For the first time, a pre-meeting for and by young people will be held ahead of the Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (RFSD) for the UNECE* Region (21-22 March 2019). The meeting will take place on March 21 ahead of the formal opening of the RFSD.
As outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and following the recently-launched Youth2030: The United Nations Strategy on Youth, the UN System aims to ensure the meaningful engagement and participation of young people in its implementation, review and follow-up. The regional youth pre-meeting is a mechanism to channel the input and feedback from young people to the Regional Forum, the official preparatory meeting of the global High-level Political Forum. The discussions could also feed into the ECOSOC Youth Forum (April 2019, New York) regional roundtable.
Objectives:
● Provide an opportunity for young people from the region to meet, share experiences, network, and engage in dialogue
● Discuss young people's perspectives on sustainable development, in particular the Sustainable Development Goals that will be under review at this year's High Level Political Forum: 4 (quality education), 8 (decent jobs), 10 (reducing inequalities), 13 (climate change), 16 (peace & institutions), and 17 (partnerships / means of implementation)
● Ensure a youth lens into the UNECE RFSD and meaningful contributions to the SDG review process
Organizers:
● European Youth Forum
● UN Major Group for Children & Youth
● United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
● Regional UN System Issue-based Coalition on Adolescents and Youth
Participation:
● Participation is open to all interested people, especially youth-or-child led and serving organizations, as well as young people (30 years and below) regardless of background.
● Given limited space, there will be a selection done by the organizations
Preparatory Process:
● Online consultation/dialogue to hear perspectives from young people across the UNECE region
● Webinar on the SDGs under review: 4 (education), 8 (jobs), 10 (reducing inequalities), 13 (climate change), 16 (peace & institutions), and 17 (partnerships / means of implementation)
Please apply to attend the youth pre-meeting by February 11, 2019.
Those selected will be informed by February 18, 2019.
We are eager to have you join us for this event!
*United Nations Economic Commission for Europe members include: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America, and Uzbekistan.
