YMCA at the International Labour Organization

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has established for the first time a forum to specifically look at employment issues for young people on a global scale. The issues facing young people around entering the world of work have never been more serious than in today's economic climate and so the move from the ILO to establish the forum has been welcomed by all. 

One thing that YMCA consistently advocates is youth empowerment and dialogue which is essential when trying to solve the current crisis. A phrase which a delegate said yesterday really emphasises the task we have ahead "...In order to solve youth problems, we need youth solutions...". Getting young people to the table is essential as the crisis we face will not solve itself. 

There have been many themes which have run through the sessions and issues of youth unemployment vary from continent, to country, to region, to city but the need to create jobs is the single recurring element throughout. 

When attending conferences and summits it is easy to get swept up in broad statements and generic solutions. Simply saying 'we need to create more jobs' will not create more jobs. Focussing on the details of specific programmes and the sharing of best practice amongst delegates and organisations has been promoted as the key to a global response to the unemployment crisis.

What the ILO does is bring everyone who needs to be at the table together and the Executive-Director of the ILO Employment Sector summarised it well this morning stating that "...tackling youth unemployment is everyone's business - the workers, the employers and the trade unions...".  This is something that we need to do more of through our own YMCAs.  

We have the ability to play an active and crucial role in working towards a solution to youth unemployment. With our extensive reach and presence we have the biggest opportunity to make a difference for an entire  generation of young people who will  be affected by the crisis for the rest of their lives. 

A global crisis calls for global actors and how many other organisation can say that they have the ability to reach young people where it is needed most - across continents, countries, regions, and cities.  

Reflections of Prague

I wrote these thoughts sat in the airport waiting for my flight home;

I feel a mixture of emotions. Firstly i feel tired, two very late nights / early mornings in a row are no longer part of the norm for me. Im happy to be going home; seeing my fiance, sleeping in my own bed and having a nice hot bath, but sad too. Sad to be leaving old friends and sad to be leaving those who i have only known a matter of days but who i know will be friends for a long time. If you've never experienced an international event with the YMCA then it's hard to explain just how special these friendships are and how close you can become to people in a matter of days.

This year's General Assembly has been the most special so far. It's my fifth General Assembly and as a member of the YES board for the past four years i have enjoyed each one but there seems to be a new passion and strength this year.

The ILP group did Britain and Ireland proud. At the assembly we talked about developing young leaders and their ability to change the world to a more peaceful, a more just and a more democratic society. This group have the power to be these change agents.

The YES meeting was a huge success with 38 young people from 21 countries attending, but not just attending, really participating and having a real desire to change young people's lives in their communities.

I have now served my two terms of two years on the YES board and it's time to pass the baton on and i couldn't be prouder of the new YES board. Our new chair Andre, is going to be a great leader of the group. He has the passion, the drive and a real understanding of what YES means. Along with Cheryl, Marisa, Masha and Tinna the new board and YES as a whole are in good hands.

I have been proud to be part of something so special. I have enjoyed the journey we have been on over the past few years. I have met the most awesome people. i have had so much fun and more importantly i have had the privileged to be part of something big, something that will change the way young people across Europe have their voices heard and if the new board get half way to their dreams and desires, what a journey it'll be!

As a final farewell, from this post and from the 'old' board. If you get the opportunity to get involved in an international event...Do it! You never know quite where the journey will take you but i guarantee there'll be times when it's hard, times when you are challenged, times when you have less sleep that you believe you can survive on, but there will be times when you laugh, times when you make true friends and times when you realise the YMCA can and does change lives, including your own.

The final evening at YMCA Europe General Assembly

The participants from the YMCA in England have fullly participated in General Assembly during the last three days focusing on Peace Justice and Democracy. Excellent speakers and great discussion groups. Kie Cummings, from YMCA Englands National Board was elected to the European Executive, Adi Davies from Bolton YMCA and the International Leaderhip Programme has been elected to the Nominations Committee and Andre Kpodonu from City YMCA London has been elected as Chair of the new YES Board. Amy Wilson has just finished her second stint on the Yes Executive and with her other Board colleagues hand over a dynamic new Board to move YES forward. Thankyou Amy, your are an inspiration. In addition to this Kie Cummings presented the Plan for the Evening Programme at the Prague Festival 2013 - Love to Live and Ken Montgomery delivered a call to action for the YMCA World Challenge on the 13th October 2012. 31 National Movements across Europe are taking part. So to this evening, Tim Waldrom, Chair of the English YMCA National Board will present a token of appreciation to Peter Posner who retires from the post of President of the YMCA Europe. Peter has served with dignity, distingsion and diplomacy for eight years in that role. Thank you Peter. The YMCA Movement acrooss Europe is in great shape as a result of your passion and committmennt.

The results are in.

We are absolutely delighted that all 26 YMCA National Movements who voted in the YMCA Europe election voted for Kie Cummings who is elected as an assessor on the European Executive Committee. Full result later.

One election over and one yet to come

Currently working in Prague at the YMCA European General Assembly. The YES (YMCA European Spectrum) seminar has finished and morphed into the General Assembly. The outcome of the election to the YES Board are that Andre Kpodonu from CityYMCA London and Cheryl Robson from YMCA Scotland have been elected. There is another election for the YMCA Europe Executive committee this morning. Mike Will from YMCA Scotland will be elected unopposed for the Treasurers position and Kie Cummings is nominated for an assessors position on the Exective. That election happens this morning in a hotel on the outskirts of Prague. Reconnected again with some wonderful people. Also chatted with two visitors, Helene and Rob from YMCA Canada True to from, YMCA peole are special.

There was an Englishman, Irishman and a Scotswoman

Its the last day of the YES meeting and we are waiting for the elections of the new YES board to happen, fingers crossed for our two British candidates. Work has been done on the future strategic plans for YES and how these link into the YMCA Europe plan. It wasn't easy though; hours of tense debate and flip chart action (fl-action if your Chris)later, we realised we were probably jumping the gun a little. We've got some concrete actions that we're working on, and we're confident it'll be sorted by the end of the session. The majority of the rest of the British and Irish delegation have now arrived, tired and weary but happy to see old friends

Greetings from Prague...

Hi from the English, Irish and Scottish YES seminar participants! We are half way through day two of the seminar and we have enjoyed catching up with old and new friends from all over Europe. We've started working on the possibilities of a new youth democracy project and are looking forward to where this may take us. Together we have identified the main obstacles that hinder our YMCAs and young people from realising their full potential. It was interesting to hear both the similar and different obstacles the other European movements have. But now, lets get down to the important stuff; we've sat on each others knees, swung from each others shoulders, and had at least 30 hugs! Photos I'm sure will follow...

Approaching the end: the next steps

All modules complete, one final piece of work left to do and goodbyes left. The end of SOP 2012 is right around the corner (literally, we have 8 more days left). The journey while being in India; well it would be nice to fill everyone’s stereotypes and say it has been amazing and only good things have happened. It has been an incredible journey but there have been tough times, tough lessons learnt and tough stories heard but, I wouldn’t have changed a thing. Those tough times have, in reflection made the trip one life experience I won’t be forgetting in a hurry and have taught me so much about the things I should be lucky for, the rights that I have and have not had taken away from me because of where I was born! It is those tough moments, when the story has been difficult to hear that will stay with me for the rest of my life. The trip has certainly not been about beaches, tourist attractions and swimming and some of the experiences have been talked about earlier on here so I won’t bore you all again with them all.

Don’t get me wrong, we have, as a group had a lot of fun and although there are no secrets within SOP, what happens in SOP, some of it stays in SOP! We have had fun celebrating different festivals and events in culturally diverse ways which has made the learning even more fun! We laugh a lot, when having full, heavy days we all need a good laugh and I couldn’t think of a better group of people to have spent the last (nearly) 4 months with. They are an amazing group of people and have made the experience an even better one. They will be friends for life and I love them like they are my family (they have been for the last 4 months).  I have faith that (Dr) Max will bring us all back together in the future. It is thanks to the guys here I have survived the 4 months away from home, something I did doubt in myself! Thanks to (in particular order) Max, Erica, Miriam, Ella, Poli, June, Norisa, Noy, Julio, Toan, Barce, Ouane, Small, Si Mhong, John, Mhodz, Phally, Tha War, Biplob and last but not least, Khamsa! You are the people who have made this trip incredible! It has been a privilege and a pleasure to meet you all!

So as we all approach the end, the question I think a lot of us are asking is; what next? For a lot of us, we return home and go back to work or our studies. For me, I will return to work but what else? I don’t know the answer to this yet. I don’t know what my life holds for me in the future but I know this journey has changed me. It has been a journey of self discovery as well as discovering the issues people face around the world, these issues are no longer just news to me. When the news in England reports something about any of the countries that are represented here, I will think about my SOP family; are they ok? How has it affected them? How do they feel about it? What is happening to them? There are a lot of issues in the world that I had no idea about before coming here and it would be naive of me to think that these will now not affect me in some way. A question I have asked a lot; what can I do? This will stay with me while I think about them. I have changed; can I go back to a simple life in England where these issues don’t affect me? I don’t know. I don’t know a lot of the answers to the questions I have, I guess the answers will come in time, if I need them; all I can do is wait and see. What I do know is that I have loved my time here and although I am extremely excited to come home, I am desperately sad to be leaving at the same time. Sad to be leaving the place I have called home for the last 4 months, sad to be leaving the people that have become my family. There is fear there too. Fear that I may never see some of them again. All I can do is hope that one day our paths will cross again somewhere down the line.

I would like to end by thanking everyone who has made this trip possible and made it the experience that it has been. I never thought my life would bring me here and you all have made it possible. My life has changed thanks to you all; you have had a profound impact on me. I wish all the family here all the success in their lives and that one day we will meet again. I know (Dr) Max will make it possible!

Bhoomi Habba

The Festival of Justpeace. Celebrate earth, celebrate life. This is the name of the festival that happened at Visthar, the festival that the SOP participants, myself and Visthar staff have worked extremely hard on.   This happened yesterday at the campus and, in my opinion, was a great success. 2000+ people from around Bangalore and India turned up to see what was happening. Our exhibition demonstrated issues from around South East Asia, issues we have been talking about, issues some of my fellow participants have experienced firsthand. A truly humbling experience to help them raise awareness of these issues in an artistic form. Lots of things were going on with a specific focus on nuclear energy and the dangers it presents people. This is an issue that is very topical at the moment in India as local people in Koodankulam fight against large companies and the Indian Government to prevent the opening of a plant that will affect them so greatly that they will have to leave their homes in order to survive. There were many honoured guests including survivors of Agent Orange from Viet Nam (if you don’t know what this is, I strongly recommend you google it and take the time to read the information!). There was a lot of stress leading up to the event with us all very busy helping to bring the whole thing together; our eviction house got evicted from its original spot, our displacement instillation got displaced and our mining instillation got shoved to a different spot. The irony was kinda funny after the stress! Now, instead of talking a lot about it, here are some photos to show the fun that we have had;

 Erica adding some of the finishing touches to her art instillation.

 Our Classroom view, the tree in the middle was bought to life by people's dreams and ideas for the future written on leaves.

 Erica's caption on the bottom, the theme of the festival

 The start, parade from the gate to the inauguration site. Lots of drums and noise! Great fun.

 Phally, June, Noy's back and Small, waiting to start! They served some FAB Thai, Cambodian and Lao food! Thanks guys.

The Peace well at the end of the day lite up by candles going down the steps with the Bandhavi girls in the bottom singing songs. Beautiful, now just to find a way to get rid of the itchy mosquito bites!

If you want to know more, there should be some information about the day on Visthars website; www.visthar.org 

And to end, I would like to say thank you to everyone's hard work that made this day so exciting and fun for all to enjoy. We rocked it guys!