EYF- RECOMMENDATIONS1






  


THE ETHIOPIAN YOUTH FORUM

Ethiopian Youth Forum Six Session, October 20, 2004

The Ethiopian Teenagers' Forum Recommendations and action plan on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

 

 

We, 200 young people and children who came from 40 different Addis Ababa elementary and high schools, had a long and deep discussion on the issue of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on October 20, 2004 in Africa Hall, Addis Ababa. We came up with the following plan of action and recommendations:

1. To improve maternal health:

  1. Students, and we young people, need to teach society about the importance of maternal health at every opportunity.
  2. Sufficient health care centres need to be provided and gender equality must be respected.

2. Concerning combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other killing diseases:

  1. We young people must forgo harmful western practices that badly influence young people, and we must be responsible.
  2. The Government and the private sector need to create job opportunities for young people to keep them away from bad situations.
  3. More efforts and action need to be taken to make people aware of how to protect themselves from malaria and HIV.
  4. Open discussion must be developed among young people. The Government, NGOs and the UN organisations need to focus efforts on the countryside to create awareness on fighting malaria, HIV/AIDS and other deadly diseases.

3.  To insure environmental sustainability:

  1. We young people need to share ideas with others about what we have discussed here. Also, we young people need to participate ourselves, starting with cleaning our own environments, to do anything within our power to achieve this goal.
  2. The Government, NGOs and the private sector needs to facilitate and support the activities of young people.

4. Concerning reducing child mortality:

  1. Establish more medical centres in rural areas where medical treatment is currently far away.
  2. Help street children and exploited children -- both sexually and abused in labour.
  3. Parents need to raise their children to keep them safe so that early mortality can be avoided.

5. To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger:

  1. We young people need to sacrifice our own personal interests to eliminate this from our country, Ethiopia.
  2. We must ensure the sustainability of farming, supporting farms that can be profitable using modern farming technologies. The Government, NGOs, UN organisations and society as a whole need to work hand-in-hand to implement this goal.
  3. The private sector, the Government and society need to encourage creative young people.
  4. Everyone needs to support reforestation.

6.  To develop global partnerships for development:

  1. The Government needs to give suitable investment opportunities to all investors, both national and international. They need to have strong political, economic and social relationships with other countries to achieve the goal, developing a global partnership for development.

7.  To achieve the goal promoting gender equality and empowering women:

  1. Females need to have a strong movement to ensure their equality and participation.
  2. The Government, society, NGOs and UN organisations need to give priority to girls’ education, noting that teaching girls means teaching society.

8.  To achieve universal primary education:

  1. In collaboration with society as a whole, the Government needs to build new schools especially in rural areas.
  2. Awareness needs to be created within Ethiopian society, especially for parents so that they send their children to school. Also, to ensure quality education, the Government needs to give special attention to training teachers.

Young people, society, the Government, NGOs, the private sector, civic associations and United Nations organisations, including us forum participants, must participate in activities to implement and achieve the MDGs. We have had lots of promises but no tangible outcomes. Now what we need is action. Today, we all discussed and assigned tasks for ourselves. We will do our part. The Government, UN, NGOs and the private sector also need to participate in action and help us. Then we will achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Ethiopian Teenagres' Forum Fifth Session, July 16, 2004

 

TEN RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE ETHIOPIAN TEENAGERS’ FORUM

ON THE DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD

“THE FAMILY AND THE CHILD, HIV/AIDS AND GIRLS’ EDUCATION”

 

 

 

We, children and youth, in order to witness a bright and hopeful future, have to become ambassadors of change.  Government, NGOs, the African Union, the United Nations agencies and the private sector should support us in our efforts.

 

 

1)                             Before attempting to change the behaviour of others, we must first change our own ways of doing things.

2)                             Government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the private sector must support the activities of young people. We young people need to work together to solve our problems.

3)                             Parents must discuss HIV/AIDS and reproductive health freely and openly with their children. We young people must also discuss these issues with complete transparency.

4)                             The Government must ensure that all children receive a primary school education. We children and young people must also develop or learning skills because we are the foundations for change and development.

5)                             Government, NGOs and the public, including us youth, must work together to prevent HIV/AIDS and foster the development of strong family structures in order to fight poverty and ensure that all children have the opportunity to go to school. We must take care of orphaned children.

6)                             From this point forward we young people must become agents of change. We must change our negative attitudes towards girls.

7)                             Government, NGOs, UN agencies and the African Union must ensure that children living in rural areas have access to free education. Whenever we get the opportunity we young people should tutor those who have not received an education.

8)                             It is we, young people, who should speak on behalf of young people. Therefore we should use all the venues available to us to speak and have our voices heard. We must lay the foundation for future generations.

9)                             We must use all opportunities to the best of our abilities to ensure that people protect themselves from HIV/AIDS and send their children to school. We must also ensure that the rights of working children are respected. 

10)                        We young people must look out for ourselves. We must refrain from activities that can lead us to becoming sexually active. We must work to get rid of activities that facilitate the spread of HIV/AIDS.

 

Ethiopian Teenagers' Forum Fourth Session, March 4, 2004

 

 

TEN RECOMMENDATIONS DEVELOPED ON GIRLS’ EDUCATION

BY THE ETHIOPIAN TEENAGERS’ FORUM

4 MARCH 2004

 

 

1.               We must consider girls (women) as agents of change.

2.               We must work to change the public’s perception and attitude towards girls.  The media should devote more attention and provide greater coverage to the achievements of successful women so that they can become examples to others.

3.               Persons who inflict harm upon girls should be punished to the extent that they will never consider repeating their crimes.

4.               All differences between boys and girls should be eliminated.

5.               Religious and traditional leaders should make every effort to end the problems that arise as a result of religion and tradition.

6.               In order to ease the burdens and problems on girls and women, particularly in rural areas, Government should teach the public and provide incentives to the community to educate girls.

7.               Families should encourage girls to express their thoughts and feelings freely and openly and foster their self-confidence and reliance from an early age.

8.               The laws of the country must be enforced and whenever new policies are devised they should take into consideration the situation and include the participation of girls and women.

9.               Sayings and proverbs that are hurtful and inflict damage on the self-confidence and morale of girls should be avoided.

10.                Special consideration should be accorded to girls facing difficult circumstances including those with physical handicaps.