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Studies and reports
Young people as partners in designing the future
No peace without women
McPlanet.com: environment in the globalisation trap?
PPP: opportunity or risk for development policy?/a>
Myth or realistic policy goal?
After the war in Iraq: UN Security Council in crisis?
8-9/2003
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[ Eschborn Fachtage 2003 ]
Young people as partners in designing the future
Young people are increasingly becoming a focus of international cooperation, for in the developing countries some 60-80 per cent of the population is under 25. They are the decision-takers of tomorrow, they will design the future. At the same time, children and young adults are the worst affected by poverty, war and violence. That is why ‘Shaping the future – partnership with young people’ was the subject of the 5th Eschborn Fachtage [Expert Days], which the GTZ held at Eschborn, June 17-18. The discussions and workshops dealt mainly with the question of how young people can be included more in the implementation of political and social reforms.
BMZ State Secretary Erich Stather said at the opening of the event the GTZ could be proud of its concept developed at the end of the 1990s for political consultancy oriented on promoting young people. The participants agreed that promotion of young people, including investment in initial and advanced training, contributed at the same time to poverty reduction and crisis prevention because those with jobs were less at risk of being drawn into violent conflicts.
However, GTZ Managing Director Bernd Eisenblätter said successful promotion of young people was not easy. It required a great deal of creativity, for young people had different ways of thinking than adults, were more spontaneous, but also more easily disappointed if their concerns were not taken seriously. He warned against asking too much of children and young adults or misusing them in political terms, as was happening in many war zones. Here, he said, international cooperation was called upon to create alliances between societal groups, as well as between politicians in the partner countries and international institutions.
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