International Youth Day Celebration -12th August 2015
The International Youth day Celebration held at Action International School Complex Accra on 12th August 2015 This year’s, International Youth day was celebrated across the country on the theme “Action 2015” with the slogan “Youth Power, It’s down to us”.
Action School at Madina, a suburb of Accra was the venue for the Greater Accra region. Centre for Development Initiatives and other partners such as PAYDP, NMU, AFD and ISODEE organized the one day event. Activities line-up included quiz, drama and singing and dancing.
Three schools participated in the quiz namely; Action international, Grace International and Queens School. Questions were around the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Speaker after speaker entreated the youth to study hard so that they can become useful citizens and contribute meaningfully toward the development of the country. When the youth are empowered and know their rights and can advocate, governments would consult the youth when they are making policies that affect the youth.
The 17 sustainable development goals are;
1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marries resources for sustainable development
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reserve land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for ll and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development In his welcome address, the Executive Director for Centre for Development Initiatives said he was happy to be part of the process that seeks to provide the youth with the venue to enhance their skills in monitoring and implementation of the eight Millennium Development Goals.
Below is the full speech of Mr. Dery Welcome Address by Mr. Danikuu Alexis Dery, Exceutive Director, Center for Development Initiatives (CDI) on the Action 2015 as part of activities marking the International Youth Day, August 12th 2015 at the Action Progressive Institute, Madina I am excited to be here this morning to welcome you to the platform/forum during this special year/day “International youth day”, a day aimed to mobilize youth leaders/young persons from the student councils, NGOs, and also our international youths by providing them a venue to enhance their skills in project planning, management, monitoring and implementation using the eight MDGs.
What is Action 2015 Ladies and Gentlemen? It is a global Action/Movement of Civil Society Organizations joining forces and voices with the global world to remind governments about their promises pre MDGs that we have watched and gauged the promises and deliverables and as they transit to SDGs, we are now watching them the intensely. The aims and objectives of Action 2015 will be talked about in details as part of the program.
This Forum therefore is; A forum of young persons, A forum for young persons, A forum with young persons It is also a forum to reflect on how far we have fared with the MDGs as a country and discuss the SDGs. This in my view is a shift from the supply side of accountability from duty bearers to the demand for transparency and accountability.
This requires an informed citizenry of which young persons are a critical population. This year’s day coincides with the end of MDGs year 2015 and the beginning To the participating schools, we want to thank you all for accepting our invitation to be part of the platform. Out time here together will be short but we have a lot to learn and accomplish. On behalf of PAYDP the lead NGO, CDI, AFD, NMJ, I want to once again welcome you to Action 2015 agenda.
I wish all participating schools good luck in the upcoming quiz.
Thank you and God Bless Ghana.
