MDG Youth Campaign Kit

This initiative uses the Internet as a means of empowering young people around the world to participate in pressing for change around the MDGs. By providing information and guidance, it seeks to spur young people to get involved, speak out, and take action: "You might think achieving all of the Goals by 2015 is the responsibility of politicians, and that there is little you can do to help. Nothing could be further from the truth." The theme of the campaign materials is "Only with Your Voice", to reinforce organisers' conviction that young people should be at the forefront of the movement to achieve the MDGs.

Downloadable in PDF format in several languages on the Taking It Global website, these free materials include colourful posters, stickers, and a bookmark, as well as a number of other resources, such as:

• A 15-page Youth Action Guide [PDF] that includes information - categorised by and specific to each of the 8 goals - on how to plan and carry out an activity or campaign and ideas for mobilising peers to participate.
• Fundraising Guideline [PDF] - provides suggestions to potential youth MDG campaigners who wish to write a fundraising proposal.
• Sample MDG Press Release [PDF] - "After you've successfully prepared your MDG Campaign you might want to consider sending out a press release to your local media to let them know about what you are doing."
• Sample Letters to a Parliamentarian - "Writing a letter to tell your government representative that you care about the Millennium Development Goals being achieved in your country is a good way of getting your voice heard." Also includes a sample letter specific to youth living in developed countries who think their government "isn't living up to its promises made in the Millennium Declaration."

Youth.

The creation of this toolkit is part of a larger collaborative campaign. In late 2002, two groups were created, the Millennium Project, commissioned by the Secretary-General to devise strategies for achieving the Goals, and the Millennium Campaign, which encourages citizens around the world in their efforts to hold governments accountable for the promises made at the Millennium Summit. Following a series of workshops at the 2004 Annual NGO-DPI Conference, GYAN formed a partnership with the World Federation of United Nations Associations, with whom GYAN developed a section on youth for their Report on the MDGs. An Ad-Hoc Working Group was created, for which GYAN served as Secretariat, and an online consultation was organised by the group with 350 international youth participants. A 102-page report entitled Youth and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): Challenges and Opportunities for Implementation" [PDF] was released in December 2004 by the Ad-Hoc Group for consultation, following 6 months of research. Later in 2005, National MDG Youth Campaigns will be launched in 30 priority countries as part of this collaboration.