If you are under the age of 24, it is likely that you're unempowered. Fatemah Farag attends the launch of a decade-long campaign that promises a better future Youth is the promise of better times to come, but not always, at least not in the crowded back streets of Cairo, Rio, Delhi, and Dar Al-Salam. The "youth" of this world, according to UN estimates, comprise approximately 17 per cent of the world population. Over 1,050 million people living in the world today are aged between 15 to 24 years, and many don't have jobs. The less developed countries are the worse off. It is in such countries that three billion people live on less that $2 per day, and half of those are under the age of 20. These are not pretty figures. They mean that, in developing nations alone, more than 700 million youths will enter the labour market over the next eight years and, according to UN projections, their chance to find a job is less than the world average. This week in Alexandria, young -- and not so young -- voices spoke out against these conditions. The Youth Employment Summit, YES 2002, brought together youth leaders from across the globe, government officials, non-governmental organisations, business executives, academicians and others from 140 countries to launch a Decade of Action, described as an "action-oriented programme designed to raise awareness of the issue of youth employment and to support the creation of productive and sustainable employment in countries throughout the world, particularly in developing nations". The five-day event was inaugurated by Mrs Suzanne Mubarak (who co-chairs the YES 2002 with former US President Bill Clinton), accompanied by Prime Minister Atef Ebeid and other dignitaries. After all, the twin issues of youth and unemployment are of particular significance to Egypt. The situation of Egyptian women and children, a report released by UNICEF and the Egyptian government last week, brought home the problems faced by this country, where youngsters account for one half of the nation. Unemployment is believed to hover around 17 per cent in Egypt, and the government sees the creation of new jobs as a topmost priority. In the words of Mrs Mubarak to those in attendance, "We can only ignore this problem [unemployment among the youths] at our own collective risk... Otherwise, we face the spectre of hundreds of millions of half-educated, unemployed youths in the cities of the developing world... easy prey to social pathologies, a social and political time bomb waiting to tear apart the order and stability from which they have been excluded." Click to view caption And no one was taking the agenda more seriously than the young participants who came all the way from places such as Honduras, Nigeria and Canada. Women donning veils, saris, colourful African dresses and denim, chatted enthusiastically with men in ethnic and formal gear. Under banners spelling the "five E's" (Employment, Employability, Equity, Entrepreneurship, Environmental sustainability), they hauled their laptops and overflowing portfolios around, setting up exhibits, and debating the finer points of economic and social programmes. "There is something about youth summits," mused Ismail Serageddin, head of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, "A spontaneity, a bit of chaos, but a lot of real life." It was apt to have this initiative launched from the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, built on the original site of the ancient library that was the world's centre of learning over a couple of millennia ago. As Mrs Mubarak pointed out, the new library is "already fulfilling its promise by reaching out to thousands of youths around the world... [bringing] the best minds in the world to reflect on a momentous problem of our times: how to insure sustainable livelihoods for a generation of young people who are coming of age in the era of globalisation and the knowledge-based economy." According to Poonam Ahliwalia, executive director of YES 2002, the campaign launch "is a process. Through national-based networks, we can supply a global knowledge resource. This can be used by people on one side of the world to find out what is working in other parts of the world. Basically, we are here to support you [youths]." The concept, in the words of Serageddin, is to turn the "best practices of the few into standards for the many. To empower youths to take control of their destinies... There is no reason why we cannot be inspired by each other and gather around a common humanity". While poorer countries are obviously the primary sufferers, youth unemployment is a global affliction. "The problem is not confined to developing countries," the Framework for Action notes. "A stark example is Italy, a member of the Group of Seven largest economies, where 30.1 per cent of the 20-24 age group was unemployed in 1998." The campaign hopes to promote the creation of 500 million jobs in 10 years. A daunting task, particularly when you consider that, between now and 2010, about 700 million people will be entering the labour force in developing countries (more than the entire labour force of the developed countries in 1990, according to the Framework of Action). The International Labour Organisation says that more than a billion new jobs are needed to accommodate these new workers and reduce unemployment. A report prepared by the summit, entitled The State of Youth Employment, identified the major barriers to employment as being: poverty, illiteracy, the incompatibility of education systems with the labour market, the lack of vocational training, as well as AIDS and other health problems. Plenary sessions tackled these issues in debates with titles such as: "Promoting youth employment in the global village," "The role of information communication technology in promoting youth employment," and "The role of the private sector in promoting youth employment". Examples drawn from the National Training System in Germany and the Basic Skills Programme run by the Association of Future Generation, an NGO operating in Egypt, were used to illustrate the dynamics of unemployment and means of overcoming it. World-class luminaries such as Dr MS Swaminathan, World Food Prize laureate and Jose Maria Figueres, managing director of the World Economic Forum, and Charles Hodson, CNN World Business Today anchor, moderated the sessions. How do we help the young overcome their insecurities? What of war-torn countries? The queries raised in the gathering touched on domestic as well as international policy. Globalisation, as might be expected, was a recurring theme. Hafsat Abiola, president of the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy, a Nigerian NGO, noted that "Globalisation is not new to Africa. It has not served to benefit its people, but to exploit them. If we are to succeed in providing youth with decent jobs, globalisation must shift to serve the interests of poorer countries... And if we are to talk about the freedom of movement of capital, then why not the freedom of movement of labour... with which Africa is rich?" They were sentiments that instigated long bouts of applause. At one point in her presentation, Abiola made reference to Einstein. "He said you cannot solve a problem on the same level of consciousness within which the problem was created." The young men and women, who are on their way back home to search for empowerment might also consider his wisdom.
