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Posted: July 26 2006,12:56 by David from INTERNATIONAL - Fundacion Cultura de Paz
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ANSWERED QUESTIONAIRE
Your good ideas and insights as youth leaders will be crucial for the success of this project!
We would really appreciate it if you could answer the following questionnaire:
1. INDIVIDUAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL ACTIVITIES
a) If funds were available, what youth activities related to a COP would you to do as an individual?
Programmes on
-Respect for human rights
-Democratic participation
-International understanding, tolerance and solidarity
b) What non-financial support do you need to do these activities?
. - Office for Human Right Promotion Programmes
- Logistics and Training materials
- International Recognition and Affiliation with International Human
Rights Promotion Agencies (Human Rights Bodies)
c) If funds were available, what youth activities related to a COP would your organization like to do?
--Education for a culture of peace
--Sustainable development
--Democratic participation
--Equality between women and men
--International understanding, tolerance and solidarity
--Free flow of information
d) What non-financial support does your organization need for COP activities?
- Establishment of a center for youth development and leadership training.
- Establishment of telecenter for ICT skills acquisition
-Logistics and training materials / equipments
2. SUPPORTS FROM GOVERNMENT AND THE UN
a) What changes in youth policies do you think the government/leadership in your country should make to promote a COP?
With reference to the various recommendations made in:
-Trade world forum of youth of the UN System, (Vienna) 1994 and 1996, (Braga) 1998 and (Dakar) 2001
-The World Conference of Ministers of Youth (Lisbon) 1998
-The World Programme of Action for Youth to the year 2000 and beyond (UN) 1996
-The Convention on the Rights of The Child (1990)
-The AOU Charter On the Right and Welfare of the African Youth (2000)
-Guidelines for the prevention of juvenile delinquency (Riyad) 1990
-UN Child Summit (New York) 2002
-UN Guidelines on Crime Prevention with focus on the Youth (Vienna) 2002,
Ghana
government should reactivate and / adopt a comprehensive national youth
policy and be fully committed to it since youth development issues are
too important for us to be politicized.
Ghanaian youth should be given a meaningful voice in governance through the collaboration NGOs and MDAs.
b) What COP youth activities/initiatives do you think the UN should do?
The UN should be appreciated for what it has been doing so far
but should continue to promote all the eight thematic areas of COP with
special emphasis on:
--Respect for human rights
--Education for a culture of peace
--International understanding, tolerance and solidarity
--International Peace and Security
OTHER QUESTIONS
3.
Do you have any suggestions or recommendations for improving youth
participation in COP activities on any levels (UN, government, civil
society)?
Yes
The UN should play a leading role but impress
it upon member states to uphold UN - Youth promotional programmes in
high esteem. Possibly, special office should be established where such
youth UN-Youth promotional programmes should be channeled through.
Co-ordinators in such office should come from CSOs, NGOs, public
service as well as International Volunteers.
This will make UN
have some input in these youth development programmes and hold such
co-ordinators to task as well. UN may seem to be interfering with
programme before many if that is to be done but if we do not do that
now and ensure that our well-discussed policies at expensive summits
are implemented at country and organizational levels for us to invest
in youth development early enough, we may live to regret. This is
because we may have more juvenile cases to settle, drug peddling,
violence crime, just to mention but a few, to solve in the near future
in which we may be spending more financial resources, time and energy
to deal with problems if we don't help our young ones to develop
properly.
Youth development should be a component part of
programmes for all NGOs as well as member states. UN should continue to
make it clear to all and sundry that implementation of youth
development programmes should be devoid of partisan politics at all
places at all times. UN has the moral obligation and the accorded
respect to do that.
4. What could be done to improve/ensure transparency and flow of information in promoting the COP?
UN
establishment modalities in respect with building COP should be made
available to be adopted by member states and recognized NGO's in the
implementation of COP activities. Every COP - based programme /
activity should be widely disseminated and possibly covered with the
support of the United Nation Information Centers, National News
Agencies, Private Media Stations, the Business Community and other
stakeholders.
Annual or periodic recognition of key players in
youth development promotion (COP) could also motivate and encourage
increased transparency and information flow.
Training youth, youth
workers and youth leaders in ICT and introducing and applying ICT in
our operations will go a long way to promote transparency and easy flow
of information since electronic mails reduce time wasting, promote
quick services and help to check corruption in many Institutions.
5. To ensure the best possible return of a voluntary fund for youth and COP, how should it be managed/administered?
.
Proper
budget monitoring and control measures should be adopted. Proper
planning and evaluation is needed. A competent management team made of
people from various disciplines as well as opinion leaders and key
representatives of the beneficiaries of the programme, is to be set up.
To ensure proper accountability and transparency external auditors or monitors should be attached to such programmes.
Timely and regular (periodic) progress report must be received and posted for stakeholders to be aware of what has taken place.
6. How can youth not yet involved in COP activities be reached and motivated?
Coalition of youth workers and leaders should be created and empowered to promote the programme.
Appointed
opinion leaders, religious leaders and heads of educational
institutions should be brought on board to propagate the importance of
COP programme since they have lot of influence over many young people.
The
programme should be attractively packed for instance with music,
sports, reproductive health education and economic development
components as side attractions to make it appealing to the youths.
When the youth pioneers on a pilot project are treated well, we are sure to get others on board.
7. a) Which other organizations do you know of, that work for a COP?
There
are quite a number of youth - based organisations in Ghana, some of
which are registered. I cannot really testify whether they are working
for COP or not. Sometimes some of these organizations come out to hold
programmes for the youth.
b) Would you be willing to contact them or may we contact them with the questionnaire? Please specify.
I
am ready to contact them and even create a brief database based on
their profiles on your mandate so that you can be able to contact them
as appropriate if necessary.
8. My response to this questionnaire is my
personal opinion ___
Organisation's opinion
Name of organization: Hopelink International
Address: P.O.Box CS 8480,Tema Ghana W/A
Contact Person: Joseph Mawuli Mensah, DipNsg, DipCC, PGD e-Governance
E-mail: hopelinkint@yahoo.com
Telephone: 233(0) 243246129
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