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Day 3 - Sustainable Livelihoods, Corporate Connections and Country Networks Promoted at Youth Summit

Issues of sustainability, environmental responsibility and closer connections between both the public and private sectors and country networks took the stage at day three of the Youth Employment Summit in Alexandria, Egypt. Twenty-seven-year-old Bremley Lyngdoh, who holds a master of international affairs and is a native of Meghalaya, India, urged policy-makers to give more support to the development of sustainable youth livelihoods. He also called for young people worldwide to engage in global political systems to demand change. "We will inherit the environmental and social problems created over the next decade," he said. "Resolutions from global summits have not been acted upon. It's up to youth."

In India, one particularly successful model of sustainability is a virtual university for climate management. Based on a training structure involving computer simulation models of monsoon behaviour, the program has given rural youth the skills to become climate managers-creating jobs and emphasizing responsible planetary stewardship. "The whole concept of education has to change," said Lyngdoh. "We need graduates with a deep understanding of sustainable development issues and we need to focus on skills."

Engaging the private sector in youth employment initiatives was also touched upon today. Steve Waddell, president of Organizational Futures, proved the difficulty of such an endeavour through case studies in a variety of countries including Canada and Australia. "There are many ways to engage businesses, but youth employment is not a framework that is engaging for business," he said. "The issue must be reframed and we must understand business motivations. The mutual-gain perspective is the one that will be most sustainable in terms of building relationships with corporations."

Karen Bellis, of Shell Live Wire International, detailed Shell Oil's global social investment program which started in Scotland in 1982. The program, operating in countries such as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Poland and Iran, is designed to support young people aged 18-35 in exploring the option of starting a business. "The program is not corporate," she said. "It reaches out via the Internet and other youth media and has had contact with 1.2 million young people-one quarter of which have started their own businesses."

End-of-day sessions focused on connecting participants from their respective continents to share best practices and experiences. Delegates from Europe and North America discussed how to motivate youth who are discouraged and disenfranchised. Canada was represented by delegates from the University of Ottawa, CIDA, the YMCA, the Coady International Institute, the Federation de la Jeunesse Canadienne-Francaise and TakingITGlobal.

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