ICASA 2005 Youth E-Consultation Going On Now: Please Join In!
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Development Partnership International and YIELD invite you to a
4-week e-consultation on:
Youth Participation at the XIV International Conference on AIDS
and STI in Africa
Introduction
The International conference on AIDS and STI in Africa is a
gathering place for leaders across various sectors in Africa
from all the sub-regions of the continent and the international
community, to discuss the present situation of HIV/AIDS and its
effects on Africa's development, current and emerging challenges
and resources needed to effectively fight the virus, to evaluate
progress made with political commitments and secure fresh com-
mitments for the future, to share best practices and foster
pan-regional partnerships future interventions. The XIV edition
of ICASA is billed for Abuja in December 2005 read more at
http://www.icasa2005.org
This e-Consultation will address the following issues:
* Challenges to youth participation at the previous ICASA and
other international AIDS Conferences and how these challenges
can be addressed in view of the forth coming ICASA;
* Lessons learned from the Nairobi 2003 ICASA youth forum and
how they can be used to improve on activities at Abuja 2005;
Possible youth activities and levels of youth participation and
involvement at the XIV ICASA;
* Translating the outcomes of the participation of youth at the
XIV ICASA into community level actions within the frameworks of
major regional and international development goals and commit-
ments.
The case for the African youth
* The African youth has been the worst hit with the HIV/AIDS
epidemic over the years. Global figures from UNAIDS reveal the
over 6 million youth in Africa are living with HIV/AIDS, yet
living in the midst of abject poverty, unemployment, political
and economic instability, many of them do not have access to
ARV;
* Africa is on the negative side of the digital, educational and
infrastructural divide, so most of her youth do not have access
to basic information on sexuality and life values, quality edu-
cation and reproductive health services;
* African youth are major innovators of social change initia-
tives and are at the front lines in the effort to curb the
spread of HIV/AIDS, we therefore have the capacity to be in-
volved in major decision making processes that concern our de-
velopment;
* The XIV International conference on AIDS serves as the best
avenue to articulate our needs and network to ensure that these
needs are met.
Who can participate?
Anyone interested in youth issues, HIV/AIDS and Africa. Indi-
viduals and organizations working to achieve the MDGs, UNGASS
Declaration of commitment on HIV/AIDS, NEPAD, ICPD and other in-
ternational development frameworks and commitments. We strongly
encourage participation from Europe, the Americas and Asia.
How can I get involved?
Send a blank e-mail to
mailto:youthaticasa2005-subscribe@groups.takingitglobal.org
to join the discussion.
Forward this e-mail to other networks and individuals who you
know will be interested in taking part in the discussions
Partner with us in this project (please contact email below for
any partnership requests and inquiries).
The consultation process
Discussions will begin on October 2 and end on November 2, 2004.
At the beginning of each week, the moderator will send the topic
of discussion to the group and send summaries of the week's dis-
cussion and the topic for the next week at the end of every
week. A final summary of the entire discussions will be sent to
the group in November, 2004. Messages to the group will be mod-
erated, therefore all messages posted to the group should di-
rectly address the issue under discussion, should be brief (400
words or less) and should contain the name, affiliation and
country of the sender in order to be approved.
Who is doing this?
Development Partnership International is a youth led non- profit
based in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The organization seeks to build
the capacity of youth organizations for effective and innovative
social change and development actions, identify, package, show-
case and reward outstanding youth initiatives and workout
strategies for effective youth participation in decision making
processes.
YIELD
A Lagos based organization with the vision to provide a full
range of complementary products that would help people access
knowledge and information in a way that would improve lives, re-
duce poverty and empower people in Nigeria, West Africa and the
world over.
We will greatly appreciate any volunteers to translate messages
into French and Swahili. Please contact me at postmas-
ter@dabesaki.freeservers.com, if you have any queries.
Dabesaki Mac-Ikemenjima
PO Box 448 Woji 500007 Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Mobile: + 234-8055182526
mailto:dabesaki@yahoo.com
http://www.dabesaki.freeservers.com
In the fight against HIV/AIDS, the Youth hold the key!