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Day 4 - Health and Welfare Crucial to Employment Equation

Day four of the Youth Employment Summit (YES) in Alexandria, Egypt, saw delegates meeting together informally to form alliances and prepare plans for the decade-long campaign of action that will result from the Summit. Delegates from Canada explored opportunities to continue the momentum started at the Summit, and began discussing possibilities for international partnerships.

In the lecture halls and meeting rooms of the new library, other participants discussed issues surrounding health and welfare and their impact on youth employment. In particular, the AIDS crisis was examined at length by representatives from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and Daimler Chrysler, among others. Forty million people have HIV/AIDS worldwide and 30 million of those are in sub-Saharan Africa. There were five million people infected by HIV in 2001-2.5 million of those were youth. "We need equal access to information, care and treatment," said Cheryl Vince Whitman of the Massachusetts-based Education Development Center. "My vision is that in 10 years, multinationals will offer their employees prevention, education, treatment and care-that it will be the norm."

Daimler Chrysler is one company that has contributed resources toward curbing the AIDS epidemic, especially in South Africa where the company has trained 250 peer educators. The three-year campaign focuses on HIV awareness among employees and offers training, community involvement, promotion of wellness initiatives, condom distribution, testing and counselling. "HIV/AIDS is the greatest threat to sustainability in the south (of Africa)," said Clifford Panter, HIV/AIDS project coordinator at the auto company.

Another innovative African initiative developed by young entrepreneur Athi Geleba, founder of the Mdantsane Youth Academy in South Africa, has allowed young HIV-positive women to create employment and build awareness in their communities while combatting the stigma that often goes along with the virus. The women use cameras to document what they like and don't like in their communities, which enables them to develop their advocacy skills and self-esteem, and start their own businesses by renting out their cameras to generate income.

African nations are joining forces through NEPAD, the New Partnership for African Development, to take action on issues of public and corporate governance, infrastructure, education, health, environment and energy. "The problems and their causes are clear, and the will to change them are there but now a plan needs to be carried out by young people and old. It's about individual and organizational excellence," said Cire Kane of Senegal, who added that Africans should be responsible for solving these problems, and that the market economy offers promise for moving forward.

But as the YES conference passed its mid-point, many delegates began to question the efficacy of the endeavour, citing lack of youth involvement in speaker panels, general disorganization and few opportunities for concrete action-planning as serious obstacles blocking achievement of the Summit's goal. "Everyone has a different style of learning and the format of the conference lacked the opportunity for youth to voice their opinion," said Marie Christian of Right Way Winnipeg in Canada. "I think we should talk in a more intimate setting where we can share ideas and ask questions and all have a chance to speak."

Already, people are talking about how to make the next YES conference better. Mexico will host the next YES Summit, set to take place in 2004.

For more info on the Youth Employment Summit, go to http://www.youthemploymentsummit.org.