World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts and partners from the Major Group of Children

The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), along with partners from the Major Group of Children, seek to run a side event exploring the contribution of youth to reaching global agreement on an approach to sustainable development as well as the role of youth in delivering community and national solutions to the challenges of poverty, environmental sustainability and social justice.

Background
In November 2011, WAGGGS ran a survey in over 100 countries on people?s views of the sustainability challenges we currently face as well as what they believe the most effective solutions are. Between January and March 2012, we conducted more extensive consultation on ?The world we want for our future,? which especially focused on children as well as youth. The results are very clear ? youth demand a voice in the deliberations about the future, their future, and they have unique, and effective, contributions to make in ensuring a sustainable future for all. Results included:
? Young people around the world are concerned about the environment, with 95 per cent worrying about it and more than a third worried about it ALL the time
? Education is the key enabler in the fight against climate change, with 56 per cent of respondents wanting governments to invest in climate change education above all other solutions
? Despite feeling they should play a key role in making decisions, only 6.8 percent felt they were often consulted and only 11 per cent of respondents felt their opinion was valued by teachers, and only nine per cent by governments.

Outcomes of the side event
1. Young women and young men from diverse backgrounds will share details of sustainability projects they are currently working on which empower young people to be part of the solution
2. They will identify what has worked and what the challenges have been
3. They will offer recommendations and ideas on how to engage young people in sustainability programmes
4. They will outline what governments and other institutions need to put in place in order to facilitate youth participation in decision making
5. They will explore the unique role youth have to play in ensuring sustainability

Participants
? A panel of young women and young men, as well as intergenerational experts will sit on the panel
? Stories and questions will be presented via multi-media from participants not at the conference itself
? Participants will be from the global North and South, represent gender and age diversity and come from a wide range of backgrounds
? Conclusions from the event will be recorded and distributed

Audience
The side event will be useful for youth organizations, NGOs wanting to engage youth in their activities, governments seeking to better engage a broader constituency in their sustainability programmes and activists interested in learning about innovative ways to mobilize support.

About the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts
The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) is the umbrella association for Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting organizations in 145 countries with 10million Girl Guides and Girl Scouts from Argentina to Zimbabwe. WAGGGS uses non-formal education to empower girls worldwide to become leaders and advocates, both in their communities and on the world stage. WAGGGS delivers global programmes, community projects, events and campaigns focusing on leadership development, active citizenship and issues important to youth, such as violence against girls, poverty, inequality and sustainability. Girls and young women develop life skills through self-development, challenge and adventure ? both in their own countries and at the four residential and training centres in Switzerland, India, Mexico and the UK, known as World Centres.