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Tunza International Youth Conference 2005, October
12-16, 2005
The Tunza International Youth
Conference 2005 organised by Centre for Environment
Education (CEE) with the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP), Bayer AG and the Ministry of Environment
and Forests (MoEF), Government of India from 12-18 October
2005 brought together 140 youth from 67 countries at
Bangalore, India to discuss and work towards achieving
MDGs.
The conference themes, in tune with
"Tunza-which means to nurture or treat with care
and affection" aimed at enabling youth understand
the three Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), MDG 1-
Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, MDG-3 Promote
gender equality and empower women and MDG-7 Ensure environmental
sustainability, define their role and help develop partnerships
at national, international and regional levels to help
achieve the three MDGs in focus. Youth and HIV/ AIDS
and Youth and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) were
also focus of discussions.
October 12 saw the Tunza Youth Advisory
Council (TYAC) members conduct the ice breaker session
and discuss regional issues at their respective regional
groups. October 13th was the Grand Inaugural of the
Second Tunza International Youth Conference,
followed by plenary sessions on the importance of MDGs
and its linkages. Major highlights were launch of a
web- based module on MDGs developed as part of the Open
and Distance Learning, supported by Commonwealth of
Learning and a Tunza exhibition set up by participants
and relevant organizations.
The International Internship Programme
for youth was launched during the plenary session on
October 14. A MOU between the UNEP Asia Pacific Office
and CEE, SAYEN Secretariat was signed to work together
for developing a Sub-regional Sustainable Development
Strategy- Youth Version. Later, participants divided
themselves into 11 workshops, which aimed at bringing
out specific projects that youth worldwide could implement.
This day also included field visits related to the three
MDGs in focus organizations Concern for Working Children
(CWC), Mahila Samakhya and Foundation for Revitalization
of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT). The day ended with
a dinner hosted by His Excellency, the Governor of Karnataka,
Shri T. N. Chaturvedi, at the Rajbhavan.
Workshop discussions continued on
the second day and highlights of the day were the presentation
of model action plans by participants on 15 October,
at the plenary sessions.
October 16, the last day, of the conference,
saw each participant pledging himself towards working
for MDG 1, 3 and 7 and enhancing networking for cooperation
and partnerships. All this was conducted over the popular
Punjabi drum music played by two youth from the CWC.
The Minister for Minorities and Youth Services, Government
of Karnataka, Shri Jabbar Khan Honnali addressed the
gathering emphasizing the need for further youth involvement
in policy and decision-making. The conference ended
with the election of the new TYAC for 2005-07 and their
pledge to work together for sustainable development.
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