups etc.
To Engage with Government: One of the principal tasks of any CSP is to work
to get Governments involved as a Government Partners and make them recognise
the importance of the Congress, of YLD and to convince them to send representation
to the Congress.
Delegation Leadership: If appropriate, we may, on a case-by-case basis, arrange
for an officer of the CSP to act as a National Delegation leader, coordinating
the input from their national delegations, travel plans, Pre- and Post-Congress
press conferences, liaison with Government etc.
To Endorse: a letter welcoming the initiative of the World Youth Congress
and its goals.
Taking Part in the Virtual Congress: Each CSP is invited to link in to the
Virtual Congress, both to display their work on the website, and to invite
the youth of their community to join the Congress dia-logues and negotiations.
To Follow-up the WYC-4 with a continuum of activity: the great strength of
the WYC Series is that as soon as one ends, we start preparing for the next:
so we look to our CSPs to keep the YLD flag high on their community's radar
- so that the activity continues, through debates, sponsored action projects,
overseas visits, web-chats etc.
Preliminary NAYD partnership document can be downloaded here.
We would welcome any comments on how best NAYD should participate to nayd2007@yahoo.com