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Connecting Youth to Create
Change
YouthActionNet Newsletter
December 28, 2004
In this Issue:
Ten outstanding youth leaders from nine countries are
being honored with YouthActionNet Awards in recognition of their efforts
to address a range of urgent global challenges, including child
exploitation in the Philippines, the plight of impoverished women in
Guatemala, and the needs of disabled children and youth in
Russia.
YouthActionNet Visionary: Lucky Mlambo
is standing up against HIV/AIDS in South
Africa.
Take Action: Help These Young Leaders Make a
Difference! Meet the December 2004 YouthActionNet
Award Winners
Alisher Djaborov
Project: Law Students and Young Lawyers
Association
Age: 22
Short Bio: Increasing Legal Literacy in
Kyrgyzstan
Long Bio: Alisher Djaborov is the founder of The Law
Students and Young Lawyers Association (LSYLA), a registeredpublic youth
association of the Ministry of Justice in Kyrgzstan, LSYLA unites young
lawyers and law students to increase legal literacy among youth to build a
stable and dynamically developing legal society. LSYLA gives free
consultations to students, conducts seminars in legal education and gives
volunteer assistance to the government of the Kyrgz Repubic to introduce
and explain Kyrgz legislation to promote awareness of human rights
violations. To date LSYLA has conducted mock trial and legal essay
competitions with participants from over six universities. Alisher will
use his YouthActionNet award to implement a Human Rights Video Education
project.
Benita Singh
Project: Mercado Global
Age: 22
Short Bio: Connecting economically disadvantaged
Guatemalan women to U.S. markets while educating students aboutfair
trade.
Long Bio:
Benita Singh is co-founder of Mercado Global,
a non-profit, fair trade organization whose mission is to connect
economically disadvantaged Guatemalan women's co-operatives to the U.S.
market, while mobilizing students in the United States to promote
socially-responsible consumerism in their communities. Mercado Global
provides co-operatives with technical support to use enhanced revenue from
global marketing to create and finance community development funds for
primary school scholarships, micro credit projects and health programs. In
the U.S., through its network of college chapters, Mercado Global markets
the co-operatives' products and educates students on fair trade,
international development and business management.
To date, Mercado Global has marketed $25,000 of its
co-operatives' products providing women from 12 different co-operatives
with fair-wage employment and 65 children with primary school education.
In addition, all of Mercado Global's co-operatives have used their
community development funds to establish scholarships for disadvantaged
girls. Benita will use her YouthActionNet award to finance new college
chapters and to host educational activities for their
students.
Hao Yan
Project: Roots and Shoots
Age: 18
Short Bio: Promoting civic engagement and environmental
awareness among students in China
Long Bio:
"Living in this planet, everyone, especially
a young student has the responsibility to make a difference," says
eighteen year old Hao Yan. Inspired by Dr. Jane Goodall the U.N. messenger
for peace and respected naturalist and activist, Hao Yan decided to found
a chapter of Roots and Shoots at his High School in Shanghai, China. Roots
and Shoots implements positive change through active learning about,
caring for, and interacting with the environment, demonstrating care and
concern for animals and enhancing understanding among people of different
cultures, ethnic, religious and socio-economic backgrounds. Roots and
Shoots also helps young people develop self-respect, confidence in
themselves and hope in the future. Yan and his peers have organized a race
to support cancer research, visited and brought gifts to children
suffering from Leukemia at a local hospital, organized Earth festival
celebrations for Earth day, collaborated with Fudan University to conduct
scientific research on plant diversity and launched Hand in Hand a program
to raise student global awareness by corresponding with teenagers in rural
China, Tanzania and Switzerland. Hao Yan plans to use his YouthActionNet
award as to fund the establishment of Chinese youth NGO. Says Yan: "In
search of a civil society in China I do not have a clear answer to that
question, but my job is to raise awareness of the importance of NGOs and
make [young people] believe that NGOs can make a
difference.
Jason Crowe
Project: The Cello Cries On
Age: 18
Short Bio: Empowering youth across ethnic, economic,
social and cultural lines
Long Bio: Jason Crowe has always believed in the power of
connecting people. At only nine years old Jason began publishing a
newspaper in his grandmother's memory to raise money for cancer research.
It now has subscribers in 29 states and 19 countries around the world.
Today, Jason continues to cross cultural, racial, social and religious
borders as the founder of The Cello Cries On, an organization working to
"empower and unite youth across racial, ethnic, religious, economic,
social and cultural lines to work for human rights, social justice,
multi-cultural harmony and peace." The Children's Global Summit, a program
of The Cello Cries On identifies issues affecting children and creates
projects at the local, national and international levels to meet their
needs, develops ongoing relationships between diverse children and adult
partners and is dedicated to creating a global network of children making
a difference and demonstrating that children are capable of taking
leadership roles. To date, The Cello Cries On has raised over180, 000
dollars for charity and the first Global Summit was held this year from
September 03rd to September 5th with guest speakers such as Barbara
Marx-Hubbard, Louise Diamond, Ernest Pecci, Ocean Robbins and Gotham
Chopra. Jason will use his award to fund sustainable action plans to
address conflict, human rights, social justice, environmental and
educational issues that affect children.
Javier Aguilar
Project: Parte y Comparte
Age: 19
Short Bio: Fostering social responsibility among
disadvantaged youth
Long Bio: Parte y Comparte fosters social responsibility
among high school students in poor rural communities in Mexico. Founded
three years ago by Javier Aguilar, the project has since worked in six
states and approximately four hundred communities and is staffed by 2000
volunteers. Parte y Comparte conducts workshops on gender equality,
adolescent sexual health and adult literacy to strengthen literacy skills,
improve school attendance and promote responsible sexual behaviors among
teenagers. This year, over 1200 volunteers from 60 public and private high
schools from the Queretaro, San Luis Potosi, Michoacan, Puebla, Veracruz
states and Mexico City areas participated in the workshops. Javier will
use his award to fund collaborative projects between youth organizations.
Says Javier: "Normally this kind of project is volunteer-based so there
are no monetary profits. This award ... will be an incentive to projects
that focus their work in the social field."
John Piermont Montilla
Project: HIV/AIDS Youth Advocacy Package
Age:
28
Short Bio: Educating at-risk Filipino youth about
HIV/AIDS.
Long Bio: In Iloilo City, Philippines 99% of children who
sleep on the street are boys. These vulnerable youth are often the victims
of gang violence, sexual exploitation, police brutality and illegal
detention in adult jails. In the face of these distressing realities John
Piermont Montilla decided to found HIV/AIDS Youth Package (HYAP) as part
of his organization Kabataang Gabay sa Positibong Pamumuhay, which is
dedicated to promoting children's rights according to the UN Convention of
the Rights of the Child at the grassroots level and to recording and
monitoring the sexual exploitation of children. HYAP identifies and maps
high-risk areas such as meeting points for sexual transactions and areas
where children are lured for sexual purposes and provides peer-to-peer
counseling and sexual health and HIV/AIDS education to at risk youth. HYAP
works closely with government and non-governmental agencies and to date
has established core groups in thirteen high risk areas in Iloilo City. It
has also organized a peer-counselors' bureau at West Visayas State
University in Iloilo City where it provides peer counseling and
peer-education to at risk youth under the supervision of the university
Gender and Development Office. John will use his YouthActionNet award
purchase 5 double beds for street children as part of a halfway home
project.
Julia Parshina
Project: Patriotic Camp Tanais
Age:
20
Short Bio: Rehabilitating victims of the Chernobyl Nuclear
Disaster
Long Bio: The Chernobyl Nuclear disaster of 1986
devastated the city of Chernobyl and many children continue to suffer from
severe health problems, which lead to low self-confidence and
unsociability. Patriotic Camp Tanais, founded by Julia Parshina helps
rehabilitate young victims by through the forming clubs which develop
tolerance, flexibility, creativity and self-confidence. Club members are
taught life skills, play psychological games, learn to make origami and
other crafts and learn confidence and self-reliance through forest
survival trips. As a result of the camps Julia has noticed a tremendous
difference in the boys and girls who come to the camps. Says Julia: "At
the end of our work, we couldn't recognize the children. They changed so
rapidly from unhappy pessimists to being satisfied with life and
themselves. They believe in themselves and in the world around them". When
asked how she will used her award, Julia replies that she wants to use it
to meet with leaders of similar projects to share effective practices in
civic engagement around the world.
Richard Lenn
Project: YouthGAS
Age: 27
Short Bio: Connecting young Australians to make a
difference
Long Bio: As a young member of a local youth advisory
council in Australia, Richard Lenn realized that young people lacked the
information and resources to make a difference in their communities. At 22
he therefore founded YouthGAS, a web-based organization to support young
people and their projects by providing them with timely and accessible
information so that they can adopt new technologies in administration,
advocacy, networking and social support. YouthGAS improves youth access to
information by highlighting best practices, allows young people to tell
stories in their own voices and promotes a sense of community by
encouraging youth collaborations. Since its inception, YouthGAS has grown
into one of the most utilized services of its kind in Australia and is
accessed by users in New Zealand and around the world. When asked what he
plans to do with his YouthActionNet award, Richard reports that he will
use it to establish a national promotion network of youth-focused events
and opportunities.
Ssegawa Meddy
Project: Education for the Street Child Project
Age:
18
Short Bio: Educating street children in
Uganda
Long Bio: In Kampala, Uganda alone today there are over
4000 children living on the streets. Faced with these statistics, Ssegawa
Meddy was determined to make a difference. He founded the "Education for
the Street Child" a project which uses information technology to create
global awareness of the plight of street children in Uganda and to provide
street children with basic needs like medical care, clothing and food. The
project also gives vocational training to former street children in web
design and computer repair. Since 2002 Ssegawa and his peers have
conducted interviews with street children in Kampala, secured 10 Pentium
computers to train participants, published brochures and have appeared on
local television stations to raise public awareness of the situation of
street children in Kampala. Ssegawa will use his YouthActionNet award to
start a rehabilitation and peer-education center for street
children.
Tinashe Chimedza
Project: Youth Leaders Training and Development for Social
Change
Age: 24
Short Bio: Providing youth with leadership skills training
in Zimbabwe
Long Bio: Youth Leaders Training and Development for
Change (YLTDC)gives youth training in leadership development,
peace-building and volunteerism and economic and activism for social
justice. Founded in 2003, the project has developed a training program
focusing on youth leadership skills development, youth organization
management, project writing and fundraising and providing internships to
youth. YLTDC also hosts a Sustainable Future Forum for alums and youth
participating in the project. YLTDC has trained 25 young people in
institutional capacity building and accountability, hosted youth
development discussion forums and participated in UNICEF HIV/AIDS
campaigns. Tinashe plans to use his award to sponsor a Community Work and
Volunteerism Week and to publish fliers to raise awareness about the
project.
Resources
Recommended Reading
Peer to Peer: Creating Successful Peer
Education
Programs
This guide describes the necessary steps to plan,
implement, and evaluate a program to train youth to teach their peers
about sexual and reproductive health (SRH). It contains adaptable tools to
support program activities, as well as examples of SRH projects from
IPPF/WHR member associations in Latin America and the
Caribbean.
Advocacy
Kit:
Advocating for Adolescent Reproductive Health in Eastern
Europe and Central Asia
World Youth Report
2005
The advance unedited text of the Secretary General's World
Youth Report 2005 (A/60/61 - E/2005/7) is now available online. It
provides an evaluation of the progress achieved in the implementation of
the World Programme of Action for Youth (WPAY) since its adoption in
1995.
Children and young people in a world
of AIDS: Since the first clinical evidence of AIDS was reported two
decades ago, HIV/AIDS has spread to every corner of the world. Still
rapidly growing, the epidemic is reversing development gains, robbing
millions of their lives, widening the gap between rich and poor, and
undermining social and economic security. Tens of millions of children and
young people are at the front line of the epidemic's advance, bearing the
brunt of its impact, but also struggling to bring it under
control.
STIGMA BIGGEST HURDLE TO AIDS
PREVENTION Stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV
and gender inequality remain the two biggest challenges to AIDS prevention
in South Asia, according to experts. A satellite session at the XV
International AIDS Conference today reviewed the progress made and
challenges in mounting an effective AIDS response in South
Asia.
Organizations
Y-PEER: Youth Peer Education
Electronic Resource
:Youth Peer Education Electronic Resource (Y-PEER) is a Web
site aimed at supporting the development of youth peer education in
Eastern Europe and Central Asia. It is an initiative of the Joint UN
Interagency Group on Young People's Health Development and Protection in
Europe and Central Asia (IAG), Subcommittee on Peer
Education.
Yugoslav Youth Association Against
AIDS
Yugoslav Youth Association Against AIDS - The Youth of
JAZAS is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit, humanitarian organization
founded 1994 with its main aim to fight against HIV/AIDS through
prevention and to provide support to the people living with
HIV/AIDS.
AIDS Foundation East
West: The AFEW site was designed to provide up to date
information to Russian- and English-speaking audiences on issues related
to HIV/AIDS with relevance to the countries of the Newly Independent
States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union. Given the specific needs of these
audiences, the information provided in each language is slightly
different.
Camp
Laurel: A Camp for Children Living with HIV and AIDS. Read
more...
Chembe AIDS Project,
Malawi:
On June 2002 Irit Rabinvich and Yogi Wasserman, two
Israeli women, established a local NGO in Malawi called CAP - "Chembe Aids
Project Malawi". The organization operates in Chembe Village (also known
as Cape Maclear) in Mangochi district. CAP runs an HIV/AIDS awareness and
prevention program, broad education, orphan and single parent family
support and medical assistance.
What's New
Ten Global Youth Leaders Receive
YouthActionNet Awards from International Youth Foundation and
Nokia
Explore your world through the Make a
Connection "Moments that Matter" Photo Contest. Deadline for entries:
December 28.
Meet the Winners of the YouthActionNet
Peace Essay Contest and Read the Winning
Essays.
My Action Toolkit Update: Cafe to Go:
A Quick Reference Guide for Putting Conversations to
Work
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