“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign Report/ page 1
Youth Voice Regional Campaign “The Future We Want in Eastern Europe and Central Asia” Report
Table of contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………… page 2 BACKGROUND AND CONCEPT .………………………………………………………………………………………………… page 7 REGIONAL INITIATIVES ……………..………………………………………….………………………………………….……… page 8 Regional advocacy platform ………………………………………………………………………………………… page 8 Writing articles ………………………………………………..………………….…..……………………… page 8 Sharing resources…………………………………………………………………….….…………..……… page 9 Taking selfies with a message ………………………………………………………..……..…………page 10 Regional advocacy training …………………………………………………………..…………….………………page 12 NATIONAL INITIATIVES …......................................................................................................... page 13 National advocacy campaigns …………………………………………………….…………….….…………… page 13 Country Summaries ……………….………………………………………………………………………… page 13 Working in partnership at national level ………………………..…………….………………… page 18 Youth priorities ………………………………………………………….……………………………………page 19 Facilitating factors ………………………………………….……….…………….…..……….………….page 22 Challenges faced ……………………………………………….…………………………………..……… page 22 Lessons learned and recommendations …………………………………………….…..…….… page 23 WAY FORWARD…………………………………………………………………..……………………………….……………….. page 23 ANNEX ……………………………………………………………..…………………………………………………………………… page 24
“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign Report/ page 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Background Based on the positive experience of creating youth platforms for sharing youth perspectives (i.e. the Regional Youth Forum in 2013), the UNFPA Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECARO) has continued to ensure a broad consultation and coordination with the youth organizations and networks in the region and the collecting of youth views, experiences and expectations related to the post-2015 development framework. Building on the Regional 2013 Geneva Conference Outcome Document and the Youth Call to Action, the “Youth Voice” Regional Campaign aims to ensure that young people are placed in the center of the future development agenda, which can only be achieved with their full participation. The “Youth Voice” Regional Campaign comprises several elements, with activities at both the regional and national level, taking place from October 2014 to November 2015.
Coordination Coordination of the campaign is carried out by a Regional Youth Leadership Group that is composed of representatives of the following youth networks/institutions: ASTRA Youth, PETRI Center Sofia, YouAct, Youth Coalition, Y-PEER and YSAFE, in close collaboration with the Adolescents and Youth Cluster in the UNFPA Eastern Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (EECARO) and UNFPA Country Offices.
Participating organizations Following an open call launched in October 2014, 80 organizations from 23 countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia have signed up to join the “Youth Voice” Regional Campaign. Youth-led or youth-serving organizations expressed their interest in contributing to the Campaign by: a. b. c. d.
Writing articles for publication on the regional online advocacy platform Sharing resources in the Library on the regional online advocacy platform Making the case for investing in youth, by taking and sharing a selfie with a message Organizing national advocacy campaigns
The full list of participating organizations can be found in the Annex of this report.
“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign Report/ page 3
Regional advocacy platform The regional advocacy platform EECA Youth Voice (http://eecayouthvoice.org/) was developed in both the English and Russian languages and has served as the main place for young people to share their messages and access information and tools to build their advocacy strategies. In the first three months after its launch, from October 2014 to January 2015, the advocacy platform gathered together: 41 articles written by young people. These blog entries on different topics allow young people to share their opinions, views, situations or examples from their community, country or region, as well as updates about the activities and advocacy work being carried out at a national level. A calendar of main events and milestones at the global, regional and national level. An online library with 65 national, regional and international resources (publications, toolkits, brochures, fact sheets, infographics) that help young advocates to better plan their activities.
Social media mobilization Along with the http://eecayouthvoice.org/ website, youth across the region used social media channels to mobilize and engage other young people in the campaign:
The EECA Youth Voice Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/EECAYouthVoice) has
more than 1,000 followers
150 tweets used the hashtag #eecayouthvoice
1,000 selfies with a message have been collected from youth across the region
The campaign activities made 30 appearances in local news; Albania, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan,
Macedonia, Moldova and Turkey all reported wide media coverage
National advocacy campaigns The national advocacy campaign was envisioned to be rolled out in two phases: Phase 1: Mobilize and gather youth voices from your country - in 2014 Phase 2: Reach out to decision-makers from your country - in 2015 For the Phase 1 activities, 17 countries held consultations with young people and gathered diverse youth voices, then developed the youth vision for the future they want through a consultative process and formulated key messages that will be used for the follow-up Phase 2 activities. Out of these 17 countries, In 14 countries, the activities were implemented with financial support from the UNFPA Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia and Country Offices In three countries, the activities were implemented with support from both the UNFPA Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia and Country Offices, as well as by using organization’s own resources
“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign Report/ page 4
In three countries, the activities had already been planned by the participating organization, which had allocated its own resources for the project
Activities and youth engagement The type of activities carried out at the national level included workshops and focus-group discussions (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania and Turkmenistan), gathering photos with messages from different locations across the country (Macedonia and Kosovo), debate tournaments (Tajikistan) and collecting postcards (Moldova). Across the 17 countries, more than 7,500 young people have been engaged in the consultation process and contributed to shaping the youth vision for the future they want. The activities drew participation of youth from diverse social, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, including:
1,186 young people from rural areas 1,201 young people from ethnic minorities 231 young people from families with socio-economic difficulties or who are at risk of losing parental care Close to 100 young people who lack parental care, have disabilities (hearing and speech disabilities, restriction of movement, etc.), have been released from prison, or belong to the LGBTQI community
Note: The total number of marginalized groups and minorities engaged cannot be fully reflected, as some young people did not want to be identified as part of such groups, and some national consultations did not closely monitor the profile of youth participants.
Youth priorities In all countries, young people voiced their needs and recommendations and agreed on the priorities they would like to present to their national stakeholders and further advocate for their inclusion within the post-2015 development agenda. Though there are variations in the youth priorities identified by the youth organizations or networks in each country, the overarching ones mentioned in all 17 country reports are related to investments in young people’s: Education
While ensuring
and
Health
Meaningful youth participation, including youth-adult partnership
and
Employment
Equal opportunities for all
“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign Report/ page 5 These results strengthen the conclusions of the UNFPA SWOP Regional Supplement “Investing in Young People in Eastern Europe and Central Asia”1, which emphasized the need to ensure the current generation of young people is equipped with the education, skills and health it needs to help translate today’s demographic realities into tomorrow’s economic and social prosperity.
Summary of youth priorities identified during the national consultations in 17 countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
Youth priorities 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
Number of countries
1
http://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/resource-pdf/SWOP%20Supplement%20Final%20Web%20Version_0.pdf
“Youth Voice� Regional Campaign Report/ page 6 Way forward All country reports include a clear expression of interest in continuing the national advocacy campaign by conducting activities in 2015. Some of the organizations (e.g. those from Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan) have already developed an Action Plan, while others will be doing so in the upcoming period. In Georgia and Belarus, for example, a Youth Advisory Panel will be used as a mechanism to finalize a set of recommendations based on the youth vision and ideas collected in Phase 1 and then present them to decision-makers, stakeholders and government representatives during roundtable meetings. UNFPA Country Offices in Albania, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova and Turkmenistan have already expressed their support for continuing to work with interested CSOs and young people on developing a joint advocacy plan tolobby central and local governments to put youth issues into their annual budgets and plans. Already-planned regional and national events and processes will be used as opportunities to create momentum around this campaign and to conduct follow-up activities. Such events include the Conference on the Healthy Lifestyle for managers of educational institutions organized by UNFPA Kyrgyzstan and the Model United Nations Conference in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Expanding the partnerships and engaging more civil society organizations as well as other stakeholders such as the National Youth Council and Agency for Youth and Sports has been mentioned as a priority by organizations in Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, BiH, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Romania, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Ukraine. The Bulgarian NGOs mentioned an initiative to develop a regional campaign in partnership with the Romanian NGOs, members of Y-PEER and YouAct, and UNFPA EECARO. The idea is to create and distribute postcards across the two countries (Bulgaria and Romania) and engage young people in writing their messages on the cards, then collecting them and sending them in regular pouches to relevant EU parliament members. Then, a hearing at the European Parliament could be organized to present the key collected messages. This campaign would aim to make the youth voice heard at the EU level since Bulgaria and Romania will be involved in the post-2015 inter-governmental negotiations as part of the EU region. These organizations are planning to prepare proposals and seek support from UNFPA EECARO and UNFPA Country Offices as well as from other potential donors, such as: - Other UN agencies - The EU - Various international organizations such as AMSHC (Agency for Civil Society Support) and IPPF - Municipalities - Embassies - Private donors
“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign Report/ page 7
BACKGROUND AND CONCEPT OF THE CAMPAIGN Two decades after the adoption of the landmark Cairo Programme of Action by the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), and a year before the expiration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), several processes have been taking place to review the progress that has been made and identify the gaps that still exist in achieving these targets. The post-2015 framework will build on these earlier agreements to guide future government policies and spending on social and economic development. The role of youth in the post-2015 development framework In the course of the ICPD Beyond 2014 Review, a number of regional conferences/forums and global/regional thematic conferences were organized. In December 2012 in Bali, the first UN-mandated process led by global youth, for global youth, gathered over 3,000 onsite and virtual delegates to make recommendations that formed the Bali Declaration2 - a groundbreaking document that contributed to shaping the future development agenda. Following the success of the Bali Declaration, regional platforms were developed in preparation for the Regional Population Conferences. In 2013, UNFPA EECARO organized a Regional Youth Forum in Istanbul which brought together 40 young people from the UNECE region (comprising Europe, Central Asia, North America and Israel). This youthled initiative reached out to networks and mobilized young people in the region to provide input to help establish a vision and ICPD-related priorities for the region over the next decade. The meeting’s outcome document – The UNECE Regional Youth Conference Call to Action3 – was presented by 10 young people selected from among their peers, at the Regional Population Conference “Enabling Choices: Population priorities for the 21st century” in Geneva. Building on this positive experience, UNFPA EECARO is committed to continue ensuring a broad consultation and coordination with the youth organizations and networks in the region, and to collect youth views, experiences and expectations related to the national development and the creation of the global post-2015 development framework. By building on previous processes and outcome documents, the “Youth Voice” Regional Campaign aims to ensure that young people are placed in the center of the future national and global development agenda, which can only be achieved with their full participation. The campaign included several elements and activities at the regional and national levels, from October 2014 to November 2015. Young people were engaged at both levels and a strong coordination between country and regional levels was ensured with the support of the Regional Youth Leadership Group, composed of representatives of the following youth networks/institutions: ASTRA Youth, PETRI Center Sofia, YouAct, Youth Coalition, Y-PEER and YSAFE, in a close collaboration with the Adolescent and Youth Cluster in UNFPA EECARO and UNFPA Country Offices. 2
https://www.unfpa.org/webdav/site/global/shared/documents/events/2012/Bali%20Global%20youth%20Forum %20Declaration%20FINAL-1.pdf 3
http://eeca.unfpa.org/publications/unece-regional-youth-conference-call-action
“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign Report/ page 8
REGIONAL ADVOCACY PLATFORM The EECA Youth Voice (http://eecayouthvoice.org/) regional advocacy platform has been developed in both English and Russian and has served as the main place for young people to share their messages and access information and tools to build their advocacy strategies. Young people contributed to enriching the content of the website by: Writing articles Sharing resources
Taking selfies with a message
WRITING ARTICLES The http://eecayouthvoice.org/ regional advocacy platform gathered together 41 articles written by young people over a period of three months, from November 2014 to January 2015. These blog entries on different topics allowed young people to share their opinions, views, situations or examples from their community or country, as well as updates about the activities happening at a national level, within the framework of the campaign. A list of all articles collected can be found in the Annex to this report. The main themes of these articles were chosen to reflect and build on previous consultations that took place at the global4, regional5 and national levels, including “The world we want” national consultations and the ICPD review-related consultations that represent the youth voice and priorities for the post2015 development agenda:
Education, including comprehensive sexuality education, improving preparedness for the employment market, etc. Health, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, access to youth-friendly services, safe and legal abortion, etc. Employment, including links with education, entrepreneurship, etc. Participation & volunteering, including participation in decision-making, research and data on young people, transparency, etc. Discrimination & equality, including discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression, violence, migrants’ rights, etc.
4
The Global Youth Call “Prioritizing Youth in the Post-2015 Development Agenda” http://www.un.org/youthenvoy/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/The_Global_Youth_Call.pdf 5
UNECE Regional Youth Conference Call to Action, based on Bali Youth Forum Declaration http://eeca.unfpa.org/publications/unece-regional-youth-conference-call-action Youth Statement on the Post-2015 Development Goals - Europe & Central Asia http://www.unicef.org/ceecis/POST-2015_statement_31_11_No_TRACK_FINAL.pdf
“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign Report/ page 9 Through these articles, young people have raised awareness about the issues that concern them, challenged social norms and suggested solutions for some of the problems they are facing. Some of the issues addressed in the articles were related to child marriage (Georgia and Romania), teenage pregnancy (Romania) and gender discrimination (Moldova). Other articles presented different methods of working with and engaging young people, such as by using theatre-based techniques (Russia) and debate techniques (Tajikistan). Many of the article writers shared news about their countries’ capacity building, outreach or advocacy work at the national level, including: activities dedicated to World AIDS Day (Bulgaria, Moldova and Turkey), launching the “Youth Voice” campaign and implementing national consultations (Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Romania and Ukraine). Below are some quotes from the articles written by young people, addressing issues such as: o
Parental engagement for comprehensive sexuality education for adolescents and youth
“Helping parents in Albania educate young people about sexuality and discuss the subject in the context of a loving family may require a great and concrete effort by the institutions at all levels. But it is not impossible. We could learn from the best experiences of the other countries. First of all it requires a close cooperation between all the stakeholders involved in addressing the issue. Policymakers have to focus their attention on creating and implementing parental education programs appropriate to our social-cultural context along with other initiatives, in order to improve the sexual and reproductive health of youth in Albania.” Uarda Petriti, a youth peer educator from Albania who has a master’s degree in public health and is putting her knowledge and skills into practice by delivering sexual and reproductive health to other young people o
The impact of early and forced child marriage
“It is indisputable that the social and emotional impacts of an early marriage are devastating. One of the main contributing factors is related to the lack of importance given to girls’ education. Also, a young pregnant girl has more responsibilities, which means less time for concentrating on selfdevelopment and education. Considering that she is unlikely to go back to school and get a diploma, she won’t be qualified for getting a job and this causes further challenges such as unemployment.” Giorgi Shakarashvili, a healthcare management student from Georgia, member of the Georgian Youth Education and Development Association, and head of the youth reproductive health center at the University of Georgia
“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign Report/ page 10 o
The importance of data collection in addressing gender equality
“Before designing the programme it is important that we identify the main socio-cultural issues of the region, assess the challenges and the goals for implementing the programme,and study and consult the statistics. True and accurate information on the gender issues specific to the region can only be obtained by going into the field and seeing the real situation.” Daniela Alexeiciuc, advocate and trainer at the CEDES Association of Development of Health and Education in Moldova and a member of YouAct, the European Youth Network on Sexual and Reproductive Rights SHARING RESOURCES
The http://eecayouthvoice.org/ regional advocacy platform also has an online library through which young people gathered and shared 65 resources (publications, toolkits, brochures, fact sheets and infographics) that are helping youth advocates to better plan their actions. 30 regional and international and 35 national publications on youth sexual and reproductive health and rights, empowerment and participation, advocacy, ICPD Review and post-2015 development agenda have been shared. As a platform for knowledge-sharing, the online library will continue to gather further materials throughout 2015. A list of all resources collected can be found in the Annex to this report.
TAKING A SELFIE WITH A MESSAGE
In the first weeks of the campaign, young people made megaphones out of paper and wrote their message on them. They then took photos of themselves with the megaphones and uploaded then on Twitter and/or Facebook, using the hashtags #eeacyouthvoice and #showyourselfie. The photos contributed to the #showyourselfie global movement, initiated by UNFPA. The photos submitted are contributing to a visual petition aimed to show world leaders that young people need to be recognized, that they want to make a difference and have their voice heard, that NOW is the time to invest in them.
“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign Report/ page 11 In all countries, young people used the opportunity of other events, such as the “Jashtar Camp” in Kyrgyzstan, to encourage more young people to contribute to the selfies campaign with their own messages. In Kosovo and Macedonia, the teams designed and produced a photo booth for field activities in different cities, as seen in the image below:
In total, young people managed to collect about 1,000 selfies. The messages conveyed through these pictures addressed the need for investment in youth, the importance of young people’s presence in decision-making, and issues of education, equality, health and inclusion of minorities. Below are few selected examples of the main messages that young people wrote in the photos: Take volunteerism into consideration as work experience We want more friendly services for young people We need more peer educators on
youth-related issues Include youth priorities at the heart of national and international development frameworks We can’t achieve full realization of youth rights without our meaningful participation We have energy and ideas to build a brighter future Youth are key agents for development and peace We want quality education We want access to quality health education in school, including comprehensive sexuality education
“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign Report/ page 12
REGIONAL ADVOCACY TRAINING
To support the “Youth Voice” Regional Campaign momentum, the Peer Education Training and Research Institute (PETRI) Sofia Center and UNFPA EECARO dedicated their Annual Training School to the topic of advocacy. The training brought together 57 participants from 19 countries across the Eastern Europe and Central Asian region, from organizations that had joined the campaign and planned to conduct national advocacy campaigns. The training strengthened the capacity of young people to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate advocacy campaigns in their countries aimed at improving the situation of young people and ensuring their issues are reflected in the post-2015 agenda as they developed concrete action plans for their national campaigns.
The training was a priceless and irreplaceable experience. I was incredibly delighted to get to know many enthusiastic people who strive to transform the world into a better place to live and to hear their innovative ideas – that’s the best motivation one could ask for. We are now even more entitled to plan, act and make a difference. Aidana Yeslamgali (Y-PEER Kazakhstan)
Dynamic, interactive and very useful – those would be the three words I’d use to describe the Advocacy Training. There were many highly motivated young people from various parts of the region partaking and willing to learn, so I think this made the whole training an environment of exchanging good practices and learning not only from the trainers but from our peers as well. Having the possibility to transform theory into practice and being mentored by professionals were the main things I would like to highlight when talking about the training. Aulonë Kadriu (Peer Education Network, Kosovo)
“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign Report/ page 13
NATIONAL ADVOCACY CAMPAIGNS The national advocacy campaigns are being rolled out in two phases: Phase 1: Mobilizing and gathering youth voices - in 2014 Phase 2: Reaching out to decision-makers - in 2015 An open call for proposals was sent out to all participating organizations in October 2014. A review of these proposals was conducted by a Selection Committee consisting of: One member from the Regional Youth Leadership Group One member from the UNFPA EECA Regional Office One member from the UNFPA Country Office The awarded proposals have been implemented with financial support from the UNFPA Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia and from UNFPA Country Offices. 40 youth-led or youth-serving organizations from 14 countries (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Ukraine) were supported by UNFPA in conducting a national consultation or a similar activity in the framework of the “Youth Voice” Regional Campaign. Moreover, 11 youth-led or youth-serving organizations from six countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkey) conducted activities in the framework of the “Youth Voice” Regional Campaign that they had already planned and allocated resources for from their own budgets. Each country organized a different type of activity, but with the same objective: to gather diverse youth voices to develop the youth vision for the future they want through a consultative process. The following paragraphs summarize the highlights of activities organized in each country.
Albania Young people took part in consultation workshops and gave their input related to the priority issues that should be addressed by the government and included in the post-2015 development agenda. A final meeting then gathered youth leaders from four parts of the country (Tirana, Vlora, Shkodra and Korca) who worked together to compile a final document related to youth priorities at the national level. This document will be the advocacy tool used by young people from Albania to urge decision-makers and politicians to include youth priorities in their local and national development plans and in the post-2015 development agenda. The UNFPA SWOP Report launch event also focused on exploring the views and concerns of the youth in Albania regarding the future and the post-2015 development agenda, as it brought together young people and government representatives (Minister of Interior, Minister of Education, Minister of Health and Minister of Social Welfare and Youth).
“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign Report/ page 14
Armenia The organizations in Armenia have focused on preparatory activities for the roll-out of the national campaign: materials were translated into the local language and announcement letters and a Facebook page were created. In 2015, meetings with youth and discussions and debates on issues that directly affect them will take place.
Azerbaijan A day-long consultation with young people was organized back-to-back with a four-day-long theatrebased training aimed at raising awareness on SRHR, HIV/AIDS, gender-based violence and trafficking. A follow-up activity was held in collaboration with the Ombudsman’s Office in Baku at the Ombudsman Resource Center, and brought together more than 60 people, including young students and schoolchildren with a poor socio-economic background, as well as their parents. The peer educators performed theatre scenes which revealed aspects of youth SRH, gender equality, stigma and discrimination. This was followed by a facilitated consultation in which the group shared views on the issues they would like to change, emphasizing the need for improved youth involvement and participation.
Belarus Partner organizations conducted group discussions with young people from diverse backgrounds, including those who are vulnerable and most at risk. Selfies with a message were collected and used for the development of a “Youth Voice” calendar publication. Four selected videos were selected from submissions to a video contest with the theme “A world without stigma”. The final meeting summed up the results of the various consultations.
Bosnia and Herzegovina The views and priorities of young people were collected through five focus group discussions with young people from diverse backgrounds. Then, a roundtable was convened with youth stakeholders and representatives such as student councils, municipality councils and school representatives, and the youth vision was presented.
Bulgaria The participating organizations are also part of the ACT!2015 advocacy initiative of UNAIDS and have thus already brought together a national alliance and conducted a strategic meeting in September 2014. Within the joint framework of the ACT!2015 and the “Youth Voice” Regional Campaign, they organized the “Klyuche Forum”, which saw six youth speakers present on two thematic areas: comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) and youth employment. The event was attended by 73 participants: young people, NGO representatives, business representatives and decision-makers, including the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sport. The UNFPA SWOP Report Executive Summary and the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Regional Supplement were translated and the materials distributed among the attendees of
“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign Report/ page 15 the “Klyuche Forum”. These actions complemented each other and presented solid arguments on the role of CSE in youth development and economic growth. A custom made photo-stand was also installed at the venue and used to collect selfies with messages from young people.
Georgia The UNFPA SWOP and the Youth Voice campaign in Georgia were launched with a press conference that included the participation of the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs. The event was followed by a screening of the documentary film “Motherhood in Childhood” on the issue of early marriages in Georgia. Later, two other events were organized in rural areas, where the same documentary was shown and followed by discussions with the gathered group of local youth. A screening of the film “Dallas Buyers Club”, followed by a discussion session on issues related to HIV stigma and ways to prevent it, was also organized to mark World AIDS Day.
Kazakhstan The consultation "Voice of Young People in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: Formation of proposals for the post2015 development agenda” was organized with the support of the UNFPA CO, and with the participation of 25 young people of various backgrounds. The consultation’s report was presented to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development and Parliamentarians during a roundtable meeting.
Kyrgyzstan The youth networks used the momentum created by the "Jashtar camp" and set up a stand where young people were informed about the Youth Voice campaign, photographed with messages and informed about a petition in support of an SRHR bill. They also organized meetings with university students, held a flash mob advocating for parliamentarians’ support for the reproductive rights bill and produced a video for advocacy purposes.
“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign Report/ page 16
Kosovo A workshop-tour took place in five municipalities (Prishtina, Gjilan, Gjakove, Dragash, Mitrovica), engaging young people from elementary and high schools. In each of the workshops, after hearing information presented about the campaign, young people participated in a facilitated discussion that revealed what they think can be changed for the better in their community, city, school or country and how they can be part of that change.
Macedonia The team from Macedonia gathered youth voices by visiting universities, youth events, youth organizations and urban locations and then used these inputs to develop a photography exhibition. This exhibition was displayed in the same venue where youth activists performed three educational shadowtheatre plays, followed by facilitated discussions. The culminating event was a youth conference and roundtable discussion that provided space for the representatives of the youth sector (youth organizations, political party youth wings, student associations, and relevant institutions) to discuss development policies and inclusion of youth priorities.
Moldova Youth voices were collected through postcards on which young people wrote their answers to the question “Why should the government invest in young people?”. Nearly 7,500 young people were informed, motivated, and given the opportunity to express their opinion during the campaign and almost 3,000 postcard responses were received. The answers were analyzed and backed-up by statistical data on the main problems facing youth as well as solutions to these problems. A youth statement was developed and will be used to advocate for the inclusion of young people into government priorities.
Romania A consultation workshop brought together participants from different NGOs and with different backgrounds. The workshop included a capacity-building component on general advocacy principles in which participants analyzed strategic documents, statistics and laws, and voted on their six main priorities. Following the development of a joint Position Paper, participants conducted a validation process using the open space method, which involved more than 300 young people.
“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign Report/ page 17
Turkmenistan The voices and opinions of young people were collected by conducting focus group discussions, debates, competitions and interviews, as well as by analyzing some of the available reports and previously conducted consultations with young people.
Tajikistan The activities implemented included a debate tournament and an art event where young artists expressed their thoughts and visions for the future through painting, graffiti and anime. A youth conference then brought together representatives of governmental and nongovernmental organizations to discuss the youth priorities and their integration in the future development agenda. In addition, the NGO "Cultural Educational Center for Girls - Tomiris" organized a Public Forum for women and girl leaders where issues related to capacity-building and methods of preventing violence against girls from rural areas were addressed.
“Art can stir our curiosity, spark our creativity, provoke contemplation or discussions, and trigger memories. Great works of art help us make connections among ideas and people. They connect us and help bring us together; access to great works of art elevates the creative energy as well as the sense of cohesion within that community” Tajikistan team member
Turkey All activities were carried out as part of the Annual Work Plan of the “Community Volunteers Foundation”, an organization that is one of UNFPA’s implementing partners in Turkey. This Annual Work Plan included: the UNFPA SWOP Report launch event where young people presented their statements to representatives of government, non-governmental organizations and media; over 156 outreach events in 37 different cities in Turkey to mark World AIDS Day; and the convening of a Youth Advisory Panel in order to ensure more youth-friendly programming and gather young people’s recommendations for UNFPA Turkey programmes.
Ukraine Along with organizing meetings with local youth activists and students, the main activity in Ukraine focused on producing a video that incorporates inputs received from young people – what they need, and what the state and society can do to create favorable conditions for their development and wellbeing.
“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign Report/ page 18
Youth engagement In total, more than 7,500 young people have been engaged in the consultation process and contributed in shaping the youth vision for the future they want. The activities drew the participation of youth from diverse social, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, including: 1,186 young people from rural areas 1,201 young people from ethnic minorities 231 young people from families at risk of losing parental care, or who face socio-economic difficulties Close to 100 young people who lack parental care, have disabilities (hearing and speech disabilities, restriction of movement, etc.), have been released from prison, or belong to the LGBTQI community Note: The total number of marginalized groups and minorities engaged cannot be fully reflected, as some of the young people did not want to be identified as part of such groups, and some national consultations did not closely monitor the profile of youth participants. The summary of country activities and participants can be found as Annex to this report.
Working in partnership Along with the organizations that submitted joint proposals and worked in close collaboration with the UNFPA Country Office team, there were other partners or stakeholders engaged in the activities: Albania: Directorates of Education in Tirana and Vlora, Faculty of Public Health, Brainstorm Organization, Roma NGOs, Youth Center in Vlora Azerbaijan: NAYORA, Children’s Public Union, Office of the Ombudsman BiH: Schools’ student councils, municipality councils, NGOs, Red Cross Belarus: Belarusian Association of UNESCO Clubs "BelSet anti-AIDS", NGO "Meeting", NGO "Positive Movement" Bulgaria: Deputy Minister of Youth and Sport, Head of Parliamentarian Committee on Education, Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law, National Center for Public Health and Analysis, Bulgarian Family Planning Association, UNFPA Liaison Officer in Bulgaria, Network of Health Mediators Georgia: The Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs of Georgia; CCE (Center for Civic Engagement in Kakheti) and Sukhishvilebi University Gori Kyrgyzstan: AFPPD, PU “Kyrgyz Indigo”, Kyrgyz National University named after J.Balasagyn, Kyrgyz State University named after Arabaeva Macedonia: Southeast European University, Agency for Youth and Sports
“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign Report/ page 19
Moldova: Administrations of middle and higher educational institutions in villages where the campaign took place, administration of penal jurisdiction № 10 for juvenile criminals, administrations of youth centers for the protection of the rights of the child in Chisinau municipality Ukraine: Universities in the eastern and southern parts of the country “Working in partnership with many stakeholders has inspired the network members to work together, collaborate, talk, listen to each other, hear and be heard.” Azerbaijan team member
Youth priorities In all countries, young people voiced their needs and recommendations and agreed on the priorities they would like to present to their national stakeholders and further advocate for their inclusion within the post-2015 development agenda. Though there are variations in the youth priorities identified by the youth organizations and networks in each country, the overarching ones mentioned in all 17 country reports are related to investments in young people’s: Education
While ensuring
Health
Meaningful youth participation, including youth-adult partnership
and
and
Employment
Equal opportunities for all
This result strengthens the conclusions of the UNFPA SWOP Regional Supplement “Investing in Young People in Eastern Europe and Central Asia”6, which emphasized the need to ensure the current generation of young people is equipped with the education, skills and health it needs to help translate today’s demographic realities into tomorrow’s economic and social prosperity. Most Eastern Europe and Central Asia countries spend substantially less on education compared to European Union countries7. The consequences of this and the demand for improvement were reflected in the priorities identified by the young people involved in the campaign consultations: Providing quality education (Albania, Belarus, BiH, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan) 6
http://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/resource-pdf/SWOP%20Supplement%20Final%20Web%20Version_0.pdf
7
Education Expenditure as % of GNI, World Development Indicators, 2012 – extract from http://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/resource-pdf/SWOP%20Supplement%20Final%20Web%20Version_0.pdf
“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign Report/ page 20 Boosting the curricula reform at all levels of education, including life skills, gender-based and rights-based approach and using interactive teaching methods (Albania) Ensuring that education matches the requirements of the job market (Belarus, BiH, Kazakhstan) Increasing teacher support (BiH) Prioritizing education as a key to eliminating harmful practices of child marriage and genderbased violence, and integrating SRHR issues into formal and informal education as an efficient tool for raising awareness on the aforementioned issues and enabling youth to live healthy lives (Georgia, Tajikistan) Ensuring access to comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) (Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Romania, Turkey) Albania Belarus BiH Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Macedonia Moldova Romania Tajikistan Turkmenistan
Quality Education
Belarus BiH Kazakhstan
Education matching the job market
Albania Bulgaria Georgia Kyrgyzstan Moldova Romania Turkey
Comprehensive Sexuality Education
Georgia Tajikistan
Girls’ access to education to prevent child marriage
Along with the needs for investment in education, young people also reflected on health-related needs and priorities: Providing quality healthcare (Belarus, BiH, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, and Turkmenistan) Integrating youth-friendly health services into the primary healthcare package (Albania, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Turkey)
Belarus BiH Kazakhstan Kosovo Macedonia Moldova Turkmenistan
Quality healthcare
Albania Belarus Georgia Moldova Turkey
Youth-friendly health services
“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign Report/ page 21 Another area that needs to be prioritized, in order to complete and foster young people’s potential, is related to employment: Enhancing local programs related to youth employment and building upon the need to improve management of the education system in order to deliver the skills demanded by the labor market (Albania, Belarus, BiH and Macedonia) Strengthening support for young people’s entrepreneurial endeavors, creation of conditions for the realization of employment rights of young people, and, in particular, assistance in obtaining first jobs after university graduation and opportunities for young professionals without working experience (Moldova, Ukraine) Addressing the “export” of young people’s human capital to other countries, also known as “brain drain” (BiH, Tajikistan) Albania BiH Macedonia Moldova Tajikistan Ukraine Turkmenistan
Employment opportunities
Azerbaijan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan
Youth-adult partnerships
“Social and financial insecurities are the main reasons for emigrating. This encompasses unemployment, financial problems, the political situation and a desire for a better future. Due to the difficult economic situation, our parents are mostly providing social and emotional support, rather than sufficient financial support until we manage to ensure our own livelihoods. “ Young person from BiH Promoting the participation of young people in decisions on policies and programmes that affect them also came up as a priority in many of the countries (Albania, Belarus, BiH, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Turkey): Fostering youth leadership and participation Providing support and opportunities for youth and youth NGOs to be engaged in national development strategies Cultivating youth-adult partnerships (Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan) Ensuring inclusion of those from marginalized groups and inclusive and equitable opportunities for all (Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, BiH, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Romania)
Albania Belarus BiH Georgia Kazakhstan Moldova Tajikistan Turkey
Youth Participation
Albania Azerbaijan Belarus BiH Kazakhstan Moldova Romania
Equal opportunities
“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign Report/ page 22 Facilitating factors Two facilitating factors reported in most of the countries refer to the active participation and contribution of the young people who have implemented the activities/projects and the facilitating role played by the UNFPA Country Office (Albania, Moldova and Tajikistan). Oher listed key factors include: Crucial NGO support (BiH) The ongoing advocacy initiative under ACT! 2015 (Bulgaria) Partnerships with universities and other organizations (Kyrgyzstan) Good media coverage (Macedonia) Ensuring wider visibility through promotional video clip (Moldova) Previous exposure to similar initiatives such as the 10 Days of Activism (Turkey) The interactive and participatory methodologies used, such as the focus-group discussions (Albania) and role play and social theatre (Ukraine, Kosovo) which allow young people to share their opinions in an engaging way Challenges faced The most common challenges identified were related to the activity of taking selfies with messages: Lack of smartphones Discomfort over appearing in publicly shared photos. The fact that not all young people have enough technological support (smartphones) has been addressed by activities that reached out to rural areas, and by those that used pre-printed boards and the organization’s camera for taking photos (Macedonia, Kosovo). This aspect will be taken into consideration for future planning. Another area in which youth organizations faced challenges was related to youth engagement: Many young people aren’t informed on their rights and existing laws and regulations at the country level, which created additional barriers in formulating their advocacy messages (BiH) General lack of trust in the government generated youth distrust in campaign effectiveness (Moldova) Engaging an audience that is as diverse as possible, including youth with diverse social, ethnic and cultural backgrounds (Ukraine) Ensuring meaningful participation of all participants (Albania) Some young people belonging to vulnerable groups, such as those using drugs, did not feel comfortable voicing their needs due to fear of stigma and discrimination from other participants Participants also mentioned logistical problems, such as the inconvenient timing of the campaign activities in December, during general holidays, in the period of the govermental elections and when bad weather affected travelling (BiH, Kosovo, Moldova).
“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign Report/ page 23 Lessons learned and recommendations The lessons learned section yielded very diverse responses: Planning in advance brings better achievements (Turkey and Kyrgyzstan) Joining forces among four NGOs created a positive image among targeted beneficiaries (Albania) A need for bridge-building between UN activities and young people (Belarus) The importance of engaging young people in decision-making processes (Georgia) The fact that every young person deserves to learn and present their own opinion (Kosovo) The importance of involving stakeholders from the planning phase on (Macedonia) The similarity of youth problems and needs regardless of social background (Ukraine) As for recommendations, the responses were also very diverse, such as: Involving young people in advocacy as being one of the best ways to bring about change (Albania) The need for additional capacity-building in project development, advocacy and partnership building (BiH) Unifying voices at a regional level for the post-2015 inter-governmental negotiations taking place in New York (Bulgaria) Identifying clear qualitative indicators to evaluate a campaign's success and involving more young people in decision-making (Georgia) Forming a strong advocacy group and actively working with the media (Kyrgyzstan) Involving stakeholders in early event planning (Macedonia) Devoting more time for activities that aim to gather youth opinions and thoughts (Ukraine)
Way forward All country reports include a clear expression of interest in continuing the national advocacy campaign by conducting activities in 2015. Some of the organizations (e.g. those from Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan) have already developed an Action Plan while others will be doing so in the upcoming period. In Georgia and Belarus, for example, a Youth Advisory Panel will be used as a mechanism to finalize the set of recommendations based on the youth vision and ideas collected during Phase 1 and then present them to decision-makers, stakeholders and the representatives of the government during roundtable meetings. UNFPA Country Offices in Albania, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova and Turkmenistan have already expressed their support for continuing to facilitate and coordinate with interested CSOs and young people on developing a joint advocacy plan. This will include advocacy with the central and local government to put youth issues into their annual budgets and plans. Already-planned regional and national events and processes will be used as an opportunity to create momentum for this campaign and to conduct follow-up activities. Such events include the Conference
“Youth Voice” Regional Campaign Report/ page 24 on the Healthy Lifestyle for managers of educational institutions organized by UNFPA Kyrgyzstan and the Model United Nations Conference in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Expanding the partnerships and engaging more civil society organizations as well as other stakeholders such as the National Youth Council and Agency for Youth and Sports has been mentioned by organizations in Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, BiH, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Romania, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Ukraine. The Bulgarian NGOs mentioned an initiative to develop a regional campaign in partnership with the Romanian NGOs, members of Y-PEER and YouAct, and UNFPA EECARO. The idea is to create and distribute postcards across the two countries and engage young people in writing their messages, then collecting the cards and sending them in regular pouches to relevant EU parliament members. Then, a Hearing at the European Parliament could be organized to present the key collected messages. This campaign would aim to make the youth voice heard at EU level since Bulgaria and Romania will be involved in the post-2015 inter-governmental negotiations as part of the EU region. The organizations are planning to prepare proposals and seek support from UNFPA EECARO and UNFPA Country Offices as well as from other potential donors, such as: - Other UN agencies - The EU - Various international organizations such as AMSHC (Agency for Civil Society Support) and IPPF - Municipalities - Embassies - Private donors
Attached as Annex to this report:
List of joining organizations National consultations details List of articles written by young people List of resources from online library