75th Anniversary Conference in Brazil Issues Call to Action

The conference Partnering with Youth to Build the Future, held at the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino), in São Paulo, Brazil, from May 30 to June 1, issued a Call to Action directed at governments, companies and civil society organizations from around Latin America and the Caribbean. The document contains 25 items and is intended to promote regional development policies that take into account the needs and interests of youth. The Latin American Conference is part of the Kellogg Foundation’s 75th anniversary commemoration.

Panelists received a file of five documents centered on youth to help guide the discussions in the thematic working groups organized at the event that debated the topics Public Policies, Subjectivity, and Youth Movements and Organizations.

The Call to Action was voted by the event’s 250 participants and contains the proposals approved by a two thirds majority. Comprising the group were leaders of the projects supported by the Foundation, youth activists from social movements, lawmakers and representatives from a variety of civil society organizations.

Among the main points incorporated into the final text are:

• Develop programs and actions that improve the economic autonomy of youth, including dignified work and access to land, credit and technical assistance;
• Promote a democratic and participative system of education that strengthens the organizational and participatory capacity of youth in the comprehensive development of their community;
• Promote the visibility of a positive youth image and youth actions through the various social media, avoiding stereotypical imagery;
• Develop institutional mechanisms to incorporate the organized and effective participation of youth in the conception, formulation, implementation and evaluation of laws and public policies in general;
• Recognize and strengthen the capacity of youth to develop forums and actions to facilitate intra and intergenerational dialogue;
• Empower alternative socialization spheres to enhance youth’s initiative and its cultural creativity.

The points listed above appear here in the same wording as they were voted at the plenary session of the conference. However, they will be published together with the other items in an annotated edition with notes by the panelists, and this will be released as the final document.

Cultural Program – Also occurring during the 75th Anniversary Conference was the festival Youth: The Art of Transforming, which brought together social projects drawing on a variety of artistic expressions. The festival was intended to draw attention to the strategic role
that art and culture can play in the development process. “Art helps strengthen intergenerational relations, encourages the recovery of traditions and the relaying of knowledge that is part of a community’s cultural identity,” said Andrés Thompson, Kellogg Foundation Program Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

• Read more: 75th Anniversary Seminar in Brazil

07/11/2005

Published in Interaction nº 11