Thank you Sujan Saha (Bangladesh/Denmark) for writing this article, with the support of Divine Ntiokam (Cameroon/Maleysia) and Amanda Bancroft (USA). This meeting was a continuation of the earlier YTF meetings that have taken place during the first half of 2011.
So far more than 40 youth from all over the world have signed up for the 10 different EC YTF Working Groups! If you want to join the EC YTF, you are welcome to send an email to Sujan Saha, [email protected] and add your name here .
Earth Charter Youth Task Force chat meeting took place on June 21st at 3pm GMT in http://ecyg.ietherpad.com/3 and http://ecyg.ietherpad.com/4 . You can see all the conclusions of the meeting through those links (scroll down to the end of this page for the concrete steps).
During the two hour meeting, around 20 youth participated from all over the world and they left 1096 comments.
The meeting addressed:
- Briefing on mission, vision and goals of Youth Task force (YTF)
- Brainstorming of various working Groups (WG) – what are they, how do they function
- Criteria and selection procedures of WG coordinators
- Reviewing singed up volunteers
The meeting agreed that Sujan, Demi (Greece / Finland) and Bowo (Indonesia) will lead interim coordination of YTF until WGs become functional. Primary task of interim coordinators is to form the 10 WGs and to take care of the communication and updating of the volunteers on the formation steps of the YTF. Thereafter, their roles will be dissolved.
It was also agreed upon by all the volunteers that YTF should have next meeting as soon as the first/second week of July.
Personally, I (Sujan) feel happy to see many new members as well as the older activists interested in the YTF. I also feel we have just started our journey and we have a long way to go to promote sustainable ways of living and a just society in the light of the Earth Charter Principles.
Divine Ntiokam from Malaysis writes “after attending such a wonderful and enriching meeting it seemed to me like we are already carrying out the project because everyone was moved and ready to react at any given point in time”. That said, we have a great and competent team and strongly believe we shall make a world of difference. He goes on saying “I m so impressed about the turn out and ways guys reacted and conclusively believe we shall make things happen”.
Amanda Bancroft from USA expresses her experience, “it was truly inspirational to see so many volunteers coming together, eager to support the Earth Charter and launch the working groups which will propel the Youth Task Force forward. I feel it is very important for youth to be able to self-organize and take on leadership roles to promote environmental justice”.
This is exactly what the coordinators will be helping each working group to do in the coming weeks. According to Amanda, the platform for this meeting was also conducive to encouraging leadership, so it was great to be able to collaborate on what the roles of the coordinators should be. With this kind of support and focus on developing goals within each working group, “I feel confident that we will succeed”, Amanda concludes.
