Over 200 youth attended a two-day MDG Town side event of the twenty-first session of UN-HABITAT’S Governing Council to share best practices and exchange ideas on how youth can help accelerate attainment of the Millennium Development Goals.  The MDG Town, held on 16 and 17 April provided an interactive and participatory community-focused forum bringing together representatives from NGOs, governments, young people and United Nations agencies to discuss issues concerning youth and particularly, their role in achieving the MDGs. Youth organizations and NGOs also had an opportunity to showcase their work and best practices
Ms. Njoki Ndung’u, chosen as UN in Kenya Person of the Year-2006 for her important contributions to ending gender-based violence in Kenya, shared her interest in youth development and offered her support to urge member states at the Governing Council to create a youth fund at UN-HABITAT. The proposed fund is aimed at expanding and ensuring sustainability of the agency's work and support for youth-led development and initiatives. She invited the Kenyan youth representatives to establish closer links with the Kenya Young Parliamentarians’ Association. UN-HABITAT and the UN Youth spokesperson for MDGs, Mr. Ben Omondi, said they would work together to refine the MDG Town model as a basis for further dialogue at the fourth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF4), in Nanjing China from 03-07 November in 2008. WUF4 will focus on sustainable, harmonious cities and like previous World Urban Forums, it will include a special Youth Forum. |
