By Carlos Suarez, JCI External Relations Manager, with edits by Bonnie Stack, JCI Communications Manager
23-25 July, 2015 – New York
Nearly 500 young active citizens from over 50 nationalities united inside the United Nations at the annual Junior Chambers International 2014 Global Partnership Summit. JCI seized this significant, timely opportunity to discuss the final push for the advancement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and explore opportunities on shaping the post-2015 development agenda. With young people joining together to increase cultural understanding and create positive change, the event was an essential gathering to engaging active citizens from all sectors of society to formulate strategic partnerships for sustainable impact. “The Millennium Development Goals represent the greatest single anti-poverty campaign in human history,” UN Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General Kim won-soo said.
With the MDGs as a global framework to fight poverty, it will take the combined effort of governments, the private sector and civil society to develop a successful strategy and create measurable results. The 2014 JCI Global Partnership Summit united leaders and representatives from all sectors to address and formulate sustainable approaches to development. The UN Millennium Campaign plays an integral role in engaging young active citizens by listening to their voices and providing the platform for taking targeted action, advocating for the MDGs and the post-2015 global development agenda. As young people around the world focus on the MDGs as a targeted approach to addressing challenges, strategic JCI partners recognized the importance of long-lasting collaboration.
Another Summit guest and JCI partner, Ravi Karkara, UN Millennium Campaign Expert Global Advisor on Youth and Children and Global Advisor to the World Conference on Youth, shared the three main outcomes from the World Conference on Youth 2014 in Sri Lanka, intended to motivate and inspire young active citizens in creating a better world:
- Establish a Global Youth Skills Development Day.
- Strengthen efforts toward the Millennium Development Goals during the last 500 days.
- Support and accelerate the commitment toward gender equality.
As the JCI movement reaches its 100thAnniversary in 2015, the same year the new era of global development begins, JCI members, partners and friends have the unique opportunity to celebrate impact and start working toward the new post-2015 development agenda. JCI members are committed to the MY World and World We Want 2015 platforms as a way of gathering the voices of young people and engaging youth in what their communities need most. “JCI members have helped drive the total MY World votes from 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 since last July,” UN Millennium Campaign Director Corinne Woods said.
During the course of the JCI Global Partnership Summit, more than 2,000,000 MY World vote commitments were made to increase the youth voice in the creation of the post-2015 development agenda. This significantly demonstrated the commitment and motivation of JCI members to advancing societal progress. Additionally, representatives from the UN Millennium Campaign manned a booth, collecting many votes from the delegates, answering their questions and inviting them to further engage.
Kristin Gutekunst, MY World Assistant Project manager and Juan Chebly, World We Want 2015 Coordinator spoke at a panel session, explaining each of the platforms, how the data is being used to influence political processes, highlighting individual chapter’s contributions, innovative ways of using the platforms, and brainstorming ways to continue to innovate and partner.
Concluding the 2014 JCI Global Partnership Summit, delegates formulated the 2014 JCI Global Partnership Summit Resolution and its adoption reaffirmed the commitment of JCI members worldwide to collaboration, engagement and sustainable development. This Resolution was created to help young people take ownership and exercise their ability to address local challenges in order to make a global impact. As an organization of nearly 200,000 young active citizens in nearly 115 countries, JCI members will continue to transform the communities in which they serve. “JCI members are seizing the opportunity for transformative change –are clear about how to do this through probably the most effective model, a community based local-level approach…making the link from local to global,” said Marie-Elena John, Advisor on Gender Issues for the Office of the President of the General Assembly.
JCI’s method for addressing challenges and creating sustainable solutions is the JCI Active Citizen Framework. This clear process provides active citizens from all sectors of society with the opportunity to be part of creating a better world. Even with the MDG deadline in the next 500 days, as a united team of young people, we can create tangible results through concrete actions that form sustainable solutions within this time period . “During this year’s Global Partnership Summit, we realized how important it is to collaborate with one another. We now find ourselves with a clear vision of the direction the next generation should take us and the challenges we should address,” 2014 JCI Global Partnership Summit Chairperson Ryusei Hashimoto said.
“As active citizens, it is now our responsibility to bring solutions to this world,” 2014 JCI President Shine Bhaskaran said in conclusion of the event.
- See the MY World JCI data results
- Learn more about the 2014 JCI Global Partnership Summit Resolution and read the news story and press release on how you can implement these goals in your community.
- Discover photos from the 2014 JCI Global Partnership Summit on the JCI Google+ page.
