Coalition Workshop at 19th Annual Winter Youth Assembly
The Annual Winter Youth Assembly in it's 19th Session is organised by the United Nations and held at their headquarters in New York. This years three day event placed youth voices at the heart of discussions on the most pressing factors affecting child poverty today, and highlighted the interdependence and universality of the Sustainable Development Goals in moving forward.
A Coalition event to #ENDchildpoverty
At this year's Winter Youth Assembly, the Coalition organised a workshop called #ENDchildpoverty. The core of the workshop's goal was to listen and learn from the youth delegates themselves in helping to exchange skills for furthering the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) #ENDchildpoverty.
The youth delegates
The youth delegates in attendance represented the brightest and most dedicated young leaders from across the globe. Already active in sustainable development and youth empowerment projects, their diverse set of voices contributed to a Youth Plan of Action elevating youth voices in realizing the 2030 Agenda.
Youth find solutions to #ENDchildpoverty
The @ENDchildpoverty workshop gave delegates a chance to engage with panellists of leading development organisations to get their experiences and ideas heard, and participate in a range of interactive sessions aimed at providing practical take home skills to develop and implement sustainable development actions.
During the workshop the young people brainstormed solutions to child poverty that could be adapted to their local contexts, and used the platform to discuss their findings and what they could be doing to address poverty going forward.
Dialogue from delegate's and panellist's highlighted areas requiring attention in moving forward to meet the needs of children everywhere;
- Need to give children a voice that has real influence, and amplify those currently unheard.
- Child Poverty is universal, from the poorest to the most wealthy nations. Assumptions should not make children invisible.
- Child focused programming must become more adaptive, inclusive and participatory if it is to meet the needs of children.
- Measuring and monitoring child poverty is difficult and needs to improve if we are to understand the true complexity of child poverty across different contexts.
- Youth must be increasingly engaged with to transform their ideas into best fit solutions.
Read more on the @ENDchildpoverty workshop from Beatrice Mauger, Equity for Children Associate Director.
In addition to the @ENDchildpoverty workshop the conference explored multifaceted global issues including quality education; breaking the cycle of poverty; climate change; the refugee crisis; women's economic empowerment; the role of youth in policy making; collaboration in the digital age, and many more.