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Session Backgrounders
Opening Plenary Session: NGOs, in Partnership with Government, Effecting a New Tomorrow for
Our Children
Today’s youth face enormous challenges: abuse, HIV/AIDS, sale and sexual trafficking of children, hazardous and exploitative labor, persistent poverty, terrorism, armed conflict, discrimination. More than half of today’s children survive on less than a dollar a day and an estimated 150 million children under five years of age suffer from malnutrition. Tragically, 250 million children are involved in child labor and, during the past decade, more than 2 million children died as a result of armed conflict.
HIV/AIDS has been spreading with catastrophic speed: An estimated 13 million children have been orphaned by AIDS, and nearly 600,000 infants are infected each year through mother-to-child transmission. There are millions of HIV-positive young people.
Furthermore, one third of today’s children fail to complete five years of schooling, and millions more are taught by insufficiently trained teachers in poorly equipped classrooms. Depression, suicide, teen pregnancy, sexual abuse and rape, racial discrimination, xenophobia and domestic violence are other painful reminders of the world that they have inherited.
All institutions in society – NGOs, government, business and media -- have responsibility to tackle these serious challenges. This opening plenary session will focus on how NGOs and government, working together, can build a new tomorrow for our children, a hopeful future without fear or want.
Plenary Session II: Youth Envisioning a World Fit for Children
What will the future world look like if the best interests of the child are taken into account? Can one envision a twenty-first century in which each child grows up with freedom from fear and freedom from want, without pervasive threats to their lives, safety, and economic and social well-being? A world in which each child gets enough food, has adequate shelter, is provided good health care and proper schooling, and is protected from violence? How will we get from where we are now to a world fit for children, where each child has the opportunity to fulfill his or her own potential?
In this session, youth leaders from around the world will tackle such issues, offering their unique perspective on creating a world fit for children.
Interactive Plenary Session: Creating a World Fit for Children Through the Millennium Development
Goals: The Role of NGOs
All 191 Member States of the United Nations have pledged by 2015 to meet the U. N. Millennium Development Goals, which were established in 2000. These goals provide concrete objectives related to issues of poverty and economic growth, grouped into eight primary areas of focus: (1) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; (2) Achieve universal primary education; (3) Promote gender equality and empower women; (4) Reduce child mortality; (5) Improve maternal health; (6) Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; (7) Ensure environmental sustainability; and (8) Develop a global partnership for development.
The current reality is that more than one billion people in the world live on less than one dollar a day, and another 2.7 billion struggle to survive on less than two dollars a day. Many walk more than one mile everyday simply to collect water and firewood. Every year, eleven million children die, and more than six million from completely preventable causes such as malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia. In some nations, less than half of the children are in primary school. More than 800 million people go to bed hungry every day, including 300 million children, and every 3.6 seconds, another person dies from starvation – the majority children under the age of 5.
The Millennium Development Goals offer a positive future, where we can cut world poverty in half, and billions can enjoy the fruits of the global economy. Accomplishment of these goals would go a long way towards creating a world fit for children, including such concrete objectives as "reduce by two-thirds the mortality rate among children under five," "eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015"; "ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling"; "reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day"; and "reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger."
This session will be an interactive one. A few speakers will initiate discussion by briefly presenting an overview of the Millennium Development Goals, with an emphasis on their application to creating a world fit for children and a review of current progress. Attendees will then divide into smaller groups to discuss the special role of NGOs in achieving the Millennium Development Goals on the path toward creating a world fit for children.
Special Symposium A: Protecting Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Violence
The world’s children and youth are suffering abuse, exploitation and violence in homes, work places, areas of conflict, city streets, refugee camps, and so forth. Today, about 250 million children are involved in child labor, and tens of millions in the worst forms of child labor. More than 2 million children died as a result of armed conflict since the 1990’s; more than three times that number were permanently disabled, disfigured, or seriously injured, and millions more were internally displaced or driven from their countries as refugees.
Trafficking in people, largely women and children, for forced labor and commercial sex is one of the fastest growing areas of international criminal activity. It has been estimated that a minimum of 700,000 people are trafficked each year, and that the number may exceed 2 million, with the vast majority of these victims being women and children. Furthermore, not only has there been an increase in the number of trafficked women and children, but also a decrease in the average age of the victims. UNICEF Deputy Director Kul Gautum describes the trafficking of women and children across Asia as "the largest slave trade in history," and notes that in Asia and the Pacific alone, "more than 30 million children have been traded over the last three decades," with victims usually being teenage girls.
This session will examine the current challenges faced by children in terms of abuse, exploitation, and violence, and examine ways to protect children from these dangers. Case studies from Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East will be presented.
Special Symposium B: Foundation-NGO-Business Relationships
This special symposium will examine relationships between NGOs and foundations, and between NGOs and the business sector. Fundamental to this discussion is the realization that, for many of today’s challenges, business can be part of the solution, and that for many social ills, NGOs have proven more effective than either the governmental or corporate sectors.
The nature of business/NGO links has been evolving fast. In recent years, there has been an increase in the number, diversity, and notoriety of relations between businesses and NGOs, correlating with the increase in number, diversity and importance of NGOs and such global processes as the revolution in global communications and the global market. There are obvious attractions in such relationships, as well as inherent dangers. For businesses, an NGO may bring knowledge and expertise, as well as gains in credibility and reputation. But there is also the danger that the relationship can be used by an NGO simply to get money, or can result in wasting time and possibly misuse of sensitive information. For an NGO, business brings money, and often a chance to change the way that a particular enterprise, or even the whole industry operates. But there are also risks of reputation damage and wasting scarce resources if the desired outcomes are not achieved. NGOs also can risk jeopardizing their legitimacy. Among the issues that will be examined are the benefits that can be gained in the relationship, key success factors, and how to nurture the relationship. Other issues will be how the NGO can maintain its independence, and what are the ethical considerations.
The nature of the NGO-Foundation relationship has long been recognized as an important one, with clear benefits. In essence, the relationship allows both to accomplish their missions. This symposium will look at how this relationship can be nurtured and strengthened. What are the expectations of each party? What adds value in grantor-grantee relationships?
Special Symposium C: A World Fit for Families
Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State." As the fundamental unit of society, the family also holds the primary responsibility for the protection, upbringing, and development of children.
The stresses on the family unit today are extraordinary: father-absent families, HIV/AIDS, increasing divorce rates, persistent poverty, spousal and child abuse, and so forth. Raising a family in today’s climate means challenges related to pornography in the media, Internet predators, and work-related stress. Furthermore, since the adoption of the Universal Declaration in 1948, even the traditional concept of what constitutes a family, marriage, and the parent-child relationship is being countered by radical new conceptions. One of the major policy frontlines in the 21st Century centers on the issue of the definition of family and marriage, and what moral and social norms are to be protected.
This session will examine current global and national trends with respect to the family, challenges that families are facing, and means toward creating a world more conducive to families.
Special Symposium D: Youth Volunteerism
Youth volunteerism is on the forefront of the worldwide volunteer movement. In the United States, in polls taken near the turn of the century, it was found that teenagers volunteered an estimated 2.4 billion hours annually, providing $34.3 billion dollars in value. This included approximately three-fourths of all high school seniors. In Canada, 24% of youth aged 15-24 volunteered, giving an average of 130 hours of service a year or a total of 154 million hours. In South Korea, the economic value of volunteering has been estimated at over 2 billion a year.
Volunteers rarely make headlines but they contribute immensely to the non-profit sector, helping those in need, working with important initiatives, aiding the sick, feeding the poor, and so forth. Volunteerism has been described as "an activity, a movement and a way of life where people give their own virtues into the hands of others for free or well below their normal price or even cost." With today’s serious problems, more and more attention is paid to preparing the new generations to answer these challenges.
Such volunteering is not only good for those who are served, but correlates with many positive virtues for the volunteer. It was found in the United States that youth who volunteer just one hour a week are 50% less likely to abuse drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, or engage in destructive behavior. Youth who volunteer are more likely to do well in school, graduate, vote, and be philanthropic. Youth who volunteer are three times more likely to volunteer as adults. Within this framework, youth learn tolerance, responsibility, listening and much more. According to an Independent Sector/Gallup Poll, teens themselves say the benefits received from volunteering include: "Learning to respect others; learning to be helpful and kind; learning to understand people who are different from them; developing leadership skills, becoming more patient, and better understanding of good citizenship."
This symposium will examine the phenomena of youth volunteerism, its benefits, its challenges, and how to increase youth volunteerism.
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