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Highlights

Second Conference of Youth Ministers in Port Moresby, Papoua New Guinea (December 2005)

Friday 2 December, 2005, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) – Youth Ministers of the Pacific will discuss how to achieve the aim of young people taking responsibility for their own overall development and well-being at the 2^nd Conference of Youth Ministers of the Pacific Community in Port Moresby from 5 to 7 December 2005. The conference will be attended by 42 delegates representing SPC member countries and 18 observers representing various agencies from around the region and Papua New Guinea.

The issue of youth was the subject of high-level discussions a few weeks ago at the 4th Conference of the Pacific Community. After debating ways of empowering young Pacific Islanders to improve their quality of life, Pacific Ministers and high-level officials adopted the historic Koror Statement on Youth Empowerment for a Secure, Prosperous and Sustainable Future.

The Koror Statement will be tabled together with the proposed Pacific Youth Strategy 2010 at the conference in Papua New Guinea. Of the many items on the agenda, the Pacific Youth Strategy (PYS) is the most important. It will replace PYS 2005, which was adopted in 1998 at the 1st Conference of Youth Ministers of the Pacific Community, in French Polynesia.

There has been an urgent need to design a new strategy in order to evaluate progress accomplished since 1998 and the real impact of PYS 2005. In addition, “the new strategy will take into account emerging new issues that directly concern Pacific youth,” says SPC’s Youth Adviser, Tangata Vainerere. “Among them, the rapid population growth of this group increases demand for essential social services like education, health and employment opportunities. The introduction of new values clashing with traditional cultural norms also represents new challenges for the young population to take up.”

The Koror Statement will now be tabled together with the draft Pacific Youth Strategy 2010 at the 2nd Conference of Youth Ministers of the Pacific Community to be held in Port Moresby, 5─7 December.

The purpose of PYS 2010 is to build a strategic regional framework to guide young people to take responsibility for their overall development and well-being. It has been designed with input from national and regional stakeholders, including Pacific Island youth, and represents a firm commitment to providing more opportunities for young Pacific Islanders to realise their full potential and contribute to the social, economic and cultural well-being of their societies.

For more information, you can contact Delphine Godot, Technical Support Officer.

Background information

Figures on SPC’s 22 member countries’ youth population:

• Of the total population of over 8 million, 1.6 million are aged between 15 and 24 years, and a majority of these are female.

• This age group comprises about 20 per cent of the total population of Pacific Island countries and territories.

• The proportion of the population in this age group is projected to grow at an annual rate of 2.2 per cent. The rapid rise in the number of young people will increase demand for essential social services such as education and health, as well as for employment opportunities. As a result, government budgets and services directed at young people will be under even more pressure.

The Pacific Youth Strategy 2005 was adopted at the 1st Regional Conference of Youth Ministers of the Pacific Community in Papeete, French Polynesia in July 1998. It called for concerted, collective action among youth organisations, churches, non-government organisations and donors to address in a more holistic manner the problems and challenges affecting young people in the Pacific.

In December 2002, SPC’s Pacific Youth Bureau (PYB) convened the Pacific Youth Officials Technical Meeting at SPC Headquarters in Noumea to gauge progress on the implementation of PYS 2005. PYS 2005 is due to expire on 31 December 2005 and the 2nd Conference of Youth Ministers of the Pacific Community is the recognised forum for adopting a new strategy.

The 2nd Conference of Youth Ministers of the Pacific Community will be hosted by the Government of Papua New Guinea through the Department of Community Development. It is being organised jointly by the department and the National Youth Commission for Papua New Guinea in cooperation with PYB. It will be held in Port Moresby from 5 to 7 December 2005.

The main objective of the conference is the adoption of the Pacific Youth Strategy 2010, which has five major thematic components:

• Accessing Integrated Education

• Nurturing Sustainable Livelihoods

• Promoting Healthy Lifestyles

• Building Stronger Communities

• Strengthening Institutional Capacity

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