In the following page you will get to know all the materials related to the MDGs and Youth development. It is especially worth to notice that more and more young people around the world are becoming interested in issues of poverty elimination, uplifting the literacy among population, increasing of better access to health care services and securing the environment as it is the place where we live.

Why MDGs and Youth?

• Young people have strong commitment to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in their local communities and on the national level;
• Young people are the powerful agents of present and future generations to increase the reliability of MDGs targets;
• Young people can be empowered in a way that contributes the development of the country;
• Young people can contribute to the development not only intellectually, but also with their ability to mobilize peers around to take appropriate decisions;
• Young people easily understand the core values of MDGs in the context of poverty reduction;
• Young people realize that by empowering local communities, MDGs can be achieved in a faster way;
• Young people can organize campaigns to foster the implementation of MDGs;
• Young people can contribute to the process of development with their ideas, intentions and clear expressions on the challenges confronting the developing world today.

Youth and UN

United Nations empowers young people to take an advantage over their future life and intentions. Moreover, it broadly supports the activities of youth related to social and economic development of their respective countries. 

The importance of youth involvement in development process was acknowledged in 1965 by the Member States of the United Nations, when they endorsed the Declaration on the Promotion among Youth the ideals of Peace, Mutual Respect and Understanding between Peoples.

Since its formation, the United Nations has increasingly called for an active participation of youth worldwide. Currently, youth participation can be observed in all levels of UN programmes. UN agencies coordinate and implement various programmes dedicated to youth and fulfilled by Youth.

In 2000, the Member States of the United Nations adopted the Millennium Declaration, which encompasses 8 goals aimed to increase the living conditions of ordinary people by eliminating poverty and hunger, providing equal conditions for boys and girls to education, increasing the quality of health care to prevent communicable diseases and securing the nature for future generations. Millennium Development Goals are meant for all people and target especially the most vulnerable groups of population. They represent a new development agenda for the UN member states, and thus the participation of youth future leaders - is of utmost importance to drive the development forward.

The World program of action for Youth

The development of the society depends on equal participation of both young men and women, as it gives the overall understanding of the current world and its challenges. The necessity of youth participation in the development processes was acknowledged in 1965 by the Member States of the UN when they endorsed the Declaration on the Promotion among Youth of the Ideals of Peace, Mutual Respect and Understanding between Peoples.

In 1985, the UN announced the International Year of Youth: Participation, Development and Peace were the main issues to address the potential role of youth in the world, while endorsing the guidelines for further planning and suitable follow-up.

In 1995, on the tenth anniversary of International Year of Youth, the United Nations strengthened its commitment to young people by directing the international community's response to the youth challenges in the next millennium. It did so by adopting an international strategy - the World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond - to address more effectively the problems of young men and women and to increase opportunities for their participation in society. This World Programme seeks to make Governments more responsive to the aspirations of youth for a better world, as well as to the demands of youth to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

"World Program of Action for Youth" has the following priority areas:

Priority 1 - Education
Priority 2 - Employment
Priority 3 - Hunger & Poverty
Priority 4 - Health
Priority 5 - Environment
Priority 6 - Drug abuse
Priority 7 - Juvenile delinquency
Priority 8 - Girls and young women
Priority 9 - Leisure time activities
Priority 10- The full and effective participation of youth in the life of society and in deсision-making