It is done!!! The Youth Caucus's Policy Paper for next years UN Commission on Sustainable Development(UNCSD-19) has been submitted to UN DESA. It was fun, exciting, challenging and inspiring to be the facilitator for the policy paper of the major working group of Children and Youth. One of nine segments (or bloc's) of Civil Society that have the opportunity to participate, occasionally contribute or observe the Commissions.
This year was the first time that the Youth Caucus have written a policy paper (previous years, we have submitted combined ones with other major groups). So, it was hard for us to know where to start. After a series of skype calls with interested youth from last years Commission--we decided that the best way to boost holistic participation would be a questionnaire.
This year was the first time that the Youth Caucus have written a policy paper (previous years, we have submitted combined ones with other major groups). So, it was hard for us to know where to start. After a series of skype calls with interested youth from last years Commission--we decided that the best way to boost holistic participation would be a questionnaire.
However, that meant that we also had to promote the questionnaire....that meant emailing all youth mailing lists that we were aware of. I also went to the Earth Institute, and NYU events to promote it. I also sent out emails to attract a team of focal points...a slow and painful process as while loads of people were willing to help...few were willing to lead. Finally, we had a team and they continued to recruit thematic teams. Those groups ranged in size from 2 (SCP) to 35 (Mining). Once a first draft was created, it was posted on pirate pad http://piratepad.net/MtmK5vBTYT and the process continued. It was this stage that we started to lose track of who was contributing. It was crazy, amazing and exhilarating.
We have a team of 100 recorded youth contributors and 9 focal points based globally. Yet, it is hard to give exact statistics after that. We do know that a lot of individuals contributed online via pirate pad without listing their names. These ideas were compiled weekly and the version was updated. Then it was reposted for further comments and feedback.
That is what makes the paper so great. It as a good practice of youth consultation processes. I am not going to lie, it has been a steep learning curve for most of us (youngest contributor is 14) but it has been my pleasure to be involved.
Realistically, the final product would not have been so good without focused effort by the core team during the final editing stages.
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