As youth activists, can we say we are achieving much? I think that's a good question to start with. First let me say that much of what I am about to say may seem to be provocative or in some sense unacceptable. But, after working within the youth movement for quite sometime-someone has to say it.

The immediate answer to the question would be, No. Young people today are given an unprecedented opportunity to undertake far more than any preceding generation. The rapid advancement in technology has and will continue to be the thing that distinguishes forthcoming generations-this website is the perfect example. My ability, being based in the United States to communicate directly with someone in Laos is a luxury that was unavailable to my father or his father before him. So the fundamental question is, why aren't we achieving as much as we (and certainly I) would hope? Their are several obstacles that I see and I think it's important that I name them:

The first is that the attention given to young people is quite recent. I believe that in looking at the past twenty years, the past five to seven years has witnessed an overwhelming attention to issues that face young people; in other words "we're happening!" However, this has happened before-In 1975 until 1990 the international community viewed issues of women as a priority that was discussed in virtually every forum and on every issue: it was cross-cutting and welcomed. With this in mind, great achievements would be difficult at this time, as many people, in particular decision makers, are still being orientated to issues of youth and convincing them, as we all know may seem to be impossible at certain times.

The second obstacle is youth, yes us. Many of the problems that we face are problems due to the politics of the movement itself. The rapid growth of youth organizations is quite appealing and encouraging, yet doesn't always serve the purpose-this is also an ongoing problem with women's organizations as well-the excitement and eagerness to work and achieve something leads us to forming groups, clubs, networks, organizations which in the end, hurts us: we're stretching the resources. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the attention to our issues is fairly recent and therefore the willingness to nurture the movement is logically limited. By forming the large amount of youth organizations that we are; we tend to overwhelm donors, supporters and allies. While what we we should be forming are alliances among ourselves which will yield a stronger lobby that will be too large to hush-up!

This naturally is easily said than done. The issue that we face (and I know this faces a whole lot of us) is that we tend to disagree on a lot of issues: as individuals, organizations, networks or groups. This can be looked at as a positive aspect of an individual's growth: we are exploring our trends and thoughts all of which will better mold our personalities. I agree that this is true when observing the growth of one unit, but not a collective. The means to forming alliances can only start when we start exploring and working towards our similarities and issues that bring us together. And the first step to achieving that is to agree that each one of us is a "breath of fresh air" who, in a large or small way, will add something-something positive. How? Just look at the challenges we face. We are all under-represented in decision making processes, we are the most vulnerable to AIDS, the environmental disaster that seems to be inevitable will strike our generation before any other--is this not cause for unification?

I was looking earlier today at the agenda of the UN General Assembly for the current session and noticed that women's issues will be discussed 8 times during the upcoming year; youth issues will only be discussed twice in the context of "marginalized people" (so that's including the disabled and indigenous groups). Is that not depressing? I personally think it is. The UN sponsored Millennium Development Goals should be met by 2015-yes, when we are professionals and running the show, and even worse: failing to achieve these goals will adversley effect our lives forever. Of course more pressing discussions such as limiting armed conflict (which in the past decade alone claimed the lives of 10 million young people according to UNICEF) are not open to us. Political reform in areas such as the Arab Region is a priority and enjoys much discussion, with young people shut out of course, also bearing in mind that reform is a long process: meaning that the decisions of reform taken today is most likely, if met, the political culture we will have to endure!

On a more positive note: One must attest that the achievements undertaken by large youth networks is monumental, and that alone is a positive sign for optimism and hope. I can note that the Global Youth Coalition on AIDS recently presented a most intriguing success story on how young people can and must be integrated in discussions on AIDS during the International AIDS Conference. This is but an example of what we're doing as individual organizations, so what if we unite.

For the past six years I've worked with youth issues and I've come to reach two beliefs: The first is that for youth issues to be seriously looked into we as young people should entertain a different approach-we should start discussing our issues as a part of the larger specturm, i.e. youth issues should not be separated from any other issue and not discussed alone. Youth shouldn't be isolated into their own domains to discuss issues pertinent to them, but rather we should be a part of the "macro game". Through isolation we are becoming marginalized-and again looking at women that's what pulled women's issues down for a long time. We are youth indeed, but we are also citizens of our countries, nations and the world and like adults we have a say, and we should say it to them and with them and not to ourselves, because that's preaching to the choir! Secondly, we should start rethinking our plans and actions and begin engaging in a serious discussion on how we can realistically work towards our goals through a plan of action (and not an outline of it) that can be closely monitored and evaluated-as a unified force and not as sporadic initiatives undertaken by a group here and a group there every now and then.

On April 5, 2006 the city of Dubai witnessed a unique event for youth and youth activists in the Arab Region. This important date witnessed an important turning point for the region where we no longer say no to drugs, but we take actions to protect young people from drug misuse through awareness, training and advocacy to place issues of prevention on the forefront of the drug agenda.

April 5, 2006 was a date through which the UNODC, WHO, Right Start Foundation and Dubai Police Force all came together to say, let us work diligently to prevent our youth and children from drug misuse by supporting Mentor Arabia, a foundation launched on that date for that purpose by building the perfect triangle of partnerships: Civil Society, Governments and the Private Sector=Proper strategic and long term planning to ensure youth empowerment, youth wellness, and a drug-free Arab society.

Mentor Arabia, as a branch of Mentor Foundation International (www.mentorfoundation.org) comes to the Arab region at a stage where we can no longer stand to be indifferent to this destructive phenomenon. Young people have been invited to take part in this organization through the establishment of direct projects that target youth involvement and by including young people in the decision-making process of the organization through a Youth Advisory Panel (the first in all regional civil society organizations in the region) and a Youth Representative on the Board of Trustees, whose role is to ensure that young people’s views are incorporated in the organization’s policies and strategies.

It is really inspiring to see such efforts unfold as a reality after long work. I invite young people to visit Mentor Arabia’s section on the Mentor website, and invite all Arab youth to join Mentor Arabia in its endeavors to help us in our cause.

Being GYAN’s Arab Region Coordinator for the past 2 years has allowed me to deal with many youth groups and a large number of Arab governments. I was always under the perception that Kuwait would be the most difficult to deal with. Although I am a Kuwaiti, I never found young people who fully understood the importance of establishing a firm, united and growing collaboration of young people in Kuwait NOW.

Having worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Planning, I always found the political commitment to youth causes in Kuwait, but nothing tangible ever followed. Two years ago I had read a piece in a weekly newspaper based in Kuwait about a young woman by the name of Rana Kamshad who voluntarily covered the Iraqi war for the Kuwaiti Al-Seyassah, being the only Kuwaiti woman to take-on this difficult and dangerous task. I called Al-Taleea and they immediately responded to my request for a connection. We met 2 days later and I honestly did not see any prospects for cooperation -I guess it was too early.

One month ago, I received an email from her telling me that she had been recently appointed as the Executive Director of Junior Achievements’ (Injaz) Kuwait branch and that she is also a board member of a newly formed youth entity under the name “Kuwait Youth Organization.” As luck would have it, I returned to Kuwait ten days later and met with their board. I was so intrigued by that dedicated group of young people who were determined to undertake the almost impossible task of working with youth in Kuwait!

Today, I ran a workshop for their board on the history of the international youth movement, WPAY and GYAN’s 5-Level Model on Youth Participation. Although we were a small group (following TIG’s “Guide to Action’s” motto, “the people who showed up are the right number of people”). We were scheduled for one hour and it ended up being for two! I was simply inspired by their questions and note-taking skills. And although those who were present have rough schedules (all being committed to full-time jobs) they remained fully alert and very much active.

As a youth activist I always ask myself, “Is the work I am doing really worth it?” After mesmerizing experiences like tonight’s workshop, the YES is always intensified, and gives me such a strong boost to continue the commitment I have taken to work with youth in Arab States as a part of our collective effort within GYAN International that aims to “unite our efforts for a better world.”

Good Luck KYO in all your future endeavors!

This is very scary, really. Especially since I come from a region where preserving the environment, which has sufferred greatly due to Global Warming, is becoming an increasingly pressing issue.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9670893/

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GENEVA - Declining soil fertility, drought, deforestation and other gradual environmental problems could force up to 50 million people from their homes by 2010, U.N. experts predicted Tuesday.

Rising sea levels, expanding deserts and catastrophic weather-induced flooding have already contributed to large permanent migrations and could eventually displace hundreds of millions of people, said the United Nations University’s Institute for Environment and Human Security in Bonn, Germany.

“There are well-founded fears that the number of people fleeing untenable environmental conditions may grow exponentially as the world experiences the effects of climate change and other phenomena,” said Janos Bogardi, the director of the institute.

The U.N. refugee agency estimates the current number of refugees worldwide at 19.2 million. But UNU says the number of people forced to move because of environmental deterioration already equals and may someday dwarf that number.

Amid such predictions, the institute is urging the international community to “define, recognize and extend support” for such refugees.

Victims of sudden and highly publicized catastrophes like Hurricane Katrina or the 2004 tsunami in Asia benefit from the generosity of the private and public sectors as well as humanitarian relief, UNU said. But millions of others around the world, uprooted by more gradual environmental change receive comparatively little support and are not recognized as “refugees” with the associated benefits, it said.

Among the examples cited by the institute was the Gobi desert in China, which it said expands more than 4,000 square miles per year, threatening many villages. In Turkey 62,000 square miles of farmlands are affected by soil erosion.

Louisiana now loses roughly 25 square miles of land to the sea every year, according to Anthony Oliver-Smith, an anthropology professor at the University of Florida. In Alaska, 213 communities are threatened by tides that creep roughly 10 feet farther inland each year.

Muslims believe that their religion is transnational and evolutionary. In simpler terms-we believe that the teachings of Mohammed are valid across all time and races. For many skeptics, this may be unbelievable. In many ways, they may be right, but for the sake of this entry I will be examining two of the five pillars of Islam, namely: Fasting and Alms and their relationship to Goal Number 1 of the Millennium Development Goals: Eradication of Poverty.

For the past five years, world leaders have been debating the means to eradicate poverty (or half it) by 2015. The Millennium Project, headed by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, has given a doable plan to achieve this goal and all others by the set time. Looking at it from a religious perspective (being Muslim who practices Islam out of my own will-long story, I will be happy to explain later). I think that a “PRSP” has already been unveiled to the world, fourteen centuries ago.

It is not enough for people to envision what poverty is doing to the lives of people, but the destruction that it causes can only be realized if you have a “feel” of its affect. This, is the rationale that Islam gives to fasting. Currently, Muslims around the world are observing their monthly fast during the Holy month of Ramadan, which we believe is when Gabriel first started his revelations to the Prophet. Having observed the fast myself since I was the age of 9, I can honestly say that it does work. Everyday, when it is time for breakfast I thank God for the great gift that he has given me-water and 3 pieces of dates (followed by a meal of course, but it is customary to break your fast with that first).

This allows me to reflect and feel for those who are living in poverty-many of whom, especially those in Sub-Sahara Africa, consider dates and water at the same time, a luxury. A relevant quote to how Islam views poverty is referenced to Ali bin Abi Taleb, the last Muslim Khalifha (Ruler) during the Muslim Golden Age who said “God Damn Poverty. Had it been a man, I would have ordered his execution.”

My friend Jonah Wittkamper has been trying to work with young philanthropists to realize an evident truth which many philanthropists seem to overlook-humility in giving. Islam advocates that every year, any person who makes a continued income through a job, business etc…is obliged to give 2.5% of their annual income to the poor. This is what we call Zakat. It is believed among Muslims, that those who give alms should not publically announce who they gave their alms to, as a means to preserve the latter party’s dignity. Of course, not every Muslim does this anymore. If we all did, we wouldn’t have the shocking statistics which prove that the Islamic States have the lowest development indicators worldwide.

Religion doesn’t have all the answers. I believe that. But some dilemmas can be answered through faith. Alms and Fasting are two examples of how every Muslim can contribute to poverty reduction. In short, put yourself in the shoes of those who live in poverty so that you can “humbly” support them to ease their pain. Although this may not be a substantial way to solve nation-wide poverty, but it can certainly be a way for everyone, not just Muslims, to contribute to the MDGs.