Mexico City officially commits to 1 million votes through 3,000 youth ambassadors

Ravi Karkara (UN), Miguel Ángel Mancera (Mayor of Mexico City), María Fernanda Olvera, (Director of INJUVE DF) with youth ambassadors during the Launch of MY World in Mexico City

10 June, 2014 – Mexico City

The Government and the Institute of Youth (INJUVE DF) of the City of Mexico formally announced that they have accepted the challenge of gathering a million MY World votes. MY World is the United Nations global survey which asks citizens to choose their top six out of sixteen priorities that would improve their quality of life.

The initiative was launched by the Head of Government of the Federal District of Mexico, Miguel Angel Mancera Espinosa, as he kicked off the survey that the three thousand youth ambassadors of INJUVE DF will be carrying out in the country’s capital. Mr. Mancera emphasized that the young citizens of the capital are agents of change, and that they will be collecting the same amount of votes in a period of three months – June, July, and August – as entire countries which have taken years to do the same. “We are committed to examining the needs, challenges and how we can improve the lives of youth in the capital.”

In the Antique Palace of Ayuntamiento, Mancera Espinosa reiterated that his administration understood the importance of the youth voice in Mexico City. In order to support the enthusiasm, commitment, and aspirations of people living in the capital between 14-29 years of age, his administration had introduced important modifications to the Youth Law of the City of Mexico, which bestowed legal jurisdiction to the rights achieved for youth. “Yesterday, an important modification to the Youth Law was approved, in which various rights of yours are embodied, and – obviously – it is worth revising and taking advantage of all that has been achieved and established into law by the Government of this Capital.”

Also speaking at the event, Director of INJUVE DF, María Fernanda Olvera Cabrera explained the impetus behind the United Nation’s reason for calling for citizen’s voices: “in preparation for 2015, different UN leaders will be uniting to design the next sustainable and viable agenda.” She also explained the value of initiatives such as that of INJUVE DF, “the voices of youth are converting into a priority for this agenda.” She also reiterated that this is youth voices are a priority for the Government of the City of Mexico.

Ravi Karkara, Global Expert on Youth and adolescents and UN Youth representative commended the government for its unprecedented initiative. “You are making history, by becoming the first city in the world that has undertaken the challenge of collecting one million survey results and three thousand youth ambassadors.” He stressed the importance of seeking out the voices of the most marginalized, such as indigenous groups, people living with disabilities, and minorities.  He also reminded the youth that “Beijing+20 is coming so we must hear the women’s voices!”

Following a few photo ops, the ambassadors quickly got to work. Over 7,000 votes have already been collected in the first week alone. Follow @injuvecdmx and @myworld2015 to see the wonderful photos of the youth ambassadors at work.

Blog compiled by Kristin Gutekunst, MY World Assistant Project Manager.

For more information:

• See the data results for INJUVEDF & Mexico
• Vote in the MY World Survey via INJUVE’s Partner Page
• Visit INJUVEDF’s Website
• Read the press release:  El Sol de Mexico; 20Minutos.com; MY World Blog
• Read previous MY World blog post about INJUVEDF