The 4th UNESCO Youth Forum, Paris 30 September – 2 October 2005
The Kenyan delegation to the 4th UNESCO Youth Forum was composed of two members, Ms. Neddy Odhiambo who is currently pursuing studies in urban planning and Mr. Clement Mwangi, an educational planner and youth leader. They joined other Youths from all over the world between 30 September and 2 October 2005 to attend the 4th UNESCO Youth Forum of the 33rd session of the General Conference. The delegates came from 128 countries represented by 184 delegates and 45 observers making a total of 229 participants. This was the highest number of participants ever in the history of UNESCO Youth Forum.

This time the theme was: “Young people and the Dialogue amongst Civilizations, Cultures and Peoples – ideas for action in education, the sciences, culture and communication”. After the official launch addressed by UNESCO’s Director General, Mr. Koïchiro Matsuura, the President of the 32nd General Conference, Mr Ken Omolewa, the President of the Executive Board, Mr Hans Heinrich Wrede and Mr. Hans D’Orville, the Director of the Bureau of Strategic Planning, under which the Youth Section falls, the participants broke off into three working groups.

At the end of the first day, all the delegates convened for a plenary session to elect the President and Rapporteurs of the forum. Mr. Clement Mwangi was elected President of the 4th UNESCO Youth Forum and chairperson of the drafting committee. Each group was to discuss and come up with recommendations from the youth on one of the following sub-topics: ‘All different, all unique: Celebrating diversity through dialogue’; ‘Safe guarding the future: Practicing dialogue for sustainable Development’ and ‘Learning to live together: Promoting dialogue for peace and reconciliation’.

The drafting committee was comprised of twelve members, one chairperson and two rapporteurs from each group, the two general Rapporteurs and the President of the forum. The drafting committee met at the end of each day to compile the group reports and to draft the final report to be presented to the General Conference. On the third day, the President led a plenary session to present to all delegates the conclusions the group deliberations. This was followed by the final plenary that led to the adoption of the final report and recommendations of the 4th UNESCO Youth Forum, document 33/C38.

The document came out clear on the role that UNESCO should play in terms of increasing Youth participation in UNESCO, creating partner-ships between UNESCO and the Youth and integration of the Youth at the policy making level at UNESCO. It also high-lighted the role of governments in promoting Youth initiatives and empowering the Youth. The delegates expressed the need to have exchange programmes between Youth with different backgrounds to share experiences and compare approached to problem solving. The report emphasised the need to nurture critical thinking in the early stages of life to enable the Youth to make better decisions and to encourage dialogue around cultural diversity, sustainable development and peace & reconciliation as part of their growing up.

On Monday 3 October, the President and Rapporteurs presented the report to the General Conference in the presence of Ministers Hon. Professor George Saitoti and Hon. Najib Balala, Ms. Raychelle Omamo, the Kenyan Ambassador and the Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, Professor George Godia, the Education Secretary and Dr. Esther Kakonge, the Secretary General of the Kenya National Commission for UNESCO among others.

From a Youth point of view, there was much to learn from this experience. We concluded that for a successful campaign, each Youth delegation should be prepared, participate actively by taking a leading role and be part and parcel of the Kenyan Delegation. There was also much to learn from other delegations such as The Netherlands, Canada, Norway and Australia. The Youth delegates from these countries stayed after the Youth Forum to participate in the deliberations of the various commissions and also to defend the Youth forum report. We felt that this should also be the case for future participants of the Youth Forum.

The Youth Forum has a great future ahead and especially after the successful launch of UNESCO Youth Forum – Kenya Chapter on 27 January 2006. The President of the Youth Forum, Mr. Mwangi was present and he has been closely working with the Kenya National Commission for UNESCO since his election.

The challenges lying ahead are many but this network can have a positive impact on Youth issues by creating awareness among the Youth, building capacity of the Youth and networking locally and internationally. To achieve this, they would have to get support from KNATCOM, MOE, UNESCO Nairobi and UNESCO Paris. This would enable them to open and run a secretariat, create an Internet site and mailing list, build a strong network countrywide and establish partnerships with other Youth networks locally and internationally.

The Secretariat will have an important role to play in future to assure stability and sustainability of the forum. It will have to workout a plan of action for the immediate future and also a long term strategic plan. Selection of future delegates would be from members of the forum. They will also have to come up with a fundraising strategy.

Social and Human Sciences Sector

Introduction
The Social and Human Sciences sector is one of the five specialized sectors in the UNESCO structure. Its mission is to advance knowledge standards and intellectual co-operation in order to facilitate social transformation conducive to the universal values of justice, freedom and human dignity. The aim of the social science programme is to encourage the development of teaching and research in different disciplines, to foster exchange of information documentation and to strengthen co-operation between specialists in this field. The progamme plays a key role in bringing closer the main organizations and social science specialists that make up the International Social Science Council.

The sector operates through four priority areas of:
• Ethics of Science and technology.
• Promotion of human rights and the struggle against discrimination.
• Foresight, philosophy, human science and human security.
• Social Sciences, research and policy.

Within the four programmes, areas covered include environmental and human settlement; population, Human rights, International understanding and peace; status of women and their participation in development, role of youth, philosophy and issues pertaining to the management of social transformation.

The Kenya National Commission for UNESCO (KNATCOM) organized and co-ordinated various activities in the past year through. The activities aimed at the achievement of its mission. These include:
• The 4th UNESCO World Philosophy Day - November 17, 2005;
• Celebration of the World Aids Day - December 1, 2005;
• Teenage Mother Workshop – January 6, 2006; and
• Launch of the UNESCO Youth Forum, Kenya Chapter – January 27, 2006.

The UNESCO Youth Forum – Kenya Chapter was launched on January 26, 2006 at Lake Naivasha Country Club in Naivasha. The chief guest was Mr. David Siele, the Director of Higher Education – Ministry of Education. Also present at the official launch were the UNESCO Youth Forum World President, Mr. Clement Mwangi, the Commissioner for Social Services, Ms. Ann Ambwere and representatives of various other organizations including UN Habitat Partners and Youth Section, Skills for Life (SFL), Kenya Youth Business Trust (KYBT), Partners for Progress and Kenya National Population Council. Youth participants were drawn from all the provinces in Kenya.

The aim of the launch was to form a National UNESCO youth body that would work hand in hand with the youth in Kenya to address the various challenges affecting them.

The objectives of UNESCO Youth Forum – Kenya Chapter are:-
• To listen to young people and assess their situation, needs and aspirations.
• To develop and implement leadership, mentoring and volunteer programmes.
• To enhance youth participation in all spheres of society; to strengthen the role of youth in the peace building process and to encourage sustainable development initiatives spearheaded by the youth.
• To improve the lives of young people through seeking to attain EFA and MDG by promoting the initiatives that target the youth and particularly the vulnerable youths.
• To promote networking and exchange programmes with organizations and individuals working with young people.

Vision
To create a society that nurtures and develops all young people to realize their maximum potential.

Mission
Promoting and supporting youth development opportunities that improve the livelihood of disadvantaged youth as a means for them to escape poverty and other challenges affecting their day to day lives.

Values
• Respect for diversity.
• Participation and inclusion.
• Fairness, justice and equity.
• Solidarity with poor and marginalized people.

UNESCO Youth Forum – Kenya Chapter Launch
During the launch, the UNESCO Youth Forum President welcomed the youth and gave a brief description of the event in Paris and challenges this forum would be faced with. Mrs. Margaret Pearson of KYBT made a presentation of her organization’s activities and encouraged them to create opportunities for themselves through business initiatives. She also reiterated her organization’s commitment to supporting the latter through technical assistance and financial accompaniment. Ms. Lucy Kairu (SFL) made a presentation on life skills, leader-ship, mentorship and career development. Her approach was interactive and the youth came up with the challenges they face in these areas as well trying to find solutions to them. Ms. Rosemary Siambe then raised the issues around HIV/AIDS and the role of the youth in fighting the pandemic. The representatives of UN HABITAT described their activities and contribution to resolution of problems facing urban youths. They stressed the need to establish partnerships and increasing the capacity of existing youth networks. All the facilitators challenged the youth to make sure that the forum delivers its promises, creates an impact in the lives of the youth and strives to lift the youth agenda to greater heights.

Youths at the launch.

The activities of UNESCO Youth Forum – Kenya Chapter will be:
• Help in the establishment of Community multimedia centres in the rural areas of Kenya.
• Continue with the global campaign against HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse among the young people.
• Help in creating policies that enhance youth participation in development programs.
• Promote Human Rights.
• Support Career Development of young people.
• Initiate projects aimed at Cultural Development and Creativity.
• Promote youth volunteerism.

A Secretariat was formed after elections held during the launch and the following were elected as officials:

• Ben Omondi, Chairman.
• Consolata Wamalwa, Vice Chairperson.
• Rahab Mwaniki, Secretary.
• Rahab Chege, Assitant Secretary.
• George Wamola, Treasurer.

The secretariat is expected to provide an inspirational example of what can be achieved with the involvement of young people. The youth forum’s mandate for working with young people is to participate in the development and implementation of the National Youth Policy, its Plan of Action and the World Programme of Action for Youth of the year 2000 and beyond; and other appropriate declarations designed and endorsed by the world community.

Mr. David Siele, Director of Higher Education (c), cuts the cake to officially launch the youth forum.

Strategic direction
Our strategy of working with young people seeks to consolidate all of the UNESCO Youth Forum - Kenya Chapter’s activities for young people into a unified network. The network will enhance and strengthen current activities and introduce new ones into a unified approach and will aim to reach out to inspire many young people from all corners of Kenya and the World.

The key focus areas for activities will include aware-ness and capacity building of the youth with a view to empowering them; inclusion of Youth in the decision making process and organising information exchange among youth in youth resource centres. The aim is to empower young people in Kenya to have greater control of their individual and collective destinies. We look forward to having all the youths in Kenya work with us, the Kenya National Commission for UNESCO and call upon, the Government, development partners, NGO’s, the private sector and civil society organizations to support our endeavours to obtain the resources for extensive and efficient implementation of our activities.