Africa and the G8: Join the Debate!

National Youth Forum

Presented by Youth Delegates from Across Canada

Ottawa
June 19th, 2002

Overview
Objectives of the Africa and the G8: Join the Debate!
National Youth Forum
Summary of Consultations with Youth
Findings from the National Youth Forum
Forging Ahead: Recommendations from Youth
Conclusions

Objectives of the
Join the Debate: National Youth Forum
Consult with youth in Canada on issues concerning Africa in
the context of the upcoming G8 Summit in Kananaskis.
Develop a forum through which young Canadians can learn,
voice their concerns and be heard about issues concerning
Africa and African development.

Summary of Consultations with Youth

3 youth workshops across Canada:

Toronto: June 8th, 2002 (12noon-5pm)
36 participants + 4 expert guests

Montreal: June 15th, 2002 (12noon-5pm)

24 participants + 4 expert guests

Vancouver: June 15th, 2002 (12noon-5pm)

30 participants + 6 expert guests

Connection between experts, leaders and youth.

Number of participants exceeded expectations across
Canada!

Experts Attending Workshops

Experts who attended the workshops included representatives from

NGOs, DFAIT, academic institutions, the music industry as well as
health and private sectors

Toronto
Laurence Blandford: Deputy Director of the G8 Summit Office-DFAIT
Sol Guy: Hip Hop Ambassador
Nola Kianza: Business Development Manager for the Canadian Alliance for
Business in South Africa (CABSA)
Dr. James Orbinski: co-founder of the Canadian chapter of Doctors Without
Borders, who accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the organization

Experts Attending Workshops

Montreal:

Suzanne Morel: Summit Policy Officer at the G8 Summit Office-DFAIT

Akout Akakpo-Vidah: African Officer for Rights and Democracy
Darren Rogers: Policy Advisor for Children and Youth Issues- CIDA
Rashi Khilnani: Advocacy Director for Oxfam Canada's Cut the Cost Campaign
on pharmaceutical patents and access to medicines.

Vancouver:

Colleen Pigeon: Political and Economic Officer at the G8 Summit Office-DFAIT

Kibwe: a Congolese music artist.
Sadie Kuehn: President of the Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service
Agencies of BC (AMSSA)
Rhonda Gossen: Policy Advisor at the Liu Centre for Global Issues
Joe Knockaert: Director of the Pacific Regional Office of CIDA
Dr. John Atta-Mills: former Vice-President of Ghana and visiting scholar at the Liu
Centre for the Study of Global Issues

Summary of Consultations with Youth

On-line Chat
June 12th, 2002 (8-9pm)
Celebrity Host: Namugenyi Kiwanuka from MuchMusic
Expert Guest: Laurence Blandford from the G8 Summit
Office.

Highly successful participation!

Over 50 youth from across Canada asked questions and
voiced their opinions in the cyber-debate.

Total number of youth consulted (3 workshops, 1 chat): 140 +

The Findings

We, the youth of Canada, affirm that:

Canada has a special role to play in partnership with
Africans and Africa.
As members of Canadian society, we, the youth of Canada,
are responsible to help promote development in Africa.
As stakeholders, we should continue the process of
consultation with the Canadian government, appreciating
that we were engaged, through this and other outreach
initiatives, in the Africa and the G8 process.
We have a constructive role to play domestically and
internationally in spreading awareness about Africa and
Canadas role in Africa.
As citizens of the present and of the future, activities which
promote global sustainability should involve our active
participation.

We, the youth of Canada, understand:

The G8 is an important process in which Canada has taken
a leadership role.
The Canadian government has taken important steps to
help promote African development, but there is still a lot of
work to be done and the road is long.
As such, Canada has an ongoing and serious responsibility
to continue to address the challenges facing Africas
development.
This responsibility includes all Canadians, including youth.

Youth Concerns
We, the youth of Canada, are deeply concerned about the challenges facing
Africans, specifically in the areas of:

Culture
Economic Development
Education
Environment
Gender
Health
Peace and Security
Youth Engagement

We recognize that these issues are inter-dependent, and must therefore be

addressed not in an isolated but rather in a holistic manner.

Thematic Findings from the

Africa and the G8: Join the Debate!
National Youth Forum

On the issue of the promotion and

preservation of African Culture, we
recommend that Canada:

Recognize culture as being defined as encompassing local customs, practices and beliefs. Culture is
at the very heart of African society.
Provide avenues for culture and arts that may not be financially viable but are certainly artistically
viable and relevant to Africans.
Increase its funding for the arts in Africa, specifically in the areas of culture, tourism and cultural
exchange. Increase funding to enable African artists to travel to Canada and Canadian artists to
travel to Africa.
Encourage other G8 countries to promote, support and become strong advocates for African culture,
and to empower those involved in cultural activities.
Designate a number of youth internship positions (YIIP) to enable young Canadians to work in
Africa promoting and strengthening African cultures, including the arts.
Develop facilities in Africa (example: interactive art centre that showcases local talents) for the
purposes of skills exchange programs between G8 and African countries, for example through music
and art.
Provide funding to make African culture and arts available to a wider international audience
(example: through translation of African works into English).

On the issue of Economic Development

in Africa, we encourage Canada to:

Support and strengthen civil society consultations in NEPAD.

Take a leadership role in financing and supporting the Peer Review System in
NEPAD.
Honour its commitments to increase Official Development Assistance (ODA) from
the current 0.25% to the promised 0.7% of GDP.
Set a trend for the delivery of sound ODA through successfully proven grassroots
economic development models.
Reinforce the informal sector of the economy through technical assistance, skills
training, public-private partnerships and promotion of indigenous institutions and
entrepreneurship.
Appreciate that debt relief can be a positive leverage for development.
Encourage other G8 nations to follow Canadas initiative and forgive the debts
owed by highly indebted poor countries (HIPC).
Effectively open markets to the products of African countries. In the case of
Canada and the G8, reduce or eliminate tariffs for African companies to export
products to Canada and other G8 countries. Work to help reduce intra-Africa
tariffs.
Monitor trade between Canadian and African markets to prevent exploitation of
natural and human resources.

On the issue of Education in Africa,

we advocate that Canada:

Urge the G8 countries to provide necessary funds, as outlined in NEPAD, to ensure that every
African child receives an education.
Give priority to education of the girl child.
Give priority to primary education and vocational training.
Increase funding for research in African institutions, especially in the areas of health, agriculture
and technology.
Provide funding to local African NGOs that are already involved in education initiatives.
Work with local capacities to create community education programs (example: Zambian
Community Schools) that place particular emphasis on training local members as teachers and
involving the community in decision-making processes concerning the school system.
Encourage Canadian and other educational institutions to develop skills exchange, work-study and
volunteer programs.
Inform Canadian youth about on-going issues concerning Africa through the education system and
provincial curricula.
Work with African countries to bridge the digital divide by making information technology
available to Africans in a relevant and democratic fashion.
Identify and support initiatives aimed at reducing or reversing the brain drain of professionals
from African countries.
Provide increased funding for the training of teachers and provision of school materials.

On the issue of the Environment in

Africa, we encourage Canada to:

Recognize that the environment includes natural resources including water, desertification and
preservation of rainforests.
Act as role model to African countries and set an example to them by following sustainable
environmental practices and ratifying the Kyoto protocol.
Work with African countries to develop, promote and support a sustainable environmental policy for
Africa.
Work with other countries to develop environmental laws that deter companies from destroying the
environment in African countries.
Recognize that water in Africa is an endangered resource requiring urgent and sustained protection
and careful management on a global, regional and local basis.
Provide resources to promote eco-tourism to preserve environmental spaces in an economically
sustainable manner.
Establish tax and other financial incentives for Canadian investments that meet social, environmental,
and economic criteria of sustainable development.
Promote and support countries who fulfill/achieve benchmarks in environmental protection set by
recognized international bodies (example: UNEP).
Adopt OECD guidelines for international corporate social responsibility and work to create a body to
enforce those guidelines.
Consider debt forgiveness in exchange for environmental protection.

On the issue of Gender in Africa, we

call for Canada to:

Recognize that gender equity is a cross-cutting issue that must be addressed at every stage
of Africas development.
The empowerment of women must be a top priority in the Africa Action Plan, especially
considering that NEPAD fails to address gender equity. This is particularly important with
regards to access to health care and education, government representation and protection by
law.
Appreciate that educating a girl is educating a nation.
Promote equal opportunity by including womens rights and gender sensitivity when
granting developmental assistance.
Increase the number of women in positions of political authority.
Emphasize the need for access to womens reproductive health care and basic health
education.
Provide opportunities for women to access micro-finance loans and skills training to
increase their self-reliance.
Promote the entrenchment of womens rights to combat issues such as the culture of
violence against women, and most importantly, to empower women.

On the issue of Health in Africa, we

urge Canada to:

Recognize that the personal and diverse nature of health issues requires a holistic, empowering
and culturally sensitive response.
Assert that health is a fundamental human right.
Focus on reproductive health as a priority, especially because of the growing AIDS crisis.
Strongly encourage G8 countries to increase funding for under-researched diseases and facilitate
increased access to prevention and treatment.
Recognize that nutrition is a major determinant of health, a basic human right, and that over 264
million Africans are malnourished.
Support and expand local community-based health clinics in African countries that have a
mandate to promote reproductive health and life skills.
Increase education and skills exchange through such health centres.
Urge the G8 to publicize and fulfill its commitment to the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS research.
Encourage G8 countries to address issues concerning the health of African people in a culturally
sensitive manner that includes local medical beliefs, such as midwives and traditional healers.
This includes being sensitive to the needs of the healers, health workers and patients.

On the issue of Peace and Security in Africa,

we ask Canada to take a leadership role and:

Promote conflict resolution education through local and traditional mechanisms.

Impose restrictions in both legal and illegal arms trading, including targeted sanctions and the
publication of names of arms traders.
Support the exchange of weapons for non-military commodities.
Achieve consensus on the resolution of conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo and
Sudan; while consolidating peace in Angola and Ethiopia/Eritrea, among others.
Move towards global ratification of the Optional Protocol on the Use of Child Soldiers.
Increase funding for Rehabilitation and Re-integration programs for victims of conflict,
particularly children.
Fight corruption through greater accountability (example: free press), and the promotion of
good governance and democratic development (example: increased wages for law
enforcement).
Support capacity-building for African peacekeeping.
Support capacity-building of civil society and governments for increased African expertise in
peace-building.

On the issue of Youth in Africa, we

ask Canada to:

Support new processes to build bridges between youth in Africa and youth in
Canada to further catalyze Africas economic, political and social
development.
Promote youth exchange between Africa and Canada to ensure dynamic
cultural and knowledge exchange while preserving and promoting cultural
differences.
Encourage G8 countries to increase opportunities for African students to work
in Canada through skill exchange programs.
Support youth initiatives, such as the No War Zone project, that promote
active school-based engagement between African and Canadian youth.
Encourage the responsible portrayal of African culture, and values through
media initiatives (example: documentaries, public service announcements).

Next Steps

Forging Ahead: Recommendations From Youth

We, the youth of Canada, urge the government to:
1. Develop resources for domestic outreach youth initiatives.
2. Demonstrate courage, leadership and vision by calling for a Global Development Fund for Africa.
3. Dramatically increase funding for the research, development, prevention and treatment of neglected
diseases, including tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS. Create an international body or initiative
with other G8 countries that would assist poorer countries in accessing essential medicines.
4. Recognize that Africans have the right to participate in the Information Revolution. In this regard,
Canada and the G8 should seriously invest in bringing Information and Communications Technology
to Africans in a relevant and democratic manner.
5. Support the creation of a communications corridor between Canadian and African youth. This
network would promote discussion and collaboration on development issues.
6. Support the convening of an annual African Youth Summit in Africa.
7. Step-up the ongoing process of consultation by which Canadian youth can be involved in addressing
issues concerning Africa, in partnership with Africans.
8. Continue the dialogue with Canadian youth through a Canada-Africa Youth Committee to:

Provide specific recommendations on how to allocate 1% of the $500 million Africa Fund
towards youth-focused African development initiatives.

Work with NGOs and educators to leverage enthusiasm already created through the National
Youth Forum and the G8 process to promote youth engagement on Africa and spread
awareness in a youth-friendly way.

Conclusions

We, the youth of Canada, urge the Canadian government, in the context of the
upcoming G8 Summit in Kananaskis, to take note of the findings from the National
Youth Forum as representing the voice of youth from across Canada.

We applaud the Canadian governments initiative in placing Africas development

as one of the main priorities at the upcoming G8 Summit.

We are grateful for this opportunity to express youth opinions and concerns, and
request that this dialogue continue through future consultations, including the
follow-up chat to the G8 Summit and the creation of new initiatives based on the
findings from the youth consultations.

We, as youth, care deeply about these issues and we encourage the Canadian
government to support youth-friendly programs through which we can get
involved, learn and have a voice.

We hope that these findings and recommendations, compiled in this Executive

Summary Report, will be appreciated for their honesty, insight and intrinsic
optimism towards addressing challenges facing Africas development.