
UK Young Ambassadors
The UK Young Ambassadors project gives young
people in the UK a voice at international meetings and events, on
decisions that affect them and on issues they care about.
Young Ambassadors provide a bridge between young people in the
UK and people making decisions around the World. Young Ambassadors
have represented UK young people at many important meetings and
forums. They have presented to education ministers in Malaysia,
made the case for votes at 16 in Europe, lobbied for action on
Climate Change in Korea and challenged David Cameron to support
more international youth representation at the G20 Summit in
Canada.
Global Youth Voice and Participation
There is a lot of work on international youth representation
going on, but very little investigation into whether it is
effective or not. BYC feels it is important to bring together this
knowledge and learning and make a powerful case as to why youth
should be at the table, what works and how it can actually make a
real difference. Policy-makers are starting to take notice
and 2010/2011 is also the UN International Year of Youth and
so a great opportunity to be heard at the highest levels.
The importance of young people at the forefront of movements for
change is very clear; that is obvious from the current new
headlines, but also because of all the work of youth activists in
organisations, through campaigns occurring behind the scenes across
the World.
Young people and international development
BYC is on the steering committee of the Department for
International Development / Civil Society Youth Working Group
(DFID/CSO YWG). The purpose of the group is to work with DFID,
donors, governments and international NGOs to place young people at
the heart of international development. We aim for:
- Young people to be recognised as key
beneficiaries, partners and leaders in international development
programmes and policy
- International development policy and
practice to be developed in partnership with young people in the UK
and young people who will be affected