rahel - My Blog

http://nueyseritrea.wordpress.com/2010/05/18/coordination-towards-youth-development/



Daniel Semere

There is an ever increasing need and a wide support for youth engagement in all communities nowadays. Youth engagement is advocated on the conviction that youth have assets and are therefore capable of making meaningful contributions to their communities. While it is important to examine outcomes related to youth engagement, it is equally important to determine successful practices to understand how such outcomes can be achieved. Effective youth engagement requires a ceaseless investment on developing the youth to capacitate any community to achieve its short and long-term goals. And this requires a coordinated effort at a community, national, and international level.

Youth development is the ongoing growth process in which all youth are engaged in order to meet their basic personal and social needs. It also involves building skills and competencies that allow them to function and contribute in their daily lives. This definition describes youth development as a process that all young people go through. As the definition implies, it is a process that automatically involves all of the people around the youth, which mean family, youth organizations, government and international community as a whole. A young person will not be able to build essential skills and competencies unless these bodies provide them with the supports and opportunities they need along the way. Thus, youth development is also a process in which these bodies must actively participate so that the end product will be the ideal youth we all want to build and develop.

In Eritrea youth development involves people, places, supports, opportunities and services that most of us inherently understand that young people need to be healthy and successful. There are many efforts to define the outcomes of youth development, and most express the results that we want for our youth. However, people, programs and institutions should involve in a coordinated manner in youth development toward positive results in the lives of our youth. Some like the National Union of Eritrean Youth and students (NUEYS) have clearly defined these desired positive results or outcomes in an attempt to more effectively work toward the youth. The union has identified those outcomes to be comprehensive as to include the physical, mental, and intellectual health of our youth with the intention of securing their employability and involvement in the civic and social affairs of the nation. It also acknowledges the need to engage with regional and international youth organization in trying to address this issue. Towards this end, the first task is of course identifying and meeting the challenges we face.

Most of the problems challenging our youth have a global nature. Needless to say, we are living in a world where interdependence is not a choice any more. No country can make it in its own with out a proper interaction with the rest of the world. As such, most of the challenges we face as an individual nation are also interdependent and the solution needs a concerted and coordinated effort as a global community. The challenges youth globally are facing are of such nature.

A young person today has many reasons to be grateful: greater contact with the rest of the world, more educational opportunities, and a longer life than previous generation. On the other hand however, youth worldwide are facing growing levels of unemployment, poverty, armed conflict, epidemic diseases, illiteracy and substance abuse – among other social and economic challenges -despite global advances made in technologies, entrepreneurship development, medical research, and leisure and recreation facilities. This typifies the experience of a young person growing up in a developed country, and is increasingly the experience of many young people growing up in developing countries as well. But these experiences are not universal and youth living in certain nation or part of the world are undoubtedly facing a much stronger challenge. Addressing the challenges of the global youth should therefore have the needs of these youth at the center of the effort to overcome. Coordination here becomes indispensable.

Both young women and young men today benefit from a global and coordinated effort to improve the well being of the world’s poor through the Millennium Development Goals, a framework for poverty reduction forged by world leaders in 2000. Six of the eight Millennium goals address issues raised here: reducing poverty, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, and combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases. While not all the goals are likely to be reached by the year 2015, and although the goals are not aimed only at youth, they do promise better lives for today’s youth if and when they are attained. Accordingly, youth organizations, governments, and international organizations should seek to work with a broad range of the youth population, both those organized through formal youth organizations and those who are not. Cooperation and exchanges should be used to develop the capacity of young people by facilitating the interchange of information among them. Working together in various areas of quality services can and should also be an effective part of such coordination. In fact no development can be complete without services in such areas as education, health, and employment, which should incorporate relevant instruction, and information in our social and national priorities. These services should also create challenging opportunities for the youth to express themselves, to contribute, to take on new roles, and be part of a larger group so as to direct and merge our effort toward the aforementioned priorities.

Youth development is about people, programs, institutions and systems that provide youth with the supports and opportunities they need to empower themselves. This requires youth development at all levels to be vigorously and tirelessly pursued so that it will endure and become a global culture. And in the end these effort toward youth development, all the supports and opportunities, could only be meaningful and have the impact we desire as long as and only when all youth can be able to take advantage of it. In many societies the ultimate challenge is to make such supports and opportunities the rule rather than the exception for all youth.

The National Union of Eritrean Youth and Student (NUEYS) as a representative and agent of youth, has been playing an enormous part in this huge task and has been doing a great effort in various ways. But it also understands the need to learn from other’s experience and work in partnership with different regional and international organizations. There is no doubt that the NUEYS has been and can play a crucial role in coordinating the hard work made toward the youth nationally but it is only the engagement with the rest of the world that will ultimately have a decisive contribution in its task of building a healthy youth. And the International Youth Forum NUEYS is hosting is another step ahead in this task.

http://nueyseritrea.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/eritrea-partner-in-peace-politics/

Mehari Ukbalidet

Peace is the prerequisite for the wellbeing of humans. Without peace sustainable economic prosperity or socio-cultural wellbeing of nations and societies cannot be attained. The fact that the absence of peace in a country doesn’t influence only the one on the spot, divulges that peace is in fact a collective treasury, necessitating everyone’s inputs. Conflicts and political instabilities transcend to victimize a range of populations and regions. In this respect, the quest of bringing peace to favor humans’ development requires concerted and collective efforts and commitments. The bottom line: while living in peace is every individual’s indispensable right, making peace is however a collective responsibility.

Eritrea’s struggle for liberation has been part of this greater human aspiration for peace. Eritreans, after exhausting all possible grounds, shifted from negotiations for a peaceful solution to arms’ combat, thus fighting a bloody war for decades in search of peace. And consequently, Eritrea had a costly victory. Put simply, the hard won liberation makes Eritrea a peace loving nation.

That is why Eritrea is committed to a negotiated comprehensive solution to the range of conflicts across the Horn of Africa, from Darfur to Somalia. Besides, its foreign policy rests on the rationale that regional stability guarantees national stability. As one can’t breathe fresh air in a polluted environment similarly a country can’t live peacefully in a war-torn region.

Despite the above fact, it has become a habit for some parties to blame Eritrea on what goes wrong in the region. Some peace brokers are so naïve to disregard Eritrea’s effective peace approach, which emphasizes on domestic solutions to national problems. But nowadays the tables have turned: Eritrea’s proposal that nations should govern themselves is on top of all peace proposals.

The idea that people should govern themselves has historical genesis. The Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) since its inception as a front to fight for Eritrea’s right to self-determination is guided by this. Peace can prevail if only all inclusive consensuses could be reached. This was the stand in the 1980s when the EPLF proposed a referendum. Although the front got the upper hand in the military fields, they determined for political solutions.

Similarly, after winning the game through the bullet of gun, EPLF didn’t impose itself as a governor of Eritrea. Instead people were given the chance to decide where their interests lie. As a result of the people’s vote for independence Eritrea emerged as a sovereign state. This belief that people should be left free to handle their issues continues to dictate its policies.

As a manifestation of such political mellowness, Eritrea is a law abiding county. It accepted the international community’s decision two times both on the border cases of Yemen and Ethiopia. It didn’t accept them for it got the lion’s share in the mediation.

Unfortunately, today the region enjoys less peace and blaming Eritrea on what went wrong in the region continues. The foremost accusation is the alleged Eritrea’s role on fragile Somali politics. The sheer distance between Eritrea and Somalia hardly makes any link possible. Besides, Eritrea is a country pre-occupied with its people’s needs and necessities, that it has no money or time to squander ignoring people’s aspirations.

Today, Eritrea is a key partner and actor in the Horn peace politics. Eritrean efforts to bring peace to Somalia and Sudan can be cited here. The nation supported a genuine political process, not encumbered by external interference and that respects the choice of the Somali people. It has provided all concerned Somali national leaders with a ground to discuss the future of Somalia. Similarly, Eritrea’s diplomatic assistance has been crucial at enabling Sudan to resolve its eastern problems.

Eritrea’s firm position is domestic solutions for national problems. Coinciding with the UN principles and a benchmark of the UN charter itself, this concept stresses that the will and decision of locals should prevail over those of the peace brokers. The role of mediators is only facilitating the gathering of nationals so they can reach a consensus.

That is for the fact that peace brokers imposed solutions are failing to accommodate the will and choices of local nationals. In this regard, the ill-fated situation of the Horn is a clear illustration. Several of such attempts attested nothing than disaster and humiliation. Ethiopia’s invasion of Somalia in late 2006 and the imposed government is aggravating existing problems.

Eritrea’s peace approach is well recognized and appreciated by some regional peace brokers like the EU, the region’s neutral peace broker. This is for the fact that Eritrea’s policy of resolving conflicts is bearing fruits, as in Sudan for instance where the imposed resolutions failed to bring peace.

When it comes to peace building, Eritrea believes in partnership and diplomatic assistance, as reflected by Eritrea’s role in Sudanese and Somali problems. Though lasting peace cannot be achieved if not everyone is committed for it, Sudanese people signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005 with Eritrea as a mediator.

Among disagreeing parties sustainable peace is unattainable unless conflicting parties respect the interest of one another aside from their differences. Eritrea’s diplomatic efforts enabled Sudanese conflicting parties to reach each other and thus it attained relative peace and sustaining that peace is up to the Sudanese people.

All these, to mention the least, emanate from Eritrea’s will for a peaceful coexistence and belief that now is the best time to foster people’s solutions for the good of the region.

http://nueyseritrea.wordpress.com

Welcome to the official page for the 2010 International Youth Forum to be held in Asmara, Eritrea from 21 – 23 July 2010. NUEYS recognizes that 2010 is the beginning of the International Year of the Youth!

Following the Eri-Youth Festival, NUEYS will be conducting an international youth forum with the goal of bringing together representatives of youth and student organizations to discuss creating partnership through the themes of inclusive dialogue and exchange for mutual understanding, peacebuilding, sustainable development, active citizenship and public interest diplomacy.

We would love for you and your organization to join us! Below is a link to the application form, please fill out and send back to the NUEYS Foreign Affairs Central Office here in Asmara, Eritrea.

Link to PDF Application: Download the application form for the 2010 International Youth Forum.

After seven long years, so my mom had finally managed to persuade me to go back to our dear country. I was initially very skeptical of the whole trip ... especially the trip to Sawa and the tour. Before this trip, my contact with my Eritrean brothers and sisters was very minimal. The knowledge I had about Eritrea was also "SWEDISH". I can without a doubt tell you right now , that this trip was the best out of all my trips around the world !

After five days of presence in Eritrea, so it was finally time for "niklo" (departure) to Sawa. The trip itself was at a first glance … different, it took us a total of 10-11 hours, the bus was not stable by itself, car path was not direct European standard and the extremely hot weather did not help either. Lemon in your mouth,was the deal at all times. But those above mentioned things are the things forgotten rapidly over the years. What I take with me will be those 10 hours I sat and got to know new people, the incredibly beautiful countryside, those very nice animals and the food that was so very different as "Fuul" with bread.

The journey
We spend a total of five days in Sawa. The days were long, endless in hours and extremely hot also. If it was something we learned there was that water = life. The toilets were ... not so fresh as we had hoped for and the simple things like a shower might not have been the easiest of things. But while I noticed these differences, problems, important factors ... call them what you want so, I noticed something else. I saw 10 000 young people from nine different ethnic groups … converse, marching, laughing and dancing together. Each group had its language, its traditions, its culture ... every group and every youth unique in itself, yet no distinction between one another. All in a common purpose and goals as a common people. That kind of community is not easy to find if not impossible. That's when I noticed that Sawa and all those thousands of young people who had been there, who was there and that would come was and is the country's backbone.

The days of Sawa was filled with activities such as fashion shows, competitions and seminars. and we simply had to choose where we would want to spend our time. Of course, I was in a quiz contest. Then we had a lot of free time, so I got to know lot of new and different people.

After four days in Sawa the number of youth got reduced drastically to 150. A round trip ”Zura hagerka” would finally start and our first destination was the remote town of Teseney. Near to the Sudan, teseney was like an oasis in the middle of the desert. The city looked like an Arab city. The reception we got there was incredibly special. They opened the doors to their best restaurant (which was an incredibly beautiful place). The variety of food was as much as the number of days we where away from home. Surely, we were all happy when we were there for both lunch and dinner with guajla as dessert. Unfortunately I did not have time to explore the city.

Our next destination was very special, since we were among those few people who got to see it in close up. The area is called Bisha and it is one of Eritrea's many prides. There are miles of land with gold. Few people have seen this and to be part of it makes me incredibly proud. I saw a piece of Eritrea's future. Just two years after the Bisha mining can begin exporting gold and so increase the degree of the Treasury, and we got to be there in the beginning.

After several hours of bus travel, we arrive at Keren. One of Eritrea's larger cities. The landscape around Keren was so green and so beautiful. The actual city itself was so full of life. Serina Hotel which was the name of our hotel, was among the best in the country. From the balcony you could see how the city was partially surrounded by high mountains. Then when you also add our evening's entertainment with one of Eritrea's great comedians Sandiago , the evening could not have been any better. Disappointingly it was my last night.

In closing, let me just say that this trip has helped me answer the question I asked myself several times through the years ... where do i come from? ... I can now surely say that I am a proud Eritrean! and if you haven’t gotten it yet ... I recommend the trip! Awet N'hafash!

Selam T.welday,Sweden