hi youth employment advocates,
As premised in Agenda 21 (the global blueprint of
action for sustainable development), youth was defined
as the only "transitional sector" by transitional it
means that after the youthful age all young people
will eventually graduate to join the main sectors of
society.
Being young is being in transition where youth are
looking for the purpose of their existence, their
roles and functions in the society, their duties and
responsibilities as an individual or as a citizen of
their country or as a member of the global family.
But most often, youth are caught unguarded and
unprepared for this transition stage they don't know
where to go and whom to look for (YES Transition to
Work Paper). And indeed education is one of the
biggest single solutions to this problem.
But the question of how to make sure that people
especially the young have access to education and to
the tools of education remains to be the question,
there has been a number of declaration and commitments
and plans drafted and adopted yet the world remains
uneducated.
The key there is making it available and accessible to
the young especially those at the local community,
equality and equity to access is a must. If most
education and its facilities remains to be available
and limited to/in the urban areas how could the youth
in the rural areas afford to have education, in the
rural areas where majority of the young people are
dwelling.
Providing quality education to the young people at the
local community not only increases employability, it
as well answers the problem of migration and urban
problem on population growth, poverty, health, and
others.
Employability could be of different forms, you could
be employed through small-scale, medium scale and
big-scale industries, could also be self-employed and
self-productive. The question is what kind of
employability do we want to offer to the young? And
with the current scenario of the world youth
employment dilemma what is the best options and
recommendation we could provide to the youth?
There has been a number of youth employability and
youth education initiatives being done, but limited is
the cooperation, convergence and unity among this
effort. Mostly done at the individual level and
capacity, government work on their own, civil society
does what they can, young people strive as hard as
they could. What we need right now is point of unity
and convergence, now is the time for all this agencies
and institutions to work together. Government, NGO,
business, and private sectors should work hand in
hand.
Any for any initiatives to be successful contribution
to the process and decision making should include
young people, those who are directly affected by this
problem, ask them what they really needs, young people
at the local community especially ethnic minorities
and indigenous people should be consulted as well.
And another important aspect to consider in providing
education for the young in relation to employability
is values, ethics and culture formation we don't want
to produce educated monsters in the economy. We don't
want an addition to the greedy businessmen around we
don't want increase in economic sabotage by
trans-national companies. What we need right now is to
have a sustainable consumption and production pattern,
a healthy living, a peaceful world, free of hunger and
destruction. And all of this we could only achieved if
we know the real essence and value of education in the
lives of the people.
Education could be good but could also be very
dangerous if not handled accordingly and properly,
education without ethics and values formation would be
detrimental to the survival of human kind it might
lead us to the survival of the fittest, just a
contribution.
best,
catherine
________________________
Catherine Kamping
Coordinator, Youth Caucus, United Nations Commission
on Sustainable Development (UN CSD)
International Youth Adviser, Youth Employment Summit
Regional Coordinator for Asia, Global Youth Action
Network
Chairperson, Philippine Youth Employment Network
Secretary General, Youth for Sustainable Development
Assembly-Pilipinas
VP-External Affairs, SAVE Mother Earth Movement
--- Tony Mathur <tony@yesweb.org> wrote:
> Greetings to all you Champions of youth employment!
>
> We are happy to post a topic on one of the Six Es.
> We are flagging off this
> discussion with the exploration of some facets
> of "Employability". The
> first of this is the topic pertaining to the
> pressing problem of :
>
>
> "How to ensure access for all youth to
> appropriate education and
>
>
> training the world over"
>
>
>
>
>
> The employability of a youth depends on the
> youth's skillset, acquired
> through appropriate education and training. But do
> the unemployed youth of
> today have access to this appropriate education and
> training? No.
>
> Education is a fundamental human right. It empowers
> children, youth and
> adults with the opportunity improve their quality of
> life index. The
> educated individual has that undeniable quality of
> 'employability'. The
> acquisition of this key quality of 'employability'
> breaks the cycle of
> poverty and is a key ingredient in economic and
> social development.
>
> The World Conference on Education for All (Jomtien,
> Thailand, 1990) has
> placed basic education high on the development
> agenda. In April 2000, more
> than 1,100 delegates from 164 countries reaffirmed
> their commitment to EFA
> at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal. They
> adopted the Dakar
> Framework for Action ? a bold, practical document
> laying out goals and
> strategies for achieving Education for All.
>
> The Six Dakar goals:
>
> 1. Expand early childhood care and education.
> 2. Free and compulsory education of good quality
> by 2015.
> 3. Promote the acquisition of life-skills by
> adolescents and youth.
> 4. Expand adult literacy by 50 per cent by 2015.
> 5. Eliminate gender disparities by 2005 and
> achieve gender equality in
> education by 2015.
> 6. Enhance educational quality.
>
> However, delivery of job oriented education and
> vocational training, to
> youth with an emphasis on enhancing their
> employability is still not
> focused; despite the Dakar Framework for Action.
>
>
> Youth Employment Summit (YES) Campaign seeks to find
> creative solutions of
> ensuring access of unemployed youth to appropriate
> job oriented education
> and vocational training. This is the only way of
> increasing the
> employability of youth.
>
>
> In the light of the foregoing, we invite you to post
> your views and ideas
> as to how appropriate job oriented education and
> vocational training can be
> delivered to youth; as they make their transition to
> work, with ever
> increasing employability.
>
>
> We look forward to your posting your valuable ideas
> on this. Please put in
> your best, for we have a surprise for the one who
> submits the most
> enlightening contribution.
>
>
> With Best Regards,
>
>
> Your humble Moderator
>
>
> Tony Mathur
>
>
> Email. Tony@yesweb.org
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
=====
________________________
Catherine Kamping
Coordinator, Youth Caucus, United Nations Commission on Sustainable
Development (UN CSD)
International Youth Adviser, Youth Employment Summit
Regional Coordinator for Asia, Global Youth Action Network
Chairperson, Philippine Youth Employment Network
Secretary General, Youth for Sustainable Development Assembly-Pilipinas
VP-External Affairs, SAVE Mother Earth Movement
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 06/26/03 EDT